Willier Trestina Scandium

[chengher87]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=151034399354

Anyone have any experience with Willier frames? And scandium in general? I know that it is essentially an aluminum amalgam, but is it any different from 6061 or 7005 aluminum? I'm interested in breaking this frame down and giving it a new paint job, since the seller has already tried to do so. It's Italian, so I assume it's good quality.

Any help would be great! Keep in mind, I'm a ALu guy, so no flaming and trolling please :)

[Black Dog]

Looks like a great deal. Nothing wrong with Al. I have had a few chance to ride an Merckx Scandium and it seemed very nice. It all comes down to design more so than frame material however.

[dave thompson]

Hell, some Smith&Wessons are make from Scandium!

[chengher87]

Just interested, but where does Willier fall in the Italian bike manufacturing hierarchy. Granted, the only ones I am familiar (although I am reading up on bike manufacturing history, which is infinitely interesting!) are Bianchi, Colnago, Botecchia, Basso and Pinarello. I only found about Willier because Colombia Coldeportes rides Willier and I believe that Lampre used to ride Willier.

[oliver1850]

The company has been around forever. I think Ballan won the World Championship RR on one.

As for Scandium and frames, I recall Felt as being one of the first to use it. Bianchi had a Scandium frame that Pantani rode. It was supposed to be stronger than 7005 and could be used with thinner walls to get a lighter frame. I think there were some issues with it cracking a bit sooner than was expected.

[ultraman6970]

Ultra would like to try scandium.

[tuscanyswe]

I had a very similar one long time ago. Liked it more than than the all carbon mortirolo i also had which i dident like it all. Was a nice bike bike

[kestrel]

I've had three Santana Stylus scandium frames, all had cracking issues. None are still on the road.
BUT, for 250 if it were my size............. :bike:.

[chengher87]

Haha, thanks for the responses and this didn't originally start as a PSA, but if you're interested or know someone who is interested, go ahead. It might just be too big for me anyway. My current bike is a 50cm seat c-t and 52.5cm t-t, but I'd like to try a smaller set-up (maybe 48cm seat c-t and 51cm t-t).

[mike p]

I had a Ridley scandium. It wasn't to my taste. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the frame material and was most likely the geometry that I didn't care for. It had huge tubes and was absolutely the stiffest frame I've ever ridden! It was a good bike overall I just felt like I was perched way up high on it as opposed to in it. Never felt really comfortable on it. Again I'm sure the material had nothing to do with it.

Mike

[climbgdh]

i've had 2 scandium bikes. a salsa las cruces before they went back to steel frame on that model. it was a great frame. only reason i sold it was that it was a bit small for me. i also have a merckx premium which i have about 20,000 km on. wonderful bike. super comfortable especially on rough roads. the frame seems to absorb shock ALMOST as good as a good quality steel frame. light, stiff and comfortable. i really like it alot. no experience with Willier but I highly recommend scandium.

[fogrider]

my go to bike is a rock lobster scandium...and it is setup with campy and tubulars...and comes in sub 16 pounds. I've also ridden the eddy merckx and salsa scandium bikes, great riding bikes but I would not say they were super comfortable. I would say there is good feedback from the road. I would say carbon is typically more comfortable but less feel of the road. the other well known builder that uses scandium is Daro Pegoretti.

Scandium is a rare element that was not available for commercial use until the end of the cold war. the Soviets used them on fighter jets and missiles. the scandium changes the structure of the aluminum. Easton makes baseball bats out of it and is one of the few manufacturers of the tubing. But due to the lack of demand, the stuff is not cheap and not as available now. in the end, like everything, it matters who's holding the torch.

[InspectorGadget]

I had a scandium Mortirolo for a short time and loved it.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3263/3082948221_9414b84792_b.jpg

I don't think you can go wrong for the price. Well, maybe you can.

[schwa86]

I went to the Willier factory when I rode in Italy last summer. They are a longtime manufacturer, and some known riders (like Pantani) rode Willier frames (at least according to the frames in the museum room part of the factory). There were some very old shifting systems on some of the bikes where they used to release the rear hub and basically shift between two cogs using a lever to force the chain over then tighten the hub back to make sure the chain was tensioned appropriately. [pic attached]

Now the frames are all chinese carbon imports that they are doing the finishing on. It was a sizable but not enormous operation.

The guy who led our trip rode a Willier frame that looked a lot like the one in the picture. He liked it but had beaten it into the ground. He seemed to think quality was good and knew all the people at the factory. It was fairly light and stiff due to oversized tubes etc. [pic of bike similar to one in listing? attached -- ridden by David Rebellin]

[CaptStash]

The company has been around forever. I think Ballan won the World Championship RR on one.

As for Scandium and frames, I recall Felt as being one of the first to use it. Bianchi had a Scandium frame that Pantani rode. It was supposed to be stronger than 7005 and could be used with thinner walls to get a lighter frame. I think there were some issues with it cracking a bit sooner than was expected.


I had a Felt F1-R scandium frame. It was stupid light (2.4 lbs in 56cm), super stiff and climbed like a monster. I would probably have kept it but it didn't really fit me. I have a friend with a carbon Willier and he likes it a lot. I think you're looking at a great deal.

CaptStash....

[oldpotatoe]

Hell, some Smith&Wessons are make from Scandium!

Actually aluminum with 'some' scandium, about 5% generally. Not 'pure' scandium..

I have this one.

[ultraman6970]

Well for 100 bucks somebody will get a good deal,

[ultrafi]

One of law school profs has one and seems to like it. Never been there myself, so can say.

[bigreen505]

I had a 7005 Wilier Alpe d'Huez. It is the best bike I've had to date.