Italians Viner have 63 years of history behind them and an equally long expertise in using steel tubing, something they celebrate in their retro-flavoured Divina.
We aren’t Luddites, but in this age of technical jiggery-pokery and carbon everything, the simplicity and elegance of a steel frame like the Divina’s – with its glinting chromed lugs and cool powder blue paint job – is something to enjoy. Many will be tempted by its looks alone.
For those after eye-catching first impressions and handling suited to relaxed café runs, the Divina will make a pleasant Sunday special. But anyone craving reasonable performance as well as nostalgic style and framebuilding would be advised to look elsewhere.
Ride & handling: Comfortable and stable but flexible frame soaks up your efforts
First impressions were mixed once we slung a leg over the suede San Marco Regal saddle. The heavy hits of our pothole-strewn test route were absorbed well by the thin steel tubing, but the constant vibrations from chip-sealed surfaces aren’t damped as well as on other steel bikes, though the Divina is still a comfy, relaxed ride.
All the elegance and shock absorption that the slim tubing affords comes back to haunt you when you attempt out-of-the-saddle acceleration, with frame flexibility soaking up your efforts before eventually returning them to you as forward motion. The problem isn’t helped by the extra-long trail of 6.9cm created by a relaxed 72-degree head tube angle and raked forks.
This geometry makes the Viner stable but also resists the side to side movements that climbing and sprinting out of the saddle requires. All of which makes climbing steep hills a chore and sprinting to be first to the café a disappointment. Instead, the Viner fares far better when you stay seated and press on the pedals.
This stable geometry also affects cornering and handling at slow speeds, which require a firm hand as it means larger weight shifts are necessary to initiate a turn. This reduces as your speed picks up, where the stable handling makes smooth flowing lines feel like the natural choice and helps you hold a consistent line through bends. But ramp up the speed again and the flex that cornering causes in the frame, fork and wheels robs the Divina of its poise, and the fastest corners just aren’t as much fun as they should be.
Frame & equipment: Stunning retro chassis with all-Italian outfit
The frame is made from Dedacciai Zero Replica steel tubing, for a modern twist on classic steel pipework. The alloying elements – carbon, magnesium, chrome, molybdenum and vanadium – have been tweaked to limit weakening of the steel in areas heated during manufacturing and to improve tensile strength compared to older steel alloys. Each tube is brazed into small but shapely lugs, just as the first Viner frames would have been.
The classic look is partly down to the front triangle’s lack of oversizing and the absence of bulbous flares and tapers – the clean and slender cylindrical tubing gives the Divina a waif-like appearance compared to modern oversized carbon fibre frames. Slim, straight seatstays and gently curved fork blades add to the understated aesthetic, with the subtle flare of the chainstays the only external sign of tube manipulation.
In terms of looks, the Divina’s elegance and paint scheme shine, but rough finishing of the chrome plating and the ease with which the paint is chipped means on closer inspection it isn’t perhaps quite as impressive.
An all-Italian outfit consisting of Campagnolo Veloce 10-speed shifters and derailleurs supplemented by a Miche chainset complements the Divina’s supermodel looks, though the off-silver finish of the cranks jars with the impeccable anodising of the Campagnolo kit and the polished round drop Deda Speciale bar and matching stem and seatpost. The chainring bolts on our test bike also began to corrode after a wet ride, which isn’t a good look.
The RX5 wheels maintain the low-profile style with shallow aluminium rims laced with double-butted spokes to adjustable bearing Miche hubs. While they spin up to speed quickly and the hub bearings are very smooth, the low spoke count and low spoke tension meant steering stiffness was poor, which only added to the flexible feel of the fork.