a question for you all… i’m toying with the idea of putting together a road bike (i’ve got a coupld of cross bikes, but never had a pure roadie and i’m curiuos) and have been looking for a used frame like an s works roubaix or tarmac (i have an s works tricross which i really like hence the brand allegiance).

but given the scarcity and cost i’ve looked a bit wider and seen some ti frames (litespeed for instance) around the 350 – 500 mark.

having ridden neither carbon or ti, i’m just wondering if anyone has any views regarding the ride and robustness (esp on a used frame)?

just for the sake of stiring up an argument, can soemone post up a pic of a carbon frame that snapped “just riding allong”. Seems to be a lot of cracked ti frames about yet its touted as the frame material that will outlast you!

I’ve got a 2nd hand alu road bike, but have prommised myslef soemthign nice once im using it enough again to justify it. something carbon with a sub kilo frame 🙂

FWIW Specialized we’te renowned for being stiff, might have been 07-08 that they claimed that their new sportive frame was a stiff as the previous years race frame!

FWIW, Planet X will sell you a brand new SL Pro Carbon frame & fork for £399 or £425 (depends on colour)

http://www.planet-x-warehouse.co.uk/acatalog/SL_Pro_Carbon_Road.html

great price, undoubtable value and quality, but i’ve had a few on-one/planet x frames and although ok i’ve just never really got on with any of them for one reason or another.

Titanium tubing will last forever. Not sure about the welds though…

don’t buy an integrated headset litespeed made in the last couple of years.

mr smith – why not?

because they had a lot of them crack so went back to ‘normal’ headsets. there was a thread on here a week or so ago mentioning the problem.

ah ok!

cheers mrsmith, i did’nt know that about litespeed. do you know if its just recent bikes or all – i’d seen one that was 6yrs old.

i’m thinking though i may try to be patient and wait for an s works roubaix or tarmac to come up, if i was buying new that would be my choice. also a few years back the roubaix came in a nice stealth black – then again the standard spesh red/black would be so like my tricross the wife would never notice the difference.

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34048

bikegaydar thread about litespeeds cracking.

so just the older integrated headset ones.