Anyone got a Titus El Guapo??

still looking for a new bike and i’m surprised i hadnt spotted this sooner…anyone have one of these?
what is it like to ride?
any issues i should be aware of?

No, none on STW.

😉

search might work?

I bought one last year, my wife has one of the older ones which I really enjoyed riding, so I thought I’d get one as well. To be honest the differences between hers and the new one in geometry disappointed me. The newer slacker one is fantastic going downhill, but it’s just not as good as an all rounder. The lower BB and pedal strikes are annoying.

If I’m honest I wish I’d got to try one first, because if I had I wouldn’t have bought it.

what is it like to ride?
any issues i should be aware of?

EDIT: what i meant to say was how does it ride compared to say a specialized enduro evo, commencal meta am or a trek remedy?
is it a good climber, good descender, handles well, how good is the suspension design, how good is the frame in terms of long term maintenance etc…sorry if i’m asking a lot but the bikes look really nice but i’m not that familiar with them so i’d like to know as much as poss before i take the plunge…

if you get one that was built straight it’s pretty good up and down and round about.
if you get an early v3 it might well be a pig.

hummerlicious when did you buy yours and have you measured bb drop?

August or september last year. No, not measured the drop.

Can’t get full travel, if I let too much air out it’s a squidgy mess.

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Titus El Guapo[/url] by http://www.sussex-mtb.com[/url%5D, on Flickr

This one is a pretty good all rounder, descends well, is good through the singletrack and climbs OK.

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DSC01096[/url] by http://www.sussex-mtb.com[/url%5D, on Flickr

This one descends like a dream, but it feels compromised pretty much everywhere else as a result of it. I realise this is all personal taste, but as I said above if I’d realised there would have been such a difference I’d have spent on something else. I am rather disappointed.

it’s not just personal taste, they f***ked up. check mtbr forum. on-one probably owe you a new frame for that 2nd one. new batch should be near enough dead on (in erm next month i think?).

basically brant did change the spec a bit, but kinesis went and made something way further out.
i’d also have preferred a v2 and less hassle but what can you do, there’s nothing close in value afaik for frame only deals. Spesh Pitch might be closest if they’re still available.

edit: also, try that fox shock on your frame, while you wait for on-one to respond, might be interesting.

it’s not just personal taste, they f***ked up. check mtbr forum. on-one probably owe you a new frame for that 2nd one. new batch should be near enough dead on (in erm next month i think?).

If your BB is more than 5mm below centreline with a 160mm fork and 15mm external headset then let on-one know and they will arrange a replacement.

Ahh Brant, just the man we wanted to speak to! Can you confirm that if I ordered an in stock el guapo frame today that it will be clear of these faults?

OK, but i fitted a rockshox revelation 150 as it said on the on one site that was also a suitable fork. Are you now saying that is too short?

http://forums.mtbr.com/titus/why-bottom-bracket-height-my-new-eg-v-3-so-low-813147-19.html

read last few pages, explains what to do.

just seen your post below:
i think about page15 you can see mine being measured, you can follow that. you need to be pretty accurate.

don’t get hung up on fork length, i run a Rev150 and with correct frame it’s good.

fwiw i still think it’s pretty poor they made no attempt to contact customers and even were reluctant with people having trouble.. there’ll be people riding around for years on ones bought summer to autumn 2012 not having as much fun or complaining the EG is crap, when it isn’t.

OK Brant, I just looked I got it August 22nd last year, tried to measure BB drop it looks about 5 – 10mm. Does this mean it does or does not have issues?

So the site says: “Advised Fork Length: 150/160mm Rock Shox/Fox”

Is 150 too short then? I’m just a bit upset about the revelations above. Regardless of what it cost I still expect everything to be correct 🙁

Can you confirm that if I ordered an in stock el guapo frame today that it will be clear of these faults?

Brant, a mate is waiting to push go, but just needs an answer on this?

brant probably isn’t allowed to say “don’t buy one now”.
i can tell you just by deduction the old stock hasn’t been through his new QC process (like the incoming batch and all the 29ers) so although it may be near enough to spec, it may not be. the one i got from last (current) batch was about er 8mm too low i think. that’s pretty bad still in engineering terms.

So i’d not buy one now until you see them fully restock, which is past due so any day i guess?. even then, a few might be the older batch so watch it if your choice is currently in stock. heh sorry but on-one aren’t really being forthcoming about this so someone needs to say it. apologies if any of this is wrong and brant can correct me.

