A Review of Everti Titanium Bicycle Frames

Background on Everti:

For 2006 my cycling team, Colavita New Mexico, chose Everti as our frame sponsor. Everti is a small titanium frame company from British Columbia, who contracts with a Russian manufacturer to make their frames. They specialize in fairly inexpensive, straight gauge titanium framesets: and they are ALL titanium, none of the carbon seatstay nonsense. Frames can be ordered in compact (where the top tube slopes down to meet the seattube, creating a smaller or, "compact", front triangle) or traditional geometry with a toptube parallel to the ground. In fact, the frames can be ordered with fully custom geometry made to the client's exact specifications for a very small upcharge. Retail for the frame is $1375, with about a $100 upcharge for complete custom sizing. Turnaround time for an order is about 6 weeks.

Riding the Bikes:

My teammates and I have a mix of Everti's original Falcon road bike, and their new Team model. The main difference between the two is that the Team has a really beefy, overbuilt bottom bracket shell. The downtube flares out dramatically as it approaches the bottom bracket area, in an effort to make power transfer extremely efficient and the frame very stiff in this area. Therefore, the Team would be ideal for bigger, more powerful riders, or for sprinters. Both frames weigh about the same, with the Falcon (medium size) at a very respectable 1325 grams and the Team at 1340. Although not the lightest bike you'll find out there, if you're not on a super-elite Pro squad, and therefore paying for a frame with your own money (as we were) weight is only one of several factors. If we had gone with a superlight carbon frame builder, we weren't going to have someone there to pick up the pieces for us after a crash and hand us a brand new replacement. So, in addition to a reasonably light frame, we were looking for: top level performance; durability; comfort; and a company we would be proud to represent.

As a less-than top level sprinter, I decided to go with the stock medium compact Falcon frame. I have it setup with a mix of Shimano 10-speed components, and alternate between Hed Alps, Ksyriums, and a PowerTap/Open Pro rear wheel. Compact cranks, a Fizik Arione saddle, and Egg Beaters round out the package. The ride quality of titanium is legendary. The metal feels alive, yet also dramatically reduces the vibrational chatter on rough roads. Because of this, it seems like the rider is able to go for longer before fatiguing. The main criticism of titanium has been that it is too "flexy". I found my Falcon to be anything but; it has been super responsive and actually quite the jack-of-all bike rides/races. Frankly, I find it pretty amazing that a frame can be made from very strong, straight gauge titanium tubing (i.e. not butted) and still come in at under 3 pounds. The tube design is fairly traditional, with a round top tube and seattube, an oversized downtube to help with power transfer, and slightly "swept", or curved, seatstays to help further smooth out the ride. Although Litespeed makes a super-light titanium compact frame with similar dimensions that weighs in at only 1.7 pounds called the Ghisallo, nobody but a pure climber would ever want to ride the thing. Not to mention that the Ghisallo frame/fork retails for almost FIVE GRAND. The Falcon, on the other hand, is a truly remarkable, do anything race machine. The ride quality and power transfer are excellent, it climbs very well, and is a surprisingly stable machine for fast-paced cornering on descents and in criterium races.

As I mentioned before, the durability of a titanium frame is not to be overlooked. This is truly a lifetime investment. The ride quality does not degrade; the metal does not corrode; and there's not even any paint to chip! If the bike frame gets scratched or marred in some way, you simply use some Scotch guard to buff it out, and it will be completely restored to its original luster. After a couple of years, swap out the stickers and you've got a good as new frame, for all intents and purposes. The Falcon's real test came after I'd only had it for a couple of months. I was racing in the Central Valley Classic, in Fresno California. It was the final stage of the 3-day omnium, a downtown criterium race. The pace was fast and furious, there had been quite a few crashes, and probably half of the field thought they had a chance to win and were therefore pushing the pace pretty hard. Going into the final corner I was sitting in a very good 8th position and ready to start hammering for the final sprint… when I suddenly slid out and lost it in the corner. It was a downhill left-hand bender, and everybody was hauling; we were probably somewhere in the 35 to 40mph range when I slid out! The sliding and crash was hard enough that the tire-beads on both of my clinchers came off the wheel; my carbon fork cracked on one of the fork legs; my front wheel shot across the road; I broke a helmet; and somehow I even managed to break a water bottle cage. I was basically fine, and walked away from the crash-although my back was a bit out of whack for a week or so. But the frame? Completely unscathed, and straight as an arrow. Try that with a carbon, or even an aluminum frame (no thanks!). And thankfully, I didn't even have the trendy, but not terribly functional, carbon seaststays to worry about. Good, solid, comfy, reliable titanium METAL. I have to say, I'm a convert to titanium and am VERY satisfied with my team's decision to race on Everti's!