[Closed] Sorry, titanium road bikes, which one??

The Kinesis gets a very good write up on road.cc.

Have you considered stainless steel? 😀
[url] http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/new-sunday-best-953 ][/url]

That is one very pretty bike!! You should be properly pleased how that turned out.

There is a small part of me that is telling me to buy a frame and put it in my office and build up slowly buying bits every week... That would improve the grind of work!

I couldn't do that. Once I had the frame it has to be built.
Luckily I had time to buy the kit whilst I was waiting for the frame. If not it would have cost me much more.

Moots? You will certainly spend a few quid on one of those!

I've had a couple of litespeed over the years, they're mint. Think a lot if ti bikes have quite a talk headtube with sloping top tube, I've struggled to get the bars low enough in the past, but that depends on your preferred position.

I did a lot of research when I bought mine and tested a fair few including Enigma, Vab Nicholas and Lynskey. I ended up buying a Cube Ti which is not in the range any more but if the Kinesis had been available it would have been a top contender. I owned a couple of their Maxlights and one road bike over the years and always liked them. [url= http://www.fatbirds.co.uk/ ]fat birds[/url] is a good place to start as they have a great range and are very good people to deal with.

I know these are on the 'HOW MUCH?!!!!' scale of the titanium builders divide, but it doesn't stop you from looking 🙂

Passoni
Legend
Crisp (An American builder based in Tuscany)

Enjoy!

I did take a look at Moots but they may be a trifle over budget...

Not looked at Litespeed.

And I probably would get impatient if I built it up in my office!

sunday wobbler...got to be a Sabbath then 🙂

And Litespeed frame on sale at Evans!

Why would you be sorry?

Sorry because it's road bikes, some people are not big fans are they...

Sabbath are available at Fatbirds which isn't that far away from me but haven't heard a lot about them?

Those Legend's and Crisp's are things of beauty!!!!!!

There a UK startup called Baldwin doing frames made here in the UK using American tubing not that Chinese crap and I'm sure they have a brand advocate schems ,ill try and find a link to the newsletter

Sorry because it's road bikes, some people are not big fans are they...

Its a bike, no need to be sorry, get on it and enjoy, enjoy it till your legs fall off.

Ti, road bike. try before you buy if possible. For years I coveted a Litespeed Vortex, finally got the dough together to buy a frame a few years back and hated it, sold it within 2 months. was just too flexy for me and didn't seem to want to go where I pointed it.

Sabbath started out as Sunday bikes, road CC has a couple of reviews if I'm not mistaken. I should say I only mentioned as another option to look into, at the moment I'm quite smitten by the Kinesis GF Ti.

Ive got a Sabbath Silk Road, that I picked up just before Christmas. 2012 model with Tiagra, brand new from Trisports in Yeovil for £999.

Love the way it feels and the fact that I don't have to worry about all of the salt and the crap that's on the roads at the moment.

Based on nothing except my Amazon I'd certainly consider another Van Nicholas. Another name you might not have come up with yet is Travers. UK based and worth a look. I'm considering a 29er from them.

Love the way it feels and the fact that I don't have to worry about all of the salt and the crap that's on the roads at the moment.

Why would you worry about salt? Carbon and alu don't rust, and steel's painted.

I have a Lynskey-made, Planet X, Ti Pro Road and while that frame's no longer available, it rides really nicely and I'd happily look at a similar Lynskey frame as a result. Mine's a nice mix of compliance and pedalling solidness, not flexy at all.

Why oh why did Martello give me those brands to look at, I have fallen in love with Crisp!!! 8)

Thanks for the help so far folks.

I'd love an Enigma, and if I had the cash allocated to buy one I'd go for that.

Was just going to suggest a Planet X (see above) on the strength of my Lynskey Ti456, lovely bike.

Ive got a Sabbath Silk Road, that I picked up just before Christmas. 2012 model with Tiagra, brand new from Trisports in Yeovil for £999.

Sounds a bargain, seen a couple of Sabbaths and liked them too.

What a lovely dilemma to have 🙂

I'm glad i could 'help' 😀

Well to throw another brand into the mix have a look at Mosaic as well

[url= http://www.mosaiccycles.com ]Mosaic cycles[/url]

I've treated myself to an Enigma Excel custom frame. Bike is weighing in at 7.7Kg, frame came out at 1.4Kg. Very pleased with the frame and it was good, dealing with Mark Reilly and the team at Enigma.

scotroutes - Member
Based on nothing except my Amazon I'd certainly consider another Van Nicholas.