Glad i bought the pitch and cancelled my el guapo

Smiff, its the second time I’ve asked the questin, so I think I’ll get him to wait or buy something else. Any alternatives to an el guapo at that price?

Pitch and NP Mega were main contenders when i looked (frame only) not sure if either still avail.

but fully built there’s lots around £2k, that YT?

or just wait until new lot are confirmed ok.. which might take a while, because most buyers just take what they get, it’s only when it’s really far out (like my first) that anyone gets the tape measure out.

out of curiosity have you ever measured your Pitch, rob? i dunno what others tolerances are, probably better than +/- 10mm though (tbf, as brant said most of this is due to linkage).

what am i measuring for you?

Smiff, yeah nothing as good a value as the El Guapo on frame only deals. At 599 if its a good frame its 150 cheaper than everything else.

well rob, you can measure anything you like for me 😛 but all i meant is i bet other makes have some surprisingly large amount of variations too, though maybe not usually as bad, and not usually as public. bb was the obvious problem here, but it turned out to be all over the place, all over the place. check out my frame comparison pics on mtbr (wish i’d bothered line them up better).

toys, comparable frames i was looking at were well over a grand, what are you seeing for £750 ish?

linky?

Smiff, NP mega on CRC currently 759. clickypoos

jesus this is getting worse and worse. anyone thinking of an EG read last page of this again! they seem to be adding problems rather than fixing old ones :/

http://forums.mtbr.com/titus/why-bottom-bracket-height-my-new-eg-v-3-so-low-813147-21.html

a few days ago we got this announcement (update at top)
http://www.titusti.com/2012/07/whichever-hole-youd-prefer-its-up-to-you/

(to which i said how tf did they sell a frame/shock combo for 9 months without noticing they didn’t fit properly…?)

rob sorry my pics were a few pages back in that thread too.

at least on-one have done right thing finally and pulled them off the site whilst they figure this out. wouldn’t surprise me if they can the 26 EG now :/ can’t be much profit in it at £600, more on 29ers. shame as it is/was a top bike.

NP megas are sold out at CRC too.. bummer, the world needs a value 26 AM.

also worth saying hat on-one have been helpful to me personally, if sometimes slow and contradictory. i’d still shop there, but probably wouldn’t buy another EG v3.

a few days ago we got this announcement (update at top)
http://www.titusti.com/2012/07/whichever-hole-youd-prefer-its-up-to-you/

(to which i said how tf did they sell a frame/shock combo for 9 months without noticing they didn’t fit properly…?)

We have very many customers, staff and sponsored athletes riding around with CCDB’s without issue, but it seems crazy to recommend something that has been an issue for some people when the shock can very very easily be tuned to work just the same in a position with more clearance for muck and debris.
That shock can is huge and it makes no real sense to move it to the forward position.

fair enough, but why is it an issue brant? because you have an unacceptably large amount of variation in the frames and/or not enough QC?
and people with damaged frames and shocks (before this announcement), they are going to get both replaced i hope?

I still hope you’re going to do another rev. of the 26 EG – even if you have to up the price by £100 to cover the time or whatever. and you seem to have no competition there either without cheap Megas and Pitches?

i don’t blame you it just seems the bike is jinxed. so why was it taken off sale?

edit: ah ok i see you’re still offering the CCDB version sorry, weird, just out of Monarchs?

i have one, it’s my 2nd frame as the 1st one had the low BB issue (swapped out by on one, with zero fuss), since having the new one it’s the perfect bike…

if anyone is having issues getting full travel on their CCDBa then give the guys at TF tuned a call and they will do a warranty fix on the shock and replace an air can for a higher volume one (i think!!) free of charge… again i’ve had this done and it’s now perfect, it was turned around in 3 days…. this is NOT the fault of the frame…

lucky you, i got a low bb swapped for an almost as low bb. still love the bike, and still getting pedal strikes.
btw, that thread has gone proper popcorn mental i don’t even dare touch it now. some damaged shocks are the fault of the frame, no one is complaining about travel afaik.

hey there Brant,

i just got back from a nice, long sweaty ride today. i’m sending you my sweat saturated chamois underware. chew on those for a while.

goddamn hilarious 😀 ahahahahaha. ah.
the court stuff, not so much. on-one need to get a grip on this. still. again not really brant’s fault. (if the company supported him better, maybe he’d have more time to sort the issues?)

