[Closed] Has Anyone got a Titus FTM?

Not much difference between the two. Well that was my conclusion after changing from Motolite to FTM. No enough to justify the change looking back on it now - but hindsight is a perfect science etc etc

Remember, Titus went bankrupt and has been bought out. These reviews were from bikes from the "old" company:

http://www.mbaction.com/Main/News/Test_2009_Titus_FTM_1739.aspx
http://www.mbaction.com/Main/News/Test_The_Titus_FTM_Carbon_3418.aspx

Thumbs up here. I went from a Lapierre Zesty to a carbon FTM. Chose it as I wanted a lighter frame but has a similar looking horst link layout to the Zesty (I would have got a carbon Zesty if I could have afforded it!)

I have no comparison with the Motolite but generally I like my FTM. Seem to hit pedals on rocks when ascending sometimes but yet the bb height is fairly average height for that travel. The steeper head angle is better than the Lapierre on tight switchbacks but doesn't feel quite as stable as speed. Some of this may also be down to it being 1.5lb lighter frame.

The internal rear brake hose is a pain to set up and the headset it required was fairly costly due to weird dimensions.

Apart from that, its all good. Pedals well, descends well, its light and its fairly cheap for a carbon full suss frame.

I've got a carbon one and I love it. Built it up with discount XX from on-one too (brakes and revelations), XO drivetrain, and Flows on Hope Pro2s. Oh and a reverb. About 25lbs. Getting hold of the right headset was a pig at the time I bought mine.

Come from alu Stumpys (2006 then 2010 - both stolen!) but not missing the "brains" at all. Climbs well even without adjusting the shock. Seems really light - fast acceleration. Nice fast / responsive steering. The Revs are 150mm rather than the recommended 140 travel, whilst slackens it a touch but head angle probably still a touch steep. On-one were murmuring about a slackset which I'd probably try, but haven't seen any sign of yet though they now are starting to get a few in for their own range.

Sizing is something to consider. I'm 5,10 and a bit. Medium Stumpy was just right but I seem to remember it was a large FTM that I went for.

Thanks to all. A great bike by the sound of it!

Just to note....I'm 5'10" and went for a medium....standover is fine when astride the top tube, but you can't drop the seatpost that low cos of the bracing strut design.

I'd be interested in a slackset too....but I don't know how it would be done when the frame has integral bearing surfaces (i.e. no cup to press fit in the frame for the lower race)

I'm running 140mm Fox, and was thinking about 150mm Revs....

Does anyone know what the limit is on fork length at the front (anything more definitive than 'recommended 140 - 150mm fork'?)

I've got a 2009 ally model I picked up cheap from the old importer, built up beginning of this year (same as the one in the first MTBR review above). Comments are -
1 - Rear cable routing (through the swing link) is terrible. I bodged something using lots of tape and cable ties and full length outers.
2 - It is a touch on the steep side. I'm using a 150mm fork (instead of 140), smaller back tyre (2.3 front 2.0 rear) and an offset bushing in the shock. Much better now. Rear tyre clearince isn't great either.
3 - shock valving was wrong (for me), causing the shock to blow through it's travel unless set with very little sag. This was before I tweaked the geometry as well. A retune to up the compression and boost pressure sorted this tho.
4 - Now it's sorted it's bloody great! Light, fast and great fun to ride. Usually gets thrown around welsh / scottish trail centres, Long Mynd, FOD / Monmouth (including local's only stuff under Staunton) and Bringewood. I loves it.

Hovever, just read this from the MTBR review above 😯

IMPORTANT UPDATE: READ THIS FIRST
We recently discovered that the FTM supplied to us by Titus for this test did not use the production seatstays. The production versions suffered a reportedly high failure rate. Since our test, Titus has gone out of business and a company has purchased their name. This leaves owners of the FTM out on their own. Based on reliable sources, the defect was bad enough that it should have triggered a recall. We would recommend owners of this model to stop riding them. The failure of any seatstay is a serious and dangerous situation.

Had we known the bike had pre-production parts, we would have never tested the bike. Since the bike did use parts that were not available to Titus customers at the time, it makes our test findings totally invalid.

Bugger

Thats on MTBR - I doubt On-One would leave anyone with a broken Titus out in the cold? Would any warranty with Titus (of old) not now honoured by On-one?

Thought the mud clearance on my carbon FTM is fine, 2.35 High Roller or 2.25 Advantage and there's room to spare. May be different on the alloy version.

Ooh, if I had a graynd spare, I'd buy a carbon Racer-X or FTM in a flash!

IMPORTANT UPDATE: READ THIS FIRST
We recently discovered that the FTM supplied to us by Titus for this test did not use the production seatstays. The production versions suffered a reportedly high failure rate. Since our test, Titus has gone out of business and a company has purchased their name. This leaves owners of the FTM out on their own. Based on reliable sources, the defect was bad enough that it should have triggered a recall. We would recommend owners of this model to stop riding them. The failure of any seatstay is a serious and dangerous situation.

Had we known the bike had pre-production parts, we would have never tested the bike. Since the bike did use parts that were not available to Titus customers at the time, it makes our test findings totally invalid.

http://www.mbaction.com/Main/News/Test_2009_Titus_FTM_1739.aspx

It would be good if someone from On One would comment on this please....

As I understand it the first M'lites and FTMs were made with a first generation carbon rear stay design which was prone to snapping. This was then quickly re-designed for later models, including the ones that On-One are now selling.

Loads on the Titus MTBR forum.

Oh and I didn't say it in my post above, great bikes btw. Really regret selling my motolight. 🙁

Thanks for posting that bit of info Andy, bit naughty of mountainbike action to leave that on their site in that case

holy thread resurrection batman...

Whats the tyre clearance like on these frames? can you comfortably run 2.3s without chainstay buzzing? look like great all rounder frames. Doesnt seem like any revisions in the last couple of years, is it due an update or is it going to be dropped?

Brant, can you shed any light on it?

cheers

Width wise you should be OK - 2.2 XR4s fit and they're wider than a lot of 2.3s. The only trouble is some tyre/rim combos can make the tyres a bit 'tall' so they can (just) buzz the seatpost on full compression. I think other folks had probs where the shock didn't have the stroke reducing shim fitted and so they were getting the seatpost buzz for different reasons.

cheers - was that in regards to carbon or ally version?

That was a carbon FTM.