Ben Serotta new Ti bikes

[peanutgallery]

I think serotta did great in several eras, but the $ ramp up and everything associated with carbon was a bridge too far. At the end they'd gotten away from steel and ti in the pursuit of the perfect bike and they paid heavily. Wrap that up with the crazy spectrum of fitters, an economic collapse and a few other things....that was that

Going forward, the steel and ti market they left behind has been filled by many capable builders, both solo and collab setups. Serotta basically invented the bespoke bike market with scale. It'll be a tough haul but it would be great to see Ben carve out a niche and see some success

One of my favorite bikes was a Colorado with Coors light paint that I raced for a while in the mid 90s. It supplanted a Cinelli supercorsa and merckx corsa
and outshined both in so many ways. Build quality, paint, angles, weight. Made those other 2 halo bikes seem like pigs built for 250 pound lumoxes. Was annoyed when I had to ditch it for an aluminum GT Edge - team orders The horror

In the 80s and 90s, Serotta was dialed

[fiamme red]

I have to give Ben credit for recognizing at last that wider tires and gravel bikes are more than a fad. This is from his FAQ written two years ago.

https://www.serottadesignstudio.com/faq

ARE DUETTI AND AMODOMIO ROAD (PAVED) BIKES OR ALL-AROUND BIKES OR GRAVEL BIKES?

Both the aModoMio and Duetti are designed as road bikes optimized for 90% of the riding, all road cyclists engage in, which is to say, most of the time is on various paved surfaces. However, the tires and wheels provided are more than sufficient to handle other surfaces as well like the famed strada-bianca, mostly packed dirt and fine gravel. The 25mm tires that are standard (or 28 on request) on the wider HED rims are more than adequate for everything but the poorest off-road conditions yet will enhance your paved experience.

[fiamme red]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

definitely 26".

when i was looking at the SDS bikes, any bike ben would have wanted to build for me at my height would have used 26" wheels.

yea, i want a road bike with 26" wheels - PASS.

I was looking at the Serotta Design Studio website, and found this: https://www.serottadesignstudio.com/...15/project-559. For some reason, it doesn't mention that 559 mm is more commonly known as 26".

There are many good choices in 26" for city and mountain bikes, but not so many for road bikes. You have the Rene Herse Elk Pass for $83, and a number of tires for under $30 (e.g., Pasela ProTite), and very few in between.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

I was looking at the Serotta Design Studio website, and found this: https://www.serottadesignstudio.com/...15/project-559. For some reason, it doesn't mention that 559 mm is more commonly known as 26".

There are many good choices in 26" for city tires and mountain bikes, but not so many for road bikes. You have the Rene Herse Elk Pass for $83, and a number of tires for under $30 (e.g., Pasela ProTite), and very few in between.

haha, exactly right. this project 559 stuff = 26"

the thing is - if i convert some other bike over for cheap, OK fine, i accept the reality of 26" - but there is no way i'm paying 5k+ for a custom rig that may use a 26" rim brake setup. not only are the tire choices severely limited, but so are the rim/wheel choices.

the absolute biggest performance gain you can get for any road bike is a wheel upgrade, and there just are zero wheel upgrades for a high performance 26" road wheel.

[majorpat]

Serotta had mojo in the 80s with, sadly, “Huffy” branded bikes for 7-11, then in the 90s titanium with Coors Light. Serotta had that “something”, that euro street cred that bike weirdos craved. Then the generation that equated Serotta with their quirky, niche choice of sports got older, got jobs and carbon fiber showed up. Despite innovative multi-material bikes and cutting edge ideas from Serotta and others, America’s second bike boom ( the Lance-Trek era) was not, for the masses at least, about custom builders with years of experience. The masses wanted what they saw Postal ride. And yes, we bike snobs slowly clued people in to custom builders or could afford them ourselves but for many it was too late. I think we are in a better place now with many great choices, I still love the Serotta legacy but I think it needs an asymmetric plan to be a winner. I wish Ben the best and I am happy to see many of his former employees doing great things. Ride and be happy, people.
Pat

[pdmtong]

Maybe we have this all wrong and his plan is just to build a few dozen frames a year. Maybe he’s not trying to compete with the same volume as the myriad of other choices.

