Enigma Titanium Bikes

By tejvan on September 17, 2012 in road

Enigma bikes (reborn from the old Omega brand). Essentially, the bike company specialises in producing bikes with steel and titanium frames. It is a British firm specialising in hand built cycles using steel and titanium tubing. All bikes are handbuilt at a workshop in England. Titanium has a small, but enthusiastic following amongst cycle users. It is much less common than Aluminium bikes and for top end bikes, most choose carbon fibre. But, for some people Titanium gives a great value ride and is the perfect evolution of the old steel frames. Just because it is less fashionable doesn’t mean you should dismiss out of hand. As I’m used to riding Aluminium and Carbon fibre bikes, I wanted a go on a titanium bike. I only had a relatively short ride, but I’ve spoken to quite a few riders who are keen on their titanium bikes.

Titanium gives a very smooth ride. It has excellent properties for damping a bumpy ride. This is noticeable over an aluminium frame, which gives a ‘harsher’ feel. If you want to enjoy a wonderfully smooth day in the saddle, titanium is very good. The smoothness of the ride comes at little loss in performance. Titanium is much more rigid and stiff than a steel alternative. If you enjoy descending at speed, the Enigma frame is pretty solid and true at top speeds. There is no flex and will be attractive for the ‘well-built’ kind of riders. This is the attraction of Titanium – the smoothness of steel with the performance of aluminium. People often assume carbon fibre is always the best material. But, a good titanium frame gives carbon a good run for its money.

Enigma Echo

Compact geometry 9 degree slope
Double butted EST tubeset
Integrated head tube
English threaded BB
31.6mm seat post size
Bright brushed finish as standard
Frameset weight from 1250 grams – £1269.00

One of the most popular framesets, it is marketed for the audax, road racing and sportive market. If you want to do some light touring you can use some clip on mudguards and even the clip on panniers. It isn’t the lightest at 1.2Kg, but if you choose very lightweight components to go with frame, you could get close to 7Kg for overall bike. but gives a great overall ride.

The Enigma Etape

The Etape is similar to the Enigma Echo. It has a slightly slacker head angle 72 vs 73. This gives a slightly more comfortable ride, but is less powerful when sprinting or getting up to speed. It has longer chain stays which give more room for clearance for a rack and panniers.