Just in: Scapin Eys

If you're looking for a good all-round bike that also stands out from the crowd the Scapin Eys could be it. This is the Italian company's entry-level offering, combining a full carbon frame and fork with a Shimano 105 groupset and Mavic wheels for £2,299.

The Eys is intended to be a bike that blends comfort and performance as capable in a road race as it is in a sportive. Comfort has been considered with very skinny seat stays and narrow profile top tube, to dampen road vibrations from passing through to the contact points. The top tube is shaped like a leaf spring, to resist lateral flex with a thicker sidewall tube thicknesses.

The bike we have here is the entry-level Shimano 105 equipped model with a 50/34 compact chainset and the 11-28T cassette gives you a useful range of ratios for hilly riding. There's a pair Mavic Aksium wheelset, a dependable set of wheels, shod with Mavic tyres. There are a vast number of build options with the bike though so you can pretty much spec a Scapin with the kit and componentry you want.

Finishing kit comprises an FSA Omega compact handlebar, OS150 stem and Gossamer seatpost, all made from aluminium and all good quality kit. A Selle Italia X-Feel saddle and Elite bottle cage completes the package. Frame weight is a claimed 1,190g for a size medium, with the total weight coming in at 8.2kg (18lb).

Scapin founded in 1957 when Stefano Scapin felt the desire to make his own frames, and a long line of frames has emerged over the years, in a range of materials. They’re really into their carbon fibre these days, and produce the frames in Italy at their own facility. They’ve been absent from the UK for a few years, but that’s changed now that Kent-based Poshbikes (who also look after Olympia) picked up the distribution rights recently.

The Eys is produced using a fluid moulding process, which involves forcing fluid at high pressure through a core inside the carbon fibre when they’re laid in the mould. This produces a consistent wall thickness and reduces any wrinkles that can potentially lead to weaknesses in the frame. They use a blend of of ultra high modulus and T700 unidirectional carbon fibre in the frame to achieve the desired ride characteristic

There's plenty of useful frame detailing too, one particularly useful aspect is that it accepts both mechanical groupsets with external cable routing, and electronic groupsets with internal routing. Switch over to Di2 or EPS groupset down the line and the redundant cable stops can be easily removed. So it's effecitvely future-proofed. That’s a nice touch.

The bottom bracket is a  PressFit 86.5mm affair and like pretty much all modern performance frames the head tube is tapered (1 1/8" to 1 1/2") head tube for maximum stiffness. Scapin have reinforced the dropouts with a D-Double design, and there’s a replaceable dropout. The Twin-Stop seatpost clamp is quite unique: the bottom bolt clamps it to the frame, and the top bolt to the seatpost.

It looks beautiful, though beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I think you’ll agree with me. Scapin go to great lengths ensuring their bikes are finished to a high standard, each frame spending many more hours in the paint shop than is probably cost effective. But that’s part of the Scapin way.

Geometry for the medium size frame we have here includes 73 degree seat and head tube angles, a 54.5cm effective top tube and a 14.2cm head tube.

For an idea of comparative bikes in this price range, our roundup of some £2,000 to £2,500 is worth a read and gives an idea of what you can expect at certain prices.  There's a lot of choice at this price range, such as the Olympia EGO RS (£1,999),  Mendiz RS9.3 (£2,345), Jamis Xenith Pro (£2,399) and the Pinarello Rokh (£2,124).

For more info point your browser at http://poshbikes.com and www.scapin.com.