Home > Feature Stories

Just in: Scapin blends old world and high tech with Style road bike

11 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

When North American distributors Stage Race offered us a Scapin to test, we asked for something unique.  While Scapin build a wide range of road and mountain models–including many in full carbon–it was the Style that caught our eye.  Custom hand built and painted in Italy, the Style combines Columbus Spirit+ tubing with Columbus 3K hi-mod carbon fiber to take advantage of the materials’ stiffness, light weight, and resilience. The matching fork is a full-carbon model from Mizuno.

The Style weighs in at approximately 1,200g- light for even a part-ferrous frame.  Bonding carbon chainstays, seat mast, and down tube to a carbon-reinforced steel head tube See below) and steel top tube and seatstays has the added benefit of allowing for custom geometry in 60-90 days.  For more photos of this uniquely attractive frame and its cool details, go below the fold!

Built with a Campy Super Record 11 group, 3T finishing kit, and Austrian-made Xentis 58mm tubulars, the Style weighs in at just under 15lb.
The carbon chainstays and CFS comfort-oriented seatstays terminate into nicely cowled dropouts.
The Scapin logo is actually cut from a contrasting sheet of carbon fiber and bonded under the down tube clearcoat.
The carbon-reinforced head tube is a Scapin exclusive.
All told, a very handsome package.

So as not to destroy some very nice Vittoria tubs on New Mexico’s glass- and thorn-infested roads, we’re holding off riding the Style until some Xentis clinchers arrive and can be mounted with somewhat sturdier tires.  It’ll be hard to wait, though- this bike is begging to be ridden.

www.scapin.com

stage-race.com

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

11 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
James
James
11 years ago

Very sweet. I don’t want to ask how much. 🙂

Steve M
Steve M
11 years ago

Wait a second, tubes that actually go from point A to point B in a straight line? That will never work.

ChrisC
ChrisC
11 years ago

Teensy, tiny niggling point: all carbon fiber is black, so the “contrasting” carbon fiber is actually going to be either aramid (Kevlar) or fiberglass, both of which can be colored to suit tastes. But as it’s not even remotely structural, who cares? It looks pretty sweet!

Psi Squared
Psi Squared
11 years ago

Marc,

Can you guys please review the Xentis clinchers when you get them? They’ve got a good rep in Europ but are seemingly unknown here. It’d be nice to find out how their deep rims, like the Squad 5.8 clinchers, handle in crosswinds as well as how they handle the heat of heavy braking. They’ve got price that’s not bad at all.

farmerjohnscousin
farmerjohnscousin
11 years ago

@ChrisC–teensy, niggling point: ever heard of the Bianchi L’una 928, white carbon fiber road bike from about 6 or 7 years ago?

Steven
Steven
11 years ago

BS the “carbon-reinforced head tube is a Scapin exclusive”. Just off the top of my head English Cycles and Speedvagen have been doing this for a while now.

Devin
Devin
11 years ago

@farmerjohnscousin- hold off on the snark til you either remember correctly or do some research. That was a carbon fiber frame, with a final wrap of aluminized fiberglass.

farmerjohnscousin
farmerjohnscousin
11 years ago

@Devin–I’ll cut down on the snark when you cut down on the pretension–“aluminized fiberglass” are you an industry insider or just a troll who is pretending to know more than you do? Sorry old chap, I must confess my complete ignorance to aluminized fiberglass–never, ever heard it used in an bike context–not in America at least. Bianchi touted it as natural carbon fiber–but I am glad you have revealed their scam to ignoramuses like myself. I really should have done my research before acting so snarkily towards ChrisC–since his comment was to simply inform us of the real truth–just like you.

pmurf
pmurf
11 years ago

@Steven agreed, and I think some of the later frames from English Cycles pull this off much more elegantly. The contrasting carbon fiber (or whatever fiber it is) is pretty cool though.

Psi Squared
Psi Squared
11 years ago

It’s always good to be informed before commenting. Here’s a link to a place that at least used to sell aluminized fiberglass. Read the description. To get colored carbon fiber you need to use a hybrid carbon fiber/kevlar matte.

yuwskey
yuwskey
11 years ago

Grass fiber is perfectly decoration. Not strength, rigidity.
There is no need to debate. The essence of the bike it does not matter.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.