Three Titanium frames, Omega, Everti and Habanero
Ben wants to buy a Titanium frame and he has seen three that interests him; Omega, Everti and Habanero, all are from different countries which add to our problem, but we give them a good looking at and here are our opinions. Carbon is our favourite, but we don’t mind running an eyes over something different
Question: Hi Samuel,
I have been a subscriber for a whileand really enjoy your site – lots of useful stuff!
I currently have a full aluminium frame BMC and would like to upgrade to full titanium. There are three brands that look good on the net, but otherwise I have never heard of them: Omega (U.K.), Everti (Canada) and Habanero (U.S.). Do you know if they are trustworthy companies with good reputations? Also, can you give your opinion on the best of these (or others)?
Thanks for your help.
Ben.
Hi Ben,
Why Titanium? Yea I know it’s meant to be the wonder material, but personally I wasn’t that impressed with the Titanium bikes that we have tested. We are carbon crazy here, but this is what we think of the three brands you have asked about.
Omega
Of the three frames you are asking us about, the Omega we have actually ridden, so we can tell you more about the Omega than any others. The problem about the Omega is that they don’t exist any more, but the good news is that the man behind Omega, Mark Reilly, works for Enigma Bikes which turns out the same fine Titanium frames. There are nine different frame designs, but the best thing about Enigma is that they make custom built frames to your dimensions. Jim Walker is the man behind Enigma and he has been in the bike trade for many years and can be trusted, Mark Reilly’s frame design is sensible and without any stupid ideas that would make a frame a bad ride. So, Enigma gets our vote for trustworthiness and quality.
 Enigma |
Everti
Everti make nine titanium frames and have a custom built facility also. Everti are based on Vancouver Island in Canada and there frames are well known for the strength as they use large section down tubes that flare out from the head tube and again from the bottom bracket, they also have a nice compact geometry. Well made and designed bikes, they are manufactured in Taiwan; they know what they are doing there and also have the quality you should be looking for. Everti have been around since 2000 under the name of Epic, but changed to Everti in 2005, I don’t think there is any reason to worry about this as it doesn’t sound suspicious. So, Taiwan made and Canadian designed, should be OK.
 Everti |
Habanero
We had never heard of Habanero Bikes before today, they are based in Lantana, Florida and there bike are not expensive. The frames are made in China and they claim are made by welders with 10 to 15 years experience in the aerospace business. In their favor they have a 14 day trial period, a 5 year guarantee and a half price crash replacement deal. More than that we can’t tell you apart from looking at the frames they seem well built with nice weld joints and the geometries are fine if not a little old fashioned, they are nice frames, but they look like the Titanium frames of 20 years ago.
 Habanero |
Our Conclusion
Well maybe the Enigma, followed by the Everti then the Habanero would be our line of choice, but then we would go out and by a full carbon frame given the choice! Good luck, which ever you buy.
