Scapin is breaking into the fixie market with the 2012 release of the Eleanor. They weren’t looking toward the track with this one, instead developing it to handle the daily beat-down of the streets.
Riding a track bike on the road is like buying a Ferrari to drive to the grocery store. I personally own a fixie and enjoy riding it around town, but feel like I need to be somewhat apologetic at times. A fixie should, in my humble opinion, be a mixture of aesthetics and sport. It needs to look great, feel great, and bring some wandering eyes to it when locked to the bike rack. The Eleanor looks to hold of all of these traits.
I’ve noticed many 1980s-model Scapin road frames stripped down to nothing and converted into fixies. I take it Scapin finally caught onto the raging trend their old frames have been fueling with the production of the Eleanor. The Eleanor is forged with vintage-appeal in mind, the bike molded around a Columbus Spirit steel frame with chromium-plated lugs. The complete bike is featured in a variety of colors (Black, Blue, Creamy White, and “Old” Green). More to come about the Eleanor and Scapin’s new 29er after the break.
Scapin goes for the vintage appeal but drops the quill stem in replacement for the modern threadless stem. This allows for some day-to-day handlebar experimentation. There are just some bars nowadays that don’t want to fit into quill stems regardless of the quill’s aesthetic appeal. The straight blade fork on the Eleanor promises for aggressive handling, but the raked fork’s the appeal among fixie riders is debatable. It looks to me, through a little bit of snooping, that they will be offering raked forks and different handlebar selections on the the creamy-white Eleanor.
Along with the Eleanor, Scapin is releasing their Oraklo 29er (picture featured below). The frame weighs in at 1,250 grams and is constructed of monocoque carbon fiber UDM Toray T700. It features a tapered steerer, integrated gear-wires passage, press-fit movement and post-mount brake clips on the chain stay.
