Velo City: Bicycle Culture and City Life

Wittson Custom Ti Cycles

Wittson Custom Ti Cycles

Ernesto Colnago’s use of titanium can cause quite a stir amongst aficionados. There’s not a lot of factual history that can be sourced in regards to their place in the Colnago family tree, or who built them, but the story behind Wittson Custom Ti Cycles, a new shop based in Lithuania, may shed some light upon the subject.

Wittson Custom Ti Cycles
Wittson Custom Ti Cycles

Mindaugas Zukauskas emailed me to introduce his new venture, with some spectacular shots of a pristine cyclocross bike, before it gets covered with mud: “European frame builder Vidmantas ‘Vitas’ Zukauskas is mostly known for his cooperation with Colnago and building frames such as Monotitan, Ovaltitan, Ovalmaster, Master BiTitan, CT1, etc.

Wittson Custom Ti Cycles
Wittson Custom Ti Cycles

“After Colnago quit with titanium and moved on to Asia and carbon frame production, Vitas continued to specialize in ti frame building for other brands, including Argon18, Red Bull, Van Tuyl, etc. Over time, Vitas has become more and more well known as a master in ti frame building with worldwide orders from cyclists that value craftsmanship. I have become involved in ti frame building and we have embarked on a new journey with Wittson. These are bespoke tailor-made frames built to last a lifetime.

Wittson Custom Ti Cycles
Wittson Custom Ti Cycles

“Wittson plans to launch a new website in the beginning of 2014, meanwhile this is the first custom built model featuring their latest achievements in ti manufacturing:

• oversized headtube for conical 1.5″ fork
• integrated seatpost with an support on toptube/seatstays cross section
• ti seatmast
• integrated disc cable routing
• integrated shifting cable routing
• PressFit BB86
• bullet chainstays
• PARAGON low mount dropouts
• ti bolts

Wittson Custom Ti Cycles
Wittson Custom Ti Cycles

“All of the frames are made of European Grade 9 Ti supplied by a Swedish company called VSMPO Titan Scandinavia. And by custom made, they mean custom made—like custom tubing, custom geometry, custom design, welds, finish (all from scratch) and many options such as any Paragon dropouts, cable routing, mounts and fittings, S&S couplers, and any type of headset or bottom bracket. Moreover, it’s even possible to order as a complete built kit.

Wittson Custom Ti Cycles

“And lastly, the best thing is that all of these tailor-made frames carry a lifetime warranty and can be shipped worldwide in just thirty days.” If their cyclocross build is anything to go by, I’ll be looking forward to seeing a few more Wittson Custom Ti Cycles on the circuit. For more information, email them via their website.

Wittson Custom Ti Cycles