I ride a Waterford sport touring bike that weighs 22 lbs. I’d like to buy a lighter bike. I was thinking about Seven’s Ti, but then was told about Eddie Murckx’s scandium frame. I’m 5.3 110 lb, and ride club rides, centuries, and climb. I do not race. Any suggestion?
Thanks, Ann
Contact Ves Mandaric @ Mandaric Cycles (http://www.mandaric.com) and have a look at the Scandium + C frame. Mandaric is the roadie sister company to Yaqui, and Ves is Slowman’s “go to” guy for his own personal rigs. He’s also the original builder for Quintana Roo. Email Ves with your questions - his knowlege as a builder will blow your mind.
ann, take Khai’s advice and check out Ves Mandaric. He can build you a road or a tri frame made from scandium that will rock your world…especially if you are a lite-weight that’s been riding a 22 lb. boat anchor! Prepare to be impressed!
I’ve got the Merckx frame you mention, and love it. I’ve had mine for 1.5 years, maybe 8k miles. It replaced a steel Serotta that just got old. I’d be careful about buying a new bike/frame just to save a little weight. Waterford makes nice frames and I’m sure you could make it lighter for much less $$ than you could buy a new frame (the Merckx is an expensive frame, $2600 for the 05 model). Also, Merckx uses a very European geometry, quite different from American framebuilders.
I’d suggest you figure out what you want/need in a frame, and then match those factors with the frame.
My suggestion, since you asked: Stick with your Waterford (assuming it fits), get a nice set of light wheels and tires, and finish up with lightweight components to bring down the total weight. I bet you could pretty easily get a sub 20 lb bike for much less $$ than a new frame.
A lot of non-advice given. You can get either of those 2 materials and easily get a bike built up under 16 lbs, a huge and enjoyable difference from what you have. Another difference will be price. You can get a nice Scandium bike put together for less than $2k in that weight range, titanium more like $3k. You bought the Waterford, so clearly have no problem spending some cash on a nice bike that will last well beyond your boredom threshold. My advice, get titanium because your body will appreciate the smoother ride over long distances. Don’t cut corners on the parts directly touching your body and the road, i.e. wheels/tires, saddle, handlebars. You’ll appreciate the lighter bike on long rides.
I was right with you up until the “get titanium because your body will appreciate the smoother ride over long distances” part. The scandium/aluminum bike I have is insanely comfortable, but not because it is made of scandium/aluminum but because it is very well designed and built. I see no reason to spend the additional $$ to get Ti over Scandium unless you can’t find a builder to deliver a quality bike in Scandium, and that’s just not the case. If you find a Ti bike that you just have to have (I’m human, I understand bike lust), then fork over the cash and get it.
You’re getting rid of WHAT?
I wish I had your bike as my road bike. Does 3% total bike and rider weight make a difference for your purposes?
I don’t know if ti is more comfy than aluminum or not but one of the reasons I love my ti bike is durability, scratch resistant finish (hate paint chips!) and strength. There must be a reason it is used in military applications vs AL.
OK, now I’m intrigued. Tell me how you would spec a sub 16 pound bike for under $2000? I can see a sub 18 pounder for $2K but sub 16 would require some real interesting spec in my mind. Not disbelieving but would be interested to see how you would do it.
ars
Scratch resistance is cartainly a nice feature and one that I did not consider. But it is not necessarily true that Ti bikes are more durable or stronger than scandium/aluminum bikes. Certinly there are great Ti bikes and there are great Scandium/AL bikes. There’s also crap made from each material. The bikes are not great or crap because they’re made of Ti or Sc/AL.
Aluminum is used in plenty of military applications. Though I’m not sure what military applications have to do with bike design. Depleted uranium is used in military applications too. So is enriched uranium for that matter.
I was just thinking about when a frame builder will start using depleted uranium. That would be great. Plus, you can find your bike at night with the subtle glow 
They may even consider contacting Oakley for some of their unobtanium for the handlebars, seatpost, etc. Now THAT would be a great bike
I asked my frame builder about the depleated uranium tubing. He says if I have all the children we want it is a go. The big change is the fabric choices for my tri suit like lead lined. ha ha
Dirt
Just like to chip in here to say that I have a Yaqui Carbo (Scandium Frame with carbon seat stays and easton aero fork) which I rode for IM Western Australia a month ago. The roads are not the smoothest, being a kind of compressed chips without the smooth asphalt mix on top, but it was still a totally comfortable cruise the entire bike leg. I have not gone on a 180km ride in titanium, but can’t imagine it being any more comfortable.
Ti is not particularly lighter.
Call Ves up and ask him to hook you up with a bike.
ann,
Perhaps what you are experiencing is similar to my progression in cycling. I, too, did the same kind of riding you have done. 3-4,000 miles a season. I reached a point where the touring geometry of my bike, a steel Bianchi, no longer could meet my riding demands. At the time I did not really understand this, but I was fighting my bike at times when I did not care to. The bike didn’t want to stay in sharp high speed turns, etc., it wanted to go where it wanted to go, not where I wanted it to go. And I didn’t and don’t race either. Oh, well, I time trial on a different frame, but no road racing other than one annual point to point century race, the Black Bear.
This was not a function of the weight of the bike or the material the frame was made of.
I ended up getting a steel Serotta csi, but their Colorado is nearly the same bike, is steel too, and much less expensive than the csi.
It was the frame’s geometry that made the difference.
It would take one hell of a bike to get me to part with my Serotta csi. What I discovered was that I did not have to give up the “plushness” of the steel ride to get a more aggressive geometry to match my riding style. In fact, the ride (comfort level) got even better, this was the truly surprising part. I’m riding 4-5,000 miles a season now. I live in metropolitan Detroit area so cycling is a seasonal thing here, no year round road riding as in milder climates.
But on a long ride, comfort is no small thing. Just ask those who ride harsh riding super stiff frames. They can’t wait to get off their bikes when they get to the end of a ride.