Remember when 29” Mtb was struggling to be accepted since few suspension fork wheel and tire choices? That made it because enough people believe. Ben and his mirror are the only believers in 26”. Especially with the many available small frame 700c options

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by pdmtong

Maybe we have this all wrong and his plan is just to build a few dozen frames a year.

i believe this is probably the reality and the plan. he's old enough that this may just be a retirement project to get some nice new Serotta Titanium in the hands of a few that will really appreciate them.

[Elefantino]

Makes sense. With help from some of his former hands, I'm sure he'll create something nostalgic and desirable for the right audience.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[robt57]

No discussion of clickage of the sparse new site lonely lower links:

https://serotta.com/whats-new


Site seems to be down since I posted that link. Getting the data it deserves in page updates.

I bet when the clicker showed the traffic they got on it faster.

[robt57]

Curious how 'we the aficionado folk' feel about 6069-T6 Alloy mentioned for the Duetti. Especially in the context of Serotta/Titanum.

Is 6069 is the new scandium?

[SoCalSteve]

FWIW, I sent of a message through their website asking if they ever have plans to do an updated version of the Ottrott ( with disc brakes )...and, crickets.

They are off to a great start!!!...

[Doug Fattic]

As a frame builder I find this subject thread interesting. I'll have to assume the news I read here is accurate because I haven't been able to open his website link mentioned in the 1st post. I don't see a clear path to this endeavor being wildly successful. Carbon bikes are what the go fast crowd are buying. I've heard that 80% of both Moots and Litespeed's production is making gravel type of bicycles. What experience can Serotta draw on making what is most popular today? Furthermore as an insider I wouldn't want just anybody welding up a frame if I was going to pay big money. I would want the best like Brad Bingham (and go wherever he is located). I'm curious how custom they will be to each customer and how/where would the fitting be done?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by robt57

Curious how 'we the aficionado folk' feel about 6069-T6 Alloy mentioned for the Duetti. Especially in the context of Serotta/Titanum.

Is 6069 is the new scandium?

Any 'material' labeled 'scandium' is marketing..It's aluminum with a wee bit of 'scandium' added..like 5% or less.
6069 has none, BTW

AA 6069, a new aluminum alloy, has been developed for application in hot and cold extrusion and forging. It contains ∼2% Mg+Si, ∼1% Cu, 0.2% Cr, 0.1% V

[alancw3]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Any 'material' labeled 'scandium' is marketing..It's aluminum with a wee bit of 'scandium' added..like 5% or less.
6069 has none, BTW

correct it is aluminum plain and simple.

[Burnette]

Originally Posted by Doug Fattic

As a frame builder I find this subject thread interesting. I'll have to assume the news I read here is accurate because I haven't been able to open his website link mentioned in the 1st post. I don't see a clear path to this endeavor being wildly successful. Carbon bikes are what the go fast crowd are buying. I've heard that 80% of both Moots and Litespeed's production is making gravel type of bicycles. What experience can Serotta draw on making what is most popular today? Furthermore as an insider I wouldn't want just anybody welding up a frame if I was going to pay big money. I would want the best like Brad Bingham (and go wherever he is located). I'm curious how custom they will be to each customer and how/where would the fitting be done?

In bold above, that doesn't surprise me. It was often charged here that gravel was market driven hype but consumers are driving the demand. Paying for custom versions solidifies that it's what people are looking for.

As for Serotta, as others have mentioned I would imagine it's a retirement project that will cater to the nostalgic crowd that remembers the name fondly, but it won't draw much beyond that demographic.

The problem is that there's no shortage of bicycle makers and sellers. To the contrary, we're over saturated in options. Add end of season sell offs and the used market , finding an audience in this industry isn't easy.