I have one, and I love it. Up, down, sideways it’s all good. I don’t get pedal strikes as I adjust my feet (tekkers). My bb height is 13″ dead on – v3 el guapo. Best bike I’ve ever had, even ‘shock horror’ better than my Bfe.

I have one on order for my mate, its been in shipping since Wednesday, I guess they are still having issues?
Has anyone received a frame in the last few days?

hopefully they are just checking them and they’re good. dunno find out soon.

tiz those are huge tyres and quite long fork? not surprised you get a 13″ bb.

also can see the CCDB is tight in there.

Yeah 170mm fork but the slackset with internal lower cup equals it all out. 2.4 RQ is a beast but isn’t adding much to the BB height, 2mm at most compared to a 2.3 conti Baron
Don’t you worry about my CCDB, snug as and no issues after a lot of riding. Kept it in the lower mount though, it’s the forward position that causes the issues.

yeah, well the spec is about 13.3″-13.4″ bb with a 160 fork (actually 0 bb drop with lyrik 160 and 15mm lower cup), so without doing the math, ‘cos with slackset i can’t, you’re around .5″ (12mm) too low still? that seems fairly typical and from what brant said bad enough to get it changed if you want, but you like it so that’s fine.

is that not very very slack btw? my first frame felt too slack with a rev150 and normal headset. personal i guess.

Just been sent to this thread by a mate after spending this weekend in the lakes moaning about pedal strikes & stupidly low BB height (a standard moan since I got it in Aug) on my Guapo! Running 150 Rev’s on it, I think it is time to get the tape measure out!

yeah, well the spec is about 13.3″-13.4″ bb with a 160 fork (actually 0 bb drop with lyrik 160 and 15mm lower cup), so without doing the math, ‘cos with slackset i can’t, you’re around .5″ (12mm) too low still? that seems fairly typical and from what brant said bad enough to get it changed if you want, but you like it so that’s fine.

Interesting, but as you say I like it so I won’t be swapping. Helps that I run my CCDB at 25% sag (personal preference), I’m sure that this stops a few pedal strikes.

is that not very very slack btw? my first frame felt too slack with a rev150 and normal headset. personal i guess.

Pretty slack yes, but that’s the way I like it.
The most annoying thing so far for me was when one of the rear pivot bolts fell out mid-ride on my second outing. You’d think that they would be tightened enough before being sent out for something like that not to happen.

Interesting results, BB height of 12.4 inches and almost 2cm of BB drop. I like the bike but that is way off the stated geo and certainly explains some of the factors in my only real gripes

that’s about unpedalable on anything but smooth ground. but you’ll have to wait and see what’s wrong with current batch before you ask for return! maybe notify on-one you want to return via returns@planet-x-bikes.com (that’s Barry I find him more helpful than Neil) then wait till users get the new ones to confirm they’re good..

Could someone explain “bb drop”? I was about to recommend one of these to a mate but reading that mtbr link…jesus!

I have one of the old versions when Titus were still Titus, love it.

I bought my Guapo in OCt 2012 – was apparently a V3 2013 version in orange (full orange rear end)
Running an on-one smoothie mixer headset on it, I was running a 150mm Fox Float fork with std 175mm cranks, 2.1″ tyres. And was suffering a lot with pedal strikes. Reading the reviews I changed fork to a 160mm Fox float, Due to the stanchion height (A2C)it raised the front end by around 20mm, and also BB was raised by about 10mm..
Havent measured actual BB drop yet..

After all this crap when round at the back end of last year, I rang on-one to ask about a low BB issue, got through to the technical help dude (cant remember his name) but he said “there is no issue that he’s heard of regarding BB height).

I personally would like some official clarification of this from On One. Again there are lots of factors that can influence BB height (sag, tyre size, fork, crown stack etc etc), the bike is recommended to ride with a 160mm fork, which I did and seemed to cure the issue?

Any one else in the same boat?

Well I got onto twitter and exchanged a few messages with Brant to clear up the issue a little giving my measurements, headset (smoothie mixer) & forks (rev 150) and he agrees it is too low. Next step is to contact returns directly (thanks for that e-mail link!) and get something sorted. I like the frame but that BB issue needs all the help it can get! Correct frame geo is a start…