columbis spirit tubing/dodici leggero

hey I have a friend who's really considering buying a frame comprised of columbus spirit. We did a bit of research on the tubing, columbus spirit. Theres not too much out there. We did find that it's pretty high end with a couple of peggorettis and such using it, and going for 2000 plus. However I did find some negative comments such as it dents really easily with 0.38mm tubing, this is a bit of a worry as when it comes to steel you'd expect it to be rock solid. He's not rich or anything so this would be quite an investment, bike for life kind of thing, so durability is quite a factor. Anyway has anyone had any experience with it spirit tubing ?, is really that fragile.

by the way this is the frameset he's considering

http://www.dodicicicli.com/collections/frames/products/dodici-leggero-frame

looks really good for the price compared to other spirit framesets I've found, and stainless steel dropouts... noice. Has anyone bought anything off these guys before. There show bikes are totally garish but they do have some damn nice framesets at really good prices

Nice looking frame

yeah, really nice.

Nowt wrong with Dodici, seriously nice frames. Good to see another Irish over here as well(TSSRPRSNT on DFGSS).

Jaysus that Gara f/f is a steal!

ha yeah. The gara is pretty cheap, but I'd say its worth dishing out the extra 200 and getting something really special :), the leggero is one of the nicest track frames I've seen for the price.

I built a frame from a Spirit for Lugs tube-set, and to be honest, the tubes themselves aren't that pricey. I think the reason frames made from it tend to be the more expensive ones is that it is easily available in small quantities (unlike Reynolds, AFAIK), which is better from low volume, high labour frame makers; the premium price is more for the hours of loving craftmanship, rather than the materials.
My frame is only a year old, but never treated with kid gloves, suffers a communal bike shed at work and I've not noticed any dinks or dents yet.
Looks like a lovely frame, so if it fits and the price is right, I'd go for it.

(edit: Gara is un-butted, heavy tubing, avoid if you can. If you want to check out the different tubing specs/weight have a look at the Ceeway site here)

What exactly is Columbis?

I built a frame from a Spirit for Lugs tube-set, and to be honest, the tubes themselves aren't that pricey. I think the reason frames made from it tend to be the more expensive ones is that it is easily available in small quantities (unlike Reynolds, AFAIK), which is better from low volume, high labour frame makers; the premium price is more for the hours of loving craftmanship, rather than the materials.
My frame is only a year old, but never treated with kid gloves, suffers a communal bike shed at work and I've not noticed any dinks or dents yet.
Looks like a lovely frame, so if it fits and the price is right, I'd go for it.

(edit: Gara is un-butted, heavy tubing, avoid if you can. If you want to check out the different tubing specs/weight have a look at the Ceeway site here)

Gara is the name of their entry level alu frame(confusingly), it's not made from Columbus Gara.

cheers for the advise. But I thought spirit was high end, the best steel tubing you could get before stainless steel. The link you sent also says "the only serious choice for high end frame builders"

edit, "the only serious choice for extremely high end frames"

Gara is the name of their entry level alu frame(confusingly), it's not made from Columbus Gara.

Ah, I see!

cheers for the advise. But I thought spirit was high end, the best steel tubing you could get before stainless steel. The link you sent also says "the only serious choice for high end frame builders"

edit, "the only serious choice for extremely high end frames"

It is high-end, lovely stuff. Just not that exepensive in itself (£15-£20 a tube, £12-£15 per stay/blade in 2009, if I remember right.)

ah cool.