I have a Van Nicholas Mistral and I'm really impressed with it. I rode my LeJog on it and it was comfy throughout. It does feel a bit noodly at times, like when you're putting power down out of the saddle you can get some brake rub, but other than that it has been flawless. Just make sure you put copperslip on the seatpost as once seized it's never coming out...

Do you know what geometry suits you sir? Or are you thinking custom? To be honest, geometry will count more than frame material for small tube bikes. It will be light, but not THAT light unless it is made from some higher end tubes (My alloy TCR is the same weight as cheap Ti).

For me Moots, then perhaps Litespeed. Enigma if UK built is a must. I'd avoid any of the more common brands for no oher reason than I'm rather snobbish and these are built down to the price the market can bear for Ti.

Disclaimer: I used to own a Merlin Cyrene. It was lovely to look at, lovely to ride. But The Giant Defy Advanced SL trounces it on every single riding characteristic!

I have an Engima Echo and I really like it, nice and comfortable when you've been doing a few miles

Get yourself to Fat Birds, very helpful, wandered in off the street while on holiday nearby and ended up test riding a Lynsky built up with Ultegra. Been trying to save ever since....

I've got a mk 1. Kinesis Gran Fondo. It's a very nice bike - really comfy, really easy to ride. But I'm not as thrilled with it as I thought I may be. I sold my race bike last year due to ill health (Cervelo S2) which was more exciting in every way, as you'd expect, but for me it may have been a bit of a mistake. The Gran Fondo feels a lot more like my genesis equilibrium than my S2 (which, again, you'd expect).

TBH, now I'm back on the bike and trying to get some fitness back, I miss having a super fast race bike (S2) and a solid winter bike (equilibrium). I'd hoped the GF would do both, but it is kind of a luxury winter bike I think. Not saying it is a bad bike by any means, I probably just made a bad decision when faced with 6 months off the bike. I need to get a fast set of wheels on it before I make any rash decisions (I'm running 32 spoke hope/open pros, which are solid, but not quite as nippy as the deep reynolds I had on the S2), but I can see myself replacing it with something carbon and stiff for the summer...

I'm loving this, all the opinions, viewpoints and options are ace!

I knew coming on here and asking would give me some choices I hadn't heard of or hadn't thought of.

The Crisp is still winning at the moment, although I keep getting swayed back to Enigma.

Has anyone got any opinions on Spin?

Love the way it feels and the fact that I don't have to worry about all of the salt and the crap that's on the roads at the moment.

Why would you worry about salt? Carbon and alu don't rust, and steel's painted

Less likely to damage it if/when I do come down than the carbon, don't have aluminium and the steel Colnago is a summer only bike.

I've got a brand new not even out of it's box 57cm Enigma Esprit Ti frame for sale which would save you a considerable amount...........

I can recommend taking a good look at Burls. His frames are completely bespoke, well-built and reasonably priced. I love mine!

[img] [/img]

http://www.burls.co.uk/reviews.php

Another Burls owner here, all I would say is make sure if you buy Ti you get a replaceable derailleur hanger in there.

[i]if you buy Ti you get a replaceable derailleur hanger in there[/i]

Aye, when I was looking, I found that quite a few frames didn't have a replaceable mech hanger (might be different nowadays). Obviously Enigmas' include this feature.

My previous ride was an ali frame, giant TCR. The Enigma rides very comfortably and theres not perceivable flex. But then, I don't bounce when I ride an FS MTB either.
😉

I tried a Ti frame but decided I prefer my frames to be stiff, so I bought Carbon in the end but do appreciate the simplicity of the lines on Ti bikes. I also have an all Alu CX and an Alu with carbon forks for shitty weather, the difference between them is very noticable.

That Litespeed T5 from Evans looks excellent value for money. (The Most) Established name, sporty bordering on race geometry, longer headtube. Other than the PF bottom bracket, I'm strugling to see reasons not to go for one myself - rigidity for racing, mainly.

