Interesting stuff at London Bikeshow today - Viner Maxima is

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TimW
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by TimW

On the Planet-x stand they had two or three Viners. I spoke to the guy from Planet-x and he said they have bought the company including the factory in Italy! Apparently it's take this long since they went under to get the legal situation sorted. The Maxima is still going to be made there and I understood could still be custom etc. whereas the other two frames are Asian and finished there. Interesting since Marco B who used to build the top end Viner frames now has Legend bikes and the 9.5 is also the Maxima in effect. The most amazing thing is the price, now going to be £1700 or thereabouts. I think the site is going to be updated in the next few days.

There were some other cool finds like the Xentis 42mm wheels which are normal width but have some special shaping under the brake track which helps the aerodynamics and forces water away from the braking surface. Apparently you can also use normal brake blocks even though they are full carbon. About 2k and weight around 1200g.

Had a real in depth discussion about Scapin and particularly the Ivor which is totally custom and hand made. I thought they were not really true Italian but stand corrected.

Fell in love with a steel bike..which I never thought would happen. Anyone heard of Rauler?These are a very small steel only hand-made in Italy company. Modern features though. A lot of shared history with Colnago and the like...

Cheers.

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Powerful Pete
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by Powerful Pete

Rauler is a very well known local brand in the Reggio Emilia area, IIRC. For the longest time they were the top frame builder, but did not follow the CF fashion and eventually ran into financial trouble.

They have now "relaunched" their line with some high end bikes -google translate should be your friend in translating this test. If the prices in the article are correct, they are very high end - 6-7 thousand Euro for a SRAM Red equipped bike with Corimas.

I believe (but could be wrong) that they are now owned by Beltrami, one of the major component/accessory marques in Italy. Beltrami is the importer for Corima for Italy...
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TimW
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by TimW

Thanks Powerful Pete, interesting. Relaunched meaning what I think it does..hmm....The frame only is expensive for steel but not compared to some eastern made carbon frames. Rauler must have almost the worst brochure and website on the planet. Great pictures in the article (click the guy riding for more) that's the same frame/colour at the show.

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Powerful Pete
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by Powerful Pete

@TimW, not 100% certain, but I believe they did go under (we Italians are a fashion driven bunch - when CF came out EVERYONE abandoned their steel or alu frame and specialized builders had real difficulty surviving unless they already had a loyal international following).

The website leads me to believe that there are artisans involved - Italian attitudes about "wasting" money on a slick website seem to show through. :wink:
Road bike: Cervelo R3, Campagnolo Chorus/Record mix...
Supercommuter: Jamis Renegade...
Oldie but goodie: De Rosa Professional Slx, Campagnolo C-Record...
And you can call me Macktastik Honey Pete Kicks, thank you.

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stephen@fibre-lyte
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by stephen@fibre-lyte

I could be wrong, but the majority of the things you've mentioned (other than Viner) I think were being displayed by Poshbikes. Was there anything else of interest at the show? I missed it this year for the first time in ages but I've heard from a few people that I didn't miss much.

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TimW
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by TimW

I'm sure a few companies would disagree but there was nothing else that really excited. You could see and test ride Canyon bikes which was good. Ribble were there with all their bikes. No Campagnolo stand. There were some nice Parlee frames including the ESX. All the usual American brands etc..

You didn't miss a lot. IMO It was a lot better back in the day at the old venue(s) Earls Court and Angel Islington before that. I just go for a day out now.

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