Titanium (Van nicholas)

Uggi

Hi
looking to get a Van Nicholas Euros any opinions? This is my second bike currently riding a Spesh Allez.

Been qutoed 1.7k for Euros with shimano 105, plus hand built wheels dt swiss rims.

What do you think??

maddog 2

Gets good reviews and £1.7k sounds competitive. It'll be streets ahead of the Allez.

Fatbirds has it slightly more

http://www.fatbirds.co.uk/detail.asp/sk ... _Road_Bike

schweiz

I have a Euros and am happy with it. 10+ hour days in the Alps are no problem comfort wise. Wasn't sure at first and it took a bit of getting used to after riding the BMC but now quite happily ride both.

Can you get a decent (1 hr+) test ride before you commit to buying?

Uggi

thanks for replys guys, appreciated.

Main reason for buying Ti is i am a big unit as they say, although could get on a crabon (just) would worry about stress put on bike, especially seat post.

Unfortunately not able to test ride although they will do a complete fit the bike for me and let me test ride on a turbo in the shop. It s to far to go for a test ride and then back if like the bike.

The shop in question (been mentioned in this thread) will also do hand built wheels for me and replace these with standard issues ones.

Did speak to a guy at my LBS on the phone and he advised against the ti saying it would be to flimsy when riding, not herd this before. I thought Ti and carbon had same stifness, am i making a big assumption here.

Have started another thread Ti or Carbon, would appreciate you thoughts on that question.

hopper1

I have Ti and carbon frames, not noticed any difference, but then I am only 70kgs...

I have a VN Yukon, from Fat Birds, hand built wheels too... Very good bike shop and service.

red dragon

Hi I have a Euros, and really enjoy it. Have got carbon bars, campag centaur groupset (carbon), ksyerium elite wheels I just enjoy it. Go for it.

dbb

i'm 94kg!
i ride an enigma effusion and i have ridden carbon.

bottom line is that both will be stiff enough for you and that carbon is stronger and more durable than you would expect. they use it on F1 cars after all.

i also ride mavic R- sys wheels - and i'm still alive. don't believe all of the hype and heresay

solboy

I have a VN Mistral. I considered the Euros but the price differnece between the two (for some shaped seat stays and engraved badges) didnt seem to stack up. I bought from fat birds and drove 300 miles for the bike fit. The bike fit took 10 minutes and was not worth the effort in my opinion. The bike was speced with full 105 5700 and when i collected the bike it was built incorrectly and this meant i had to wait for hours whilst the shop added last years 105 5600 components to the bike (something i didnt realise till i got home) So now i have a dream bike that is not quite what i paid for. To be fair to FBDF they compensated me by giving me a VN Ti stem but that hasnt really helped in terms of my buying experience.

The bikes ride as people say they do but on the Mistral there is significant toe overlap (Mistral and Euros have the same geometry) and my Allez that i had before felt much more stable. The VN is light - much lighter than i was expecting. I would recommend but would suggest you dont get carried away with the whole Ti thing as i have ridden some carbon bikes that retail for around the same money and in some ways these are nicer to ride. I am also a biggun so understand your concerns. If i was to buy again i would go carbon.

There is a guy who works at http://www.corridori.co.uk/ and he is a VN nut. If you want advise i would recommend you give these guys a call.

flasher

Love my Euros, got rid of some of the decals though!

carl_p

I almost pulled the trigger on a VN Euros frame and forks offer from Fatbirds pre VAT increase. Did a bit of online research and did find some comment about wheel clearances being tight. You might be able to squeeze some Cruds on, but might be worth enquiring to dealer about it if you intend to ride it in the winter.

I actually wanted to view one at Fatbirds but couldn't get them to answer the phone despite leaving messages on their answer phone. Unfortunately the price then went up £50 so I lost interest.

As some have said the decals do make it look cheap compared to other Ti offerings. I also struggled to find decent pictures from various angles. Those on the VN and Fatbirds sites are not helpful.

term1te

Another very happy owner of a Euros. I've had it 4 years now and the only problem I've had was that the frame filled with water rapidly on wet roads. A small boot made from a section of old inner tube around the seat clamp sorted that. Liberal quantities of grease in the cut out section of the frame by the seat clamp also works. I've not noticed any problems with toe overlap with my size 9s.

Agree that the decals look a bit dated, but I haven't removed them yet. Maybe VN should make a range of after-market decal replacement kits in a choice of styles? They would keep their name on the bike, and we'd have a "new bike" every couple of years.

milleman

Bought a Zephyr recently and love it-superb quality frame. Specced it with the components that I wanted and am very happy with it so far.

Needed a bike with a good ride quality and with the right set up as I have a collapsed L1 vertabrae and the Carbon bikes I have tried are just WAY too uncomfortable.

Looked at Sabbath and Enigma bikes as well, was tempted by the Enigma ones but from NW England to the south coast is just too far to contemplate to try one.