As above really..

Like it alot, but just wondering about its lateral stiffness as its v light for a Ti frame.

yep, I have one.

2007, Full record, PowerTap 2.4 wheelset, Ritchey carbon finishing.

Beautifully smooth, compliant, climbs well, corners nicely, well made and finished, rare. Unless your FTP is 400W and your 1 min is 800W (75kg Cat 1) then you won’t trouble it in terms of flex, regardless of what the know it all’s tell you, those folk who think putting a foot on the BB is a suitable test for flex. If you are in the North East you are more than welcome to have a look/ride of mine.

Rode one a few years back, and whatever MTT says it felt flexy and dull to ride. They’ve changed design since, so perhaps newer ones are stiffer, but I wouldn’t have bought one.

Rode one a few days back, and whatever njee20 says it is a pleasure to ride. They changed the design in 2006, the newer ones are stiffer due to ovalised tubes, I bought one.

I rode a pre 2006 one, and to be honest I’ve never liked the feel of any ti road bike I’ve ridden.

I had a Litespeed Vortex last year and it snapped ,it also creaked from new and Litespeed took months to replace it ,my mates also cracked so I would stay clear ,they also feel like you always have a flat ,stick to carbon

hhhmmm was out for the evening. Thanks chaps (MTT i’m a bit far – Switzerland..but thanks!) for the debate. Dull? really? I had a Ti mtb and it was anything but dull.

Well i’ll have to see if i can score a test-ride..its alot of cash.

Carbon – not convinced…current bike is an S-works E5 in alu so i’ll see.

I have been a Litespeed fan and owner of road bikes for some years. From time to time ya hear about cracks/creaks/faults etc but ofcourse! Nobody will/can tell me a carbon road bike has not (NeverEver!!!) suffered in any similar way!!Buy Ti and buy Litespeed………

steel? something made of columbus spirit, deda zero or 953?

I rode one for some time – on loan luckily – i was heavier then, about 76-78 kg – i am a resoanably powerful rider ie 400 watts for 5 minutes 650 at end of ramp test – so i’m not exactly amazing but i found it very flexy, but not so much on srinting, more when putting down steady power, and most worrying of all was decending on the thing, i was never sure i was going to make it out of fast corners.

The new ones are supposed to be more flexy – so unless your 65 kg with legs made of pasta i wouldn’t recomend them – sorry just my personal exerience.

litespeed rate it as very stiff on their website. Just under the Vela which is what I’ve got and that is very stiff. Don’t know about wattage and stuff but I snap stuff all the time ‘just riding along’ because I ride like a gimp (which I would imagine is more likely to highlight flex than a high power cat 1) and the Vela with Ultegra cranks on it feels seriously solid to me.

samuri: 85kg uncategorised.

samuri – what site are you looking at?! i cant find a vela!!

yeah, there is little info on this frame on the site i find when i tap litespeed into google..so i wanted to check real life experience.

http://www.litespeed.com/bikes/vela.aspx

ok, thanks for that – not atall the same site!

MTT – i saw in another thread you have a fit calculator – any chance i can have a copy?

a_gunstone(at)yahoo.com

cheers!

I’ve ridden *the* Ghisallo, if that makes any difference.

Don’t know anything about any spaghetti soft Litespeeds, though..!

🙂

shoefiti:

really? they’re meant to be more flexy now? I cant find that on the site..

OMITN – sorry, having now learnt french im forgetting my english – what do you mean?!

Here you go, it’s crude in terms of appearance but very helpful;

Clicky

It’s safe to download.

PS. LOL @ all of these people who think they are powerful enough to worry about Watts lost in BB flex. The former north east road race champion rides a Vortex (he rode it to victory), he can murder me so he can murder you lot. If you don’t like Ti bikes because of the ride characteristics then fair enough, I dislike carbon because it is lifeless (R3, prince, addict, VXRS), dull dull dull.

Thanks MTT.

im 64kgs and a spinner not a grinder..have just found a shop here where i can try one out..

forgot to say, nice build!

OMITN – what do you mean?!

In May I spent a week staying beside Lake Como and riding my (road) bike. One of the rides I did involved the Ghisallo climb (from Bellagio to the Madonna del Ghisallo). Hard work – very humid – but glorious nonetheless..!

(I’ve never ridden a Litespeed, so have no idea whether they’re stiff or flexy or anythign else..! So, last comment in my previous post was just tongue in cheek.)

oh

shoefiti…where do you get ur info?

samurai, spot on, problem with superlight ti road bikes like the ghisallo isn’t so much BB flex as front end flex – a bit too wobbly on the descents and corners for some. i rode one a couple of years back and hated it, the front end was way too twangy. had a similar experience from a custom ti road frame, not good.
A vortex is a totally different bike – as usual, design is key not the material. if you want light ti, look for oversize or shaped pipes and ride before you buy. if you just want light and performance is important, go for carbon.

@scotia – i sae it on the web only the other day – i think cyclingnews or bikebiz – i’ll have to trawl my history – it was a show in america, they didn;t ride it, but said that it was light than the last one, which they noted was very flexy, and they were hoping (but were not optomistic) that the new one was going to be better. (i can’t see that it would be to be honest due to the nature of Ti – you can’t realy make it stiffer and lighter very easily)

james-o…thanks for that, ive found a dealer here so i will try one in a couple of wknds..i weigh 64kgs..& im after sth that climbs well and is comfortable on day rides.

you should be ok at that weight! it just wasn’t for me – i really wanted it to be as it was lovely looking. Good for the salted roads too – just wipe clean.

scotia – remember the descents though, might be worth having a good push on the downs to see whether the front end is too flexible. My CR64 isn’t too flexible, but then its a bit heavier than the Ghisallo.

yup, true..will try it out on a descent here..should be steep enough!