Me and my bike Me and my bike

Baltic gravel From mass production Colnagos to Lithuanian-made custom, Wittson Cycles explains why titanium is very much alive Words JAMES SPENDER Photography MIKE MASSARO n the modern era a world-renowned titanium welding relatively few bikes bear school had sprung up in the midst of the name of their actual the Cold War project to build Alfa- maker, but for a long class submarines with titanium hulls. time Ernesto Colnago’s In a few years, Vitas and his new were at least some where the signature contract framebuilding company was matched the handiwork. But then turning out 5,000 Colnago-branded came exotic materials and the shift of titanium bikes per year. Yet such heady production to Asia, spelling an end to the days couldn’t last forever. Carbon fibre Italian tinkerer’s hands-on approach. was waiting in the wings and Colnago However in 1994, before the exodus took its cue and moved the bulk of its to Chinese factories, Ernesto made operation to Asia. Vitas had to reinvent a brief sojourn to Russia. He went to himself, and so moved his business see a gentleman named Vidmantas back home to Lithuania, drafted in Zukauskas, or Vitas to his friends. An his sons, and Wittson was born. ex-professional, ex-Lithuanian national coach and now paid-up framebuilder, Like father, like sons Vitas was in his own words ‘a bridge Vitas still works at his company, between the West and the East’ for the but it’s sons Mindaugas and Gintaras most exotic material of all: titanium. that Cyclist meets. The brothers are It made sense. Russia had the mills for part-way through a tour of bike shows making raw tubing and the expertise for that have seen them in Australia over working with it. Huge Soviet investment the past few weeks and now in Bristol in the military sector had led to Russian for Bespoked: The UK Handmade fabricators being adept at dealing with Bicycle Show. Their father, apparently, the super-hard, super-light metal. has to stay home to run the workshop Vitas capitalised on this fact and set up and oversee a team of six fabricators business in Nizhny Novgorod, where – a large number for an independent P

Brothers Mindaugas and Gintaras Zukauskas followed in their father’s footsteps to become innovative bike builders. ‘You can do anodising in a lot of ways, even using Coke,’ says Mindaugas

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Wittson Effugio, €2,249 ‘The top of the seatstays takes a lot of welding frameset, see wittson.com for more details work. The shape helps to gain maximum tyre clearance – but I also liked the look’ P builder, albeit one that builds 70 aesthetic flourishes, even if one or frames a year and growing (a one-man two ideas had to be reined in. band would see 15 as good going). ‘The top of the seatstays takes a One of the bikes the brothers are lot of welding work,’ says Mindaugas. exhibiting is this, the Effugio. Bedecked ‘The shape helps to gain maximum tyre in blue anodised cranks from Italian clearance as the stays sit further away company Ingrid, hubs from Chris King from the tyre than they would if they and custom-anodised logos that triangulated at the top of the seat tube in Mindaugas has perfected himself the traditional way – but I also liked the (‘You can do anodising in a lot of ways, look.’ To which brother Gintaras chimes even using Coke’), the Effugio is a real in, ‘He wanted them to be like bullets, head-turner. But there’s a lot more to real sharp ones! But then we thought, this bike than twinkles in the eye. Its well, maybe if you crash…’ secret is its versatility. And it’s the crashing – or at least the ‘We designed this bike around thrashing element of gravel riding – that 40mm tyres,’ says Mindaugas. ‘But the brothers think might return titanium from there we wanted the Effugio to to a more mainstream pedestal. be compatible with whatever people ‘Titanium is just such a good material wanted to build it with. So the Rocker for gravel,’ says Gintaras. ‘The one dropouts, from Paragon Machine Works, thing every framebuilder looks for, have interchangeable inserts to run the and this is in any material, is for it to be bike as single speed, or with Rohloff or comfortable when riding in the saddle Shimano Alfine [internal geared hubs], and stiff when you’re riding out of it. and as a belt drive – there is a splitter Titanium has those two qualities in one, on the right chainstay to insert a belt. without experimenting with things like It can be 2x12 or 1x, and you can fit any layup [of carbon fibre sheets]. With fork you like as the head tube is straight, carbon you either have a stiff frame or accommodating up to 1.5in bearings.’ a flexible frame. It’s very hard to blend Key to this design is the CNC’d yolk the two. Titanium is there already. behind the bottom bracket, which allows ‘Titanium is forgiving to ride, the chainstays to flare drastically over a forgiving when you crash – it won’t dent short distance to accommodate a normal easily like aluminium [where tube walls road chainset without the chainrings are thin to save weight] or flex as much fouling the stay, compromising tyre as steel [where the tube diameters are clearance or creating an overly long rear narrower, again for weight savings]. This end. Yet as functional as the Effugio is, makes titanium the perfect material for Wittson hasn’t shied away from some a bike. Gravel especially.’ ]

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