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TECH NEWS
Officina Battaglin unveils new San Luca steel frame - and it’s a looker
As some of you might know I’ve got a soft spot for a steel frame, and here’s a lovely looking new steel frame from long-running Italian bike brand Officina Battaglin. It has unveiled the San Luca, a frame described as an “an artisanal steel frame with a clean and essential modern look.”
The company has been busy this year. Back in March, it unveiled the Power+Disc, a steel road bike designed around disc brakes and using a Columbus HSS Spirit tubeset. If you missed it you can read it here.
The new San Luca frame “blends the Italian frame building tradition with modernity to deliver what you would expect from a steel road frame coming out from the Officina Battaglin workshop: a comfortable ride that doesn’t make you feel beaten up after a long day in the saddle while allowing you to push harder and faster when you want to,” says Giovanni Battaglin.
A Columbus Spirit tubeset has been used, with customised tube profiles to meet Giovanni’s specifications. The result is a triple butted Omnicrom tubing that apparently offers weight and strength benefits.
Those tubes are then TIG welded by the company’s experienced frame builders and a carbon fibre fork is popped into the tapered head tube. Other details included simple external cable routing, an external headset and a threaded bottom bracket.
There’s space for up to 28mm tyres and claimed frame weight is 1,670g for a medium. Five frame sizes from S to XXL will be offered.
Like what you see? The frame will cost you £1,090.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
Latest Comments
- quiff 10 min 46 sec ago
If the sashes are original (single glazed?) then it's likely any company quoting will be quoting for new, sympathetic, double-glazed sashes. It's...
- andystow 13 min 31 sec ago
These guys are organising to do something similar......
- quiff 24 min 45 sec ago
https://road.cc/content/news/florida-man-armed-cyclist-jersey-sparks-debate-303035
- quiff 48 min 39 sec ago
I'm sure they'd ask Lime to do that too. Come and collect your bikes and my neighbour - they're in pieces.
- brooksby 54 min 33 sec ago
Ireland seems to have a lot of problems with their cycle lanes… Almost as many as England
- quiff 1 hour 14 min ago
Fair point - I was restricting myself to pedal bikes. As I've never spent that kind of money on anything though (mortgage doesn't count), it's kind...
- brooksby 2 hours 16 min ago
And finally: I wonder how many of the "more than 3,000" signatures on that petition are actually locals, who live or work there (and are not just...
- Doug_D 3 hours 52 min ago
Another book suggestion - I can highly recommend "Lost Summers and Half-Forgotten Afternoons: A Mint Sauce collection" - a beautifully presented...
- mdavidford 5 hours 43 min ago
I think you're missing an opportunity to pack even more tech into it - add accelerometers that can detect whether they're pedalling or stepping....
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5 comments
I don't doubt that TIG welding is a good technique, but it's a shame that the welds haven't been filled and filed to make smooth transitions.
Like debusoh, I have doubts about the forks, but more because they are inelegant and don't match the frame. Nonetheless, I'll also ask if there's anyone reading this who's been riding the same pair of carbon forks, frequently, for more than 10 or 15 years?
I completely get the appearance angle, if that's your bag. I never saw the appeal of steel forks myself - didn't like the look personally and (material fatigue and rust aside) IME if the tubing was shaped/large enough to be decently rigid they weighed a fair chunk otherwise they were somewhat floppy in one or more directions. A lot of that experience was in the '70s/early '80s so perhaps things improved.. meh. If they appeal to you then fair play, glad to see the back of the ones i've had - each to their own.
Can you get steel forks on this frame? I have serious doubts about the long term viability of carbon forks/frames/wheels.
Misplaced doubts. Carbon forks have been around for over 20 years and they have proven long-term reliability. Same goes for wheels and frames. Many vendors offer carbon repair so a crash doesn't mean something has to be written off.
There is the PX Holdsworth Competition frameset at roughly 1/2 the price. Not welded in italy, but same material.