September Sabbath owner here love it mainly used as my commuter but it loves a long ride 🙂

I've had a few Ti bikes and currently own a Seven Axiom SL and a Lynskey Sportive (for winter duties). The Lynskey is surprisingly good in comparison to the Seven. I also own a 'pro'-oriented carbon road bike and both Ti bikes compare very favourably in terms of comfort and stiffness

Another thing about the litespeed is that the stack and reach measurments are extremely close to my requirements, like 6mm!

It would also allow me to have some cash for chris king bits!!

http://www.genesisbikes.co.uk/bikes/road/sportive/equilibrium-ti

Less racy angles than some (a + to me) but the revised 2014 ti frame looks great. I still spend a lot of time on my 520 crmo version.

I second Fatbirds in Norfolk for a place to buy a road or cross bike.

Why oh did I find that litespeed on sale at Evans, it's been in my basket I don't know how many times today!

At that price I could even put some very fancy wheels on it too!!

Moots is for people who shop in John Lewis. Absolutely nothing wrong with any of it, but not the most inspired choice for the well-healed pedaler.

If you really want to blow the budget, I would go down the Baum route. Alternatively Funk do a titanium road bike frame which is luuurvly.

Personally, I''m go into sell my wife into prostitution for a Baum

(Nothing wrong with a Planet X though)
(The Deda titanium frame is also quite tasty for reasonable cash)

These are high on my wishlist at the moment -

http://www.baldwintitanium.co.uk/

Custom Built TI mmmm

Mine

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251387462273?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Why oh did I find that litespeed on sale at Evans, it's been in my basket I don't know how many times today!

At that price I could even put some very fancy wheels on it too!!

Sent you an updated e mail

Do you really want PF30?

I can't recommend Enigma enough, customer service fantastic and the bikes are great.

I have 2

[url= http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2854/10382750055_1649ec22f8_o.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2854/10382750055_1649ec22f8_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/17059060@N00/10382750055/ ]P1050369[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/17059060@N00/ ]eastham_david[/url], on Flickr

and

[url= http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5477/9354318734_b4346b8091_o.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5477/9354318734_b4346b8091_o.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/17059060@N00/9354318734/ ]Enigma Echo[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/17059060@N00/ ]eastham_david[/url], on Flickr

Xacd custom

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

<£500 delivered.

+1 for Litespeed Ti frames here!

I have a Litespeed, wouldn't particularly recommend it to anyone.

A side note and question almost ,that XACD is that not how Enigma get their frames made? ergo by an overseas vendor this was what put me off them initially but maybe I listened to others opinions and its not correct.

It was one of the factors that actually led me to the decision to buy a Litespeed R frame.

i nearly bought a litespeed cx frame a few years back, kick myself a little i did'nt now.

Excuse the ignorance here but what's wrong with PF30 bottom bracket? And after looking at some of the really boutique frames could I (a brand whore) bring myself to buy an XACD??

I'm looking at getting a bike that's going to last me a very long time therefore I'm not keen on the Chinese copies although its the kind of thing I have to do at work all day long!

philxx1975 - Member

A side note and question almost ,that XACD is that not how Enigma get their frames made? ergo by an overseas vendor this was what put me off them initially but maybe I listened to others opinions and its not correct.

According to Enigma's website they make everything in-house.

When I was getting an Enigma custom built about 2 years ago everything off the peg was built overseas and everything custom was UK built.

I never actually got the frame though as their customer service was so poor I got my money back and went elsewhere.

[url] http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/built-this-for-my-dad-today-new-road-bike [/url]

Definitely a vote for the Kinesis from me.

IF or Seven for me. Custom butted, massive downtube/chainstays, skinny toptube/seat stays, discs etc.

Anything else would just have me thinking I should have stuck with carbon production.

Kinesis gran fondo Ti is a lovely off the peg bike, if I was going custom then I would try enigma, I went to the open day last year, nice guys, both companies local to me in sussex based too. If money was really no object I would even look at a firefly from bespoke. Have you got the 73 degrees book from enigma? Might help your research. [url= http://www.enigmabikes.com/products/73-degrees-volume-one ]73degrees[/url]

Bloody Martello, I blame him!

I've just gone and ordered a Crisp!! I actually justified it by the massive lead time allowing me to save some more cash!

Better get some legs to justify it now 😯

Blimey 599 for the Planet X Ti Pro Road. Very tempting as a replacement for my old alu winter/trainer for that price.