VOSS titanium - made in Italy

[novekili]

Not into road riding, but I had a 9s Ultegra gruppo and was looking for a frameset. Funny enough, there were loads of these on the Italian Ebay. Voss was a small brand which closed some Years ago. This frame is was built around 1996.
Somebody had to empty the stock and tried to throw the remaining frames away (!). Luckily titanium can't be thrown away in normal junkyards, so there was this guy who buys things in good gonditions off the local junkyard to sell them on the Bay, who bought the whole stock.
Well I must say that in Italy old road bikes, unless they are suitable for l'Eroica, have no market at all, so it's easy to find stocks of virtually valueless frames.
I'm a TI lover so I went for it an won the auction. A very sweet ride indeed, albeit a bit on the soft side. Very comfortable; you just have to avoid sprinting on it. I'm 65 kilos, spin low gears everywhere and have back pains so I guess it's the perfect bike for me.
The randonneur position is because I can't stretch my back.

Quite satisfied.

 

[paininthe]

I like the look of that and also like a degree of suppleness.

 

[novekili]

Supplenes turns in handy with the rough roads around my house... and the polished finish lets you mirror yourself in an Escher-like perspective

 

[Jonny69]

The randonneur position is because I can't stretch my back.

It's funny you've felt the need to mention that and I'm probably reading far too much into it, but I've found on other forums people always feel the need to comment on my riding position. Strange.

Anyway, nice bike!

 

[novekili]

Yes on road bikes the handlebar are usually lower. In Italy the are MUCH lower, hence my punctualization. Here people usually have the bars 10 cm lower than the saddle. Mine are about 2 inch and people keep asking me why. Still can't see why NOT, tho ... comfort might not be an overrated virtue but it's still one, isn't it?

 

[mavesyn]

Very nice.............

 

[novekili]

innit???

 

[tonyf39]

Lovely looking frame but if your saying it is a bit soft when you are sprinting then I'd have no chance at 100kg (all muscle by the way )

I have a Raleigh titanium frame that is around the same era & pretty similar design with the SSCs also but that is quite rigid. Do you think because Voss mainly built for italian riders that they designed the bike to be just so or was that unintended. How do Italians think of the Voss Ti in terms of a future classic? From the photo it looks very nicely constructed and the welds really really top notch.

 

[novekili]

Well, I don't think it will be a future classic, the brand's life was too short and they didn't get any major victories. It's just a sweet, comfy ride.

Stiffness is not there in spades, but if you stay in the saddle it's a good climber. Maybe it's intended, for sure some thought went into the engineering, since the Bottom Bracket has two nice triangles welded onto it (they are welded to the seat tube on one side, and to the BB shell on the other) for added rigidity.

Welds are OK, not top notch if by that you mean Merlin level... the frame wasn't too expensive, it cost about 10 per cent less than an ordinary ti frame by Marin or Diamond Back.

I mean, one of those bike to buy if you find them at a reasonable price...

 

[kilometervreter]

Very nice. Got myself a Voss a few weeks ago. Not so cheap as yours probably. It came complete with a fork.

Replaced it by an unused second had carbon fork costing me a third of the price of the frame and a second hand chris king headset that cost half the price of the frame.

The handbuild dura ace wheelset and tyres cost me two frames and the dura ace groupset was around four frames. Got the Thomson elite seatpost for a quarter frame and the saddle for half a frame. The handlebar and stem are new and together cost half a frame.

So together around 9 frames for a new titanium racer.
(frameprice includes shipping costs and pedals not included)

I'll post some pics when assembled.