The latest offerings from Serotta, Vanilla, and Pegoretti
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This Vanilla Workshop Speedvagen 'cross bike includes just the right amount of pastel.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The fillet brazed stem on this Vanilla road bike features a nicely inset "V" and a neatly integrated clamp on the opposite side.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The internal brake cable routing, the scalloped seat stay caps, the accented lug points on this Vanilla road frame - it's all thoroughly thought-out and thoroughly beautiful to look at.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Vanilla started with a standard Chris King headset then milled a subtle groove around the periphery, accented it with a bit of red, and polished it to a high luster.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Vanilla's show bikes were somewhat more subdued at this year's NAHBS but no less beautiful to look at, such as this grey lugged steel roadster.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Even the Vanilla booth was impressive at NAHBS.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Serotta says the carbon tubes used in the Ottrott are fully coped and mitered, butting right up against the adjoining titanium tubes.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
A tiny cartridge bearing pivot at the end of the seat stays on Serotta's current Ottrott allow for more flex in the rear end and, according to Serotta, more comfort and better traction in corners.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The original "DKS" seat stays on the first-generation Serotta Ottrott were meant to provide a sort of active suspension for better traction and faster descending.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The original Serotta Ottrott was perhaps a bit too radical looking for the mass market but the original concept has carried through to the current version.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Serotta offers the Ottrott in a wide range of finishes. The masked logo on this example lets the carbon fiber weave peek through.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The integrated carbon bar and stem on the front of this Vanilla Workshop Speedvagen road bike are made by PRO but this is no off-the-shelf paint job.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Stainless steel plates bolted into the dropouts of this Vanilla Workshop Speedvagen road bike protect the finish while also adding to the aesthetic.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Not surprisingly, this bright neon pink Speedvagen road bike commanded the most attention in the Vanilla Workshop booth at NAHBS.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Speedvagen bikes are built in the Vanilla Workshop but true Vanilla bikes are built by Sacha White himself.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
This Vanilla track bike was on display at NAHBS in unfinished form.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
It almost seems a shame to cover this custom Vanilla handlebar with tape.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The chain stays on this Vanilla Workshop Speedvagen track bike are almost as big as down tubes back in the day.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The track bike is a more recent addition to Vanilla's Speedvagen line with hugely oversized steel tubes, an integrated seatmast and a custom one-piece bar and stem. New for this year is an oversized head tube using Chris King's latest InSet hidden-cup headset.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The rear brake cable passes right through the integrated seatmast on this Vanilla Workshop Speedvagen 'cross bike.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Vanilla Workshop's Speedvagen 'cross bikes are beautiful to look at but they're built for hardcore racing.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Vanilla uses its own brake stud system specifically designed around Paul cantilevers. The custom studs locate the arm much closer to the seat stay for less flex and better braking performance.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Vanilla's Sacha White uses delicately slim and curved seat stays on his Speedvagen road bikes.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The Chris King R45 hubs are painted to match on this Vanilla Workshop Speedvagen road bike.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The Ottrott is Serotta's premier multi-material frame. Carbon fiber is used in the top tube, down tube, seat stays, and fork while the rest is triple-butted titanium.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Despite the lugged construction, Serotta offers the MeiVici SE with custom geometry - within reason.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The all-carbon MeiVici SE continues to be one of Serotta's flagship road bikes with fully customizable ride characteristics and frame geometry.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
No Pegoretti would be complete without some ornate paint work.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Is it art or is it a bicycle? Answer: both - it's a Pegoretti.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Masked-off bits on this Pegoretti let the base metal shine through.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The steerer tube on this Pegoretti measures a standard 1 1/8" in diameter but Chris King made special headsets with oversized skirts as per Pegoretti's request so as to use a bigger head tube.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
This Pegoretti frame required far more than some simple masking or decals.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Pegoretti frames are notable for their performance but they're more easily recognizable by their wild paint schemes.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Dario Pegoretti says all of the paintwork and graphics on his bikes are done by hand.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Pegoretti's booth at NAHBS was filled with oversized steel road bikes using both lugged and TIG-welded construction.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Neatly brazed-in tubes unmistakably mark this frame as a Pegoretti.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Pegoretti's new fork design still uses a conventional 1 1/8" straight steerer but an oversized crown and blades to match with the proprietary oversized head tube.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Serotta uses a standard threaded bottom bracket on its special anniversary frame.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Beautiful dropouts on Serotta's VentiCinque anniversary frame allow the stays to retain their round shape.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Production on Serotta's special VentiCinque frame will be limited to just 25 units, all using a new Columbus "ultra high-end steel alloy" front triangle and Columbus XCr stainless steel stays.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
More intricate carving can be found on the seat lug of Ben and Marcie Serotta's unique "La Femme Fatale" steel frame.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Ben Serotta says that inspiration for "La Femme Fatale" came from old French bicycle posters.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Ben Serotta's sister, Marcie, was a budding artist specializing in erotic sculpture back in the 1970s. She carved the lugs herself and also created the bronze figurine on the head tube.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
"La Femme Fatale" was a joint collaboration between Ben Serotta and his sister, Marcie, who carved the lugs and created the bronze figurines that decorate the bottom bracket and head tube areas. Originally shown at the New York City Bike Show in the 1970s, the bike was recently restored to this showroom condition.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Ben Serotta's old "La Femme Fatale" frame definitely sports one of the most unique cable guides we've ever seen.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Serotta revolutionized steel frame construction with the original Colorado and its heavily shaped tubeset.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Serotta continues to offer the all-steel Colorado with its distinctly ovalized and swaged tubes. Joints are TIG-welded, though, instead of lugged like on the original.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The extended seat tube of Serotta's VentiCinque frame is topped with the company's all-new carbon fiber seatpost.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Details, details: the housing stop on Serotta's limited-edition VentiCinque frame is oh-so-slightly barrel-shaped.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
The Serotta VentiCinque frame will also get unique head tube graphics.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Though undeniably beautiful, Vanilla's Speedvagen bikes are designed for racing.(Image credit: Jonny Irick)
Serotta celebrates its 25th anniversary this year in the best way it knows how: with a limited-release road frameset with production capped at – you guessed it – just 25 units.
