There’s been a few threads on here recently ‘What’s your dream bike’ and I was answering Liteville 301. There was just something about them that appealed to me.

The someone did a PSA that they were being sold ‘cheap’ by Bromley Bike on Ebay. I ummed and ahhed for a bit and this is the result;

There’s some lovely details on the frame;

Just back from a ride to the local woods and park and it’s lovely. Proper ride tonight.

Nice.

I seriously considered one not least because I was blown away by the engineering & attention to detail. Decided it was too much bike for my limited ability in the end.

Enjoy it!

Whenever I see that linkage design I imagine some kind of freak accident creating a kind of scrotal stretching apparatus.

Lovely looking bike that. Is the cable-tie on the LEV to stop the cap coming off? I’ve got a LEV and hadn’t thought about that..

Lapierre lookalike.

yes, stevied, having lost one and had to order a replacement from Germany I didn’t want a second to pop off mid-ride and be lost too.

I’ll pop one on later 😉

Very nice. Seen them so many times in Bromley Bike, always stop and have a good look. The raw finish is great, comparable to Nicolai.

Gorgeous bike, congratulations! I did exactly the same with my Lev Dropper cable cover :o)

Lapierre lookalike.

Er, which Lapierre’s that then??

Lapierre lookalike.

😯

Lovely bike wwasssawaass

very nice indeed that mate.
not may new fangled susser catch my eye nowadays….but that is nice.

Nice ride, the 301 is deffo one of those bike some people dont get until they see/touch, i was very very close to buying a mk11 but at the price you paid it would have been a no brainer, big bike props.
Cant you put the Lev with the tab pointing forward?

First ride last night, and initial impressions are really good.

Needs a bit more air in the shock (forgot to take a shock pump with me!) and I was getting more pedal strikes than I’m used to on my hardtail hitting rooty compressions in the woods. There was some bob on smooth stuff but I didn’t try adjusting the blue lever (I was worried about losing a finger in the dark if I grabbed the wrong bit of linkage) and it really wasn’t that noticeable anyway.

It’s a bit longer than my hardtails, too, so I think a bit of line adjustment through the twisty bits may be needed.

Met up with some of the Brighton MTB guys so there was a bit less ‘scientific’ analysis of setup etc than I’d hoped and more trying not to hold the faster riders up.

I may rotate the post a bit but the cable outer naturally rested there so I don’t want too tight a curve in it.

A proper 4 bar … Nice. Makes me think my ’05 5 Spot isn’t so out of date after all.

It was a shame they were all L and XL
Looks great.
I’d definitely like to try one.

I keep meaning to contact Liteville with some logo ideas – I think their current one does them no favours.

Waswas are you running a narrow wide ring of some description? I have the Syntace chain guide on my 2*10 and it works a treat (although I do have a clutch mech) Looks nice and integrated too. Can also recommend the syntace mech protector for extra peace of mind. Are you running the back end at 140mmm?

Jamie

Waswas are you running a narrow wide ring of some description? I have the Syntace chain guide on my 2*10 and it works a treat (although I do have a clutch mech) Looks nice and integrated too. Can also recommend the syntace mech protector for extra peace of mind. Are you running the back end at 140mmm?

Jamie

Hi, yes got a narrow wide ring on there and had no problems with the chain dropping.

The chain does tend to slap a bit against the bottom of the chain ring going over larger fallen tree branches etc because I’m running a 9-speed, non clutch, mech.

I’ve been looking at the Syntace chain guide and mech protector but £150 to solve a bit of chain slap and a bit more confidence at the back in an accident is a bit of a ‘mmmm, it’ll probably wait’ spend.

Yes the prices are a bit steep I guess you could get a ten speed clutch setup for about the same money. Did you look on the syntace website or at a uk supplier for those parts? Quality piece of kit, I love mine…

Found this vid on MTB.de which just about sums up the Liteville for me.

http://videos.mtb-news.de/videos/view/31932

Want to try out a 901 but not sure what i’d use it for.

for a second i thought you were replying to this post

lemonysam – Member
Whenever I see that linkage design I imagine some kind of freak accident creating a kind of scrotal stretching apparatus.

with this

wwaswas – Member
having lost one and had to order a replacement from Germany I didn’t want a second to pop off mid-ride and be lost too.

but yes very nice bike

I too am in the ‘horrific accident waiting to happen’ camp when i look at these frames.

Which is a shame, cos they look very well made.

do you contact the linkage with your legs at all? if you were to slip off the pedals on to the top tube, is it really going to be as bad as it looks?

if you do decide to test these questions out then please film it. I’m sure jackass would be interested in your footage!

Wicked garden mate, mowing it must take ages though.

Slowrider, I’ve never had an incident where the “guillotine” effect has come into play.. more of a threat is the return of my dropper post smacking me in the knackers. The linkages are very low profile and the way they move under compression means anything entering their path is unlikely to get trapped unless they were very small… In which case it’ll lop ’em clean off to prevent you passing on this genetic deficiency to possible offspring.

here’s pic of one just past the sag point so at, say, 30% of full travel.

As you can see there isn’t a huge amount of risk of anything getting trapped between the rocker plates and the tubes unless it comes in straight from the side and you’d be as likely to get yourself caught up with a more conventional bike suspension system somewhere doing that, imo anyway.

Glad I missed that PSA, a 140 in L would be right up my street.

I saw one of these in the flesh and was very tempted. I couldn’t quite get the build I wanted in my budget though, so went for a Bandit instead. Would still like to try one of these though, just to see what – if anything – I’m missing.

I remember the PSA on this and thought heck! if only I could afford 😀

So wwaswas, if I was after a second hand FS frame…. 😀

Very nice indeed that.

cheers 🙂 I think it’s one of those ‘What would you change it for?’ frames, really.

I’m a bit of a serial frame swapper, it has to be said but this one has ‘keeper’ written on it.

honourablegeorge – Member
Glad I missed that PSA, a 140 in L would be right up my street.

Don’t click this link honourablegeorge!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Liteville-301-Mk10-works-silver-140mm-Large-Minus-headset-parts-/271300096542?pt=UK_Health_Beauty_Fragrances_Women_s_Fragrances_PP&hash=item3f2abef21e

they have a medium in black for that £1149 too…

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Liteville-301-Mk-10-Race-Black-Medium-140mm-travel-/271300060120

bargin.

[video]http://youtu.be/BYT_lBxf380[/video]