Serotta says the TIG-welded VentiCinque (CVC) is a joint collaboration between the long-time Saratoga Springs, New York, builder and Italian tubing supplier Columbus. The main triangle is built using a new "ultra high-end steel alloy" with the rest comprised of Columbus's XCr stainless steel. According to Serotta, the ride quality will be very similar to its current all-steel Colorado model but with "a little more kick" and customers seeking a particularly smooth ride can also opt for carbon fiber seat stays.
Also included with the VentiCinque is Serotta's latest-generation carbon fibre fork and the company's all-new carbon fibre seatpost topping the extended seat tube. Retail price for the frameset and seatpost will be US$5,000.
In case you need even more exclusivity, Serotta is also offering the Patron – built in homage to the original Colorado and crafted by Ben Serotta himself. Unlike the current production Colorado, the Patron will be lugged instead of TIG welded and Serotta will only offer it in the original 7-Eleven paint scheme – and any variations must be approved by Ben.
Serotta expects to build one Patron every six weeks or so and production is limited to just ten. Pricing is on the stratospheric side at US$10,000 per frame but included in that sum is a personal weekend tour of the Saratoga Springs factory, a supervised fitting, dinner, hotel accommodations, and a bike ride with Mr. Serotta.
Vanilla and Speedvagen wow the crowd again at NAHBS
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Perennial NAHBS crowd favourite Vanilla Bicycles drew in show attendees for a sixth straight year with an impressive collection of town bikes, road machines, 'cross racers, and even track bikes – all made of steel in Portland, Oregon by Vanilla principal Sacha White and his small band of artisan builders.
Though Vanilla had typically brought dedicated one-off showpieces to the NAHBS in years past – such as the jaw-dropping tricycle in 2006 – more conventional road bikes and full-on race machines from the Speedvagen line occupied the majority of the booth in Austin.
Drawing the most attention by far was a blindingly bright neon pink road bike featuring an integrated seatmast, White's own seatmast topper based on an Enve Composites post, seductively pinched and curved seat stays and White's signature dropouts with removable stainless steel face plates.
Rounding out the package was a painted-to-match PRO Stealth one-piece carbon fibre bar and stem, painted-to-match Chris King R45 hubs, an internally routed Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 group, and deep-section Enve Composites carbon tubulars.
Less flashy but no less stunning was a metallic grey Vanilla road bike with classic-looking white panels, subtle colour-contrast detailing on the lugs, a custom machined Chris King headset augmented with red-accented circumferential grooves on each cup, and a custom fillet brazed steel stem with a neatly integrated pinch bolt, built-in stack, and an elegant 'V' logo at its base.
Pegoretti does his own interpretation of oversized
Italian framebuilding legend Dario Pegoretti doesn't necessarily need to innovate year after year having earned a reputation for some of the finest steel road bikes in the industry and building personal machines for the likes of Miguel Indurain, Marco Pantani, and others.
According to Pegoretti aficionados, the unusually oversized steel chassis are among the most responsive and best handling out there and the often wild – and fully hand painted – finishes also mark them as among the most easily recognizable, too.
New from Pegoretti, though, is his D11 front end. Pegoretti sought a larger head tube dimension to better fit in with the aesthetic of the rest of his frames but didn't want to abandon the standard 1 1/8" steerer tube. Instead, he paired with Chris King, who built special headset cups with the same bearing sizes as usual but with larger-diameter and longer skirts to be used in a bigger head tube.
Matched to the new head tube is a new Pegoretti fork, which uses a flatter and broader crown that both sharpens up the handling – especially for bigger riders – and blends in better with the bigger head tube but without adversely affecting the ride quality.
