Ti Dilemma… Soda, On-One, Hummer or ???

So I’m coming to the conclusion that if I’m going to do a bit more racing this year then the Stiffie is too heavy and well its not very good at going up hill anyway. I dont really fancy going to a full-on race carbon frame as I want something that is going to be pleasing to ride all the time and much as I want to indulge a love of anything carbon fibre… I think I’ll save that for a road bike sometime!

So Ti seems to be the way to go… I really fancy the Soda (for a start it’s British)… but what do you guys think… anyone got one, ridden one… what about the On-One Ti456 or a Cove Hummer or an Airbourne etc etc????

race bike?
soda.

Hummer 😉

I have a hummer and I think it’s brilliant. Mate has a Soda and he loves that. Last person to test ride my hummer bought one and his view was (coming from a Global Ti) was “it’s not magic, it’s just a bit better at everything than mine”

Love my Soda too, recommend it definitely. Think you’ll have to wait for the new ones to come through though.

I’ve got a Global, and it’s very, very nice and fast. Seems to ride like my old chameleon through the singletrack, float on the ups, glide the downs, and is just beautifully balanced. Will probably try a couple of the Gorricks on it this year.

Talking of ti race bikes I want a Lynskey M230…

Race bike?
The Soda is too flexy, if you’re trying to put down shit loads of power you’ll feel it on every turn of the cranks.

Ti 456 I find to be awful with 100mm forks on it. It has a low front end with 140mm forks. 100mm on the flat feels like your face is ahead of the front wheel.

Hummer, for all it’s heavy (relatively…3.6lbs isn’t really heavy), it’s also stiff and direct and works well with 100 and 120mm forks.

TBH though, Airborne (AKA Van Nicholas) is the best bet. Setup for 100mm forks, lighter than all of the others (same as the Soda IIRC) and as stiff as the 456 but more compliant than the Hummer.

I’ve owned all of them at one time or another and currently use an Airborne Lucky Strike (Van Nicholas Zion) as an XC race bike. I use the Ti456 as my “day rider harder than full sus” bike.

The Ti456 is a mare to get working woth some bits of kit though. Chris King rear hubs, Bars and Stems etc…

Merlin XLM would be the ideal Ti race bike

Merlin XLM would be the ideal Ti race bike

ONLY if someone else is paying for it.

Love my ti456 but not sure it would be too good for racing on as you’d want to take all of the fun lines rather than the fast ones. That’s what I’ve got the scandal 29er for and it’s also prety good at an all day sort of bike, went to Bets-y-Coed a few weeks back with it and it was loads better tahn i though it would be.

ONLY if someone else is paying for it.

If you want to race the bikes you mentioned are not really suitable, suppose it depends how serious you are about competing.

The Ti456 is a mare to get working woth some bits of kit though. Chris King rear hubs, Bars and Stems etc…

How so?

I have a Hummer would not race that to relaxed geometry.if you want to go racing on a Ti get a Litespeed.

The rear end of the Ti456 seems to bite too hard on to the bearings of the Chris King hub (I’ve tried two and one Hope) The result is that there’s too much friction on the freehub preventing backpedaling without the chain snarling around itself.

I’m soo fooooking pissed off with it.

One day I’ll get some BB30 cranks for my Whyte 19TI, and then I’ll find out what it rides like 🙁

Daffy, can’t really see it being the frame at fault there, sounds more like something wrong with the hubs, the inside edges of the dropouts should be flat and parallel and I can’t see lynskey letting one out any other way. Is the cassette on properly? Have you tried the wheels in a different frame?

markenduro….I couldn’t figure how the frame would affect the hub either?

Brodie Cruzado 🙂

Daffy – it sounds like it’s your cassette fitting technique.
am I mad or do some freehub bodies need a spacer before the cassette, or maybe you are tightening up the lock screw too tight?

T456/pro2/XTR = no problems – Only pilot error. 🙂

Litespeed Ocoee.

“bite too hard on the bearings”?

sorry. you’re mistaken. dropouts grip axles. not bearings.

And QR’s produce the force that bites on bearings…

Brant – My terminology may be incorrect, but something odd is definitely happening. The wheels freewheel perfectly when in another frame or even when the QR is loose. As soon as QR is tightened (The magnitude of the tension has an effect here) the cassette fails to freewheel correctly even when very loosely tensioned.

The higher the gear, the worse it is. Can you offer a suggestion as to why it does this with two King hubs (One of which is brand new) and to a lesser extent a Hope hub? Is the frame damaged?

I’m quite exasperated with it…I never knew how much I backpedalled on a given ride.

daffy – i run chris king’s iso 10mm rear qr on my ti456 , no problems at all. what the f### are you talking about ?
then again, i do service my ringdrive every couple of months which assists drag effect.

oh and JB – the 456 is a better trail/play bike than the hummer of which i also own.

I have an Airborne for sale if you are interested?

I have recentley had a TI 456,for me, my conlusion is, the top tube is a little Too long,I am 5″8 16 ins frame,I have since gone to a Cove Hummer and “Found the love”(and yes i did experiment with stems layback s posts etc etc)The hummetr is a ittle heavier but workls the front fork much better than the 456 imho, as an xc bike i can recommend the Hummer although it is much stiffer and the overall finnish is not a patch on the 456,its the end ride/feel thats important to me.

I am a hummer fan, although if theres one peice opf advice i can give you it is that you really should ride a bike BEFORE you decide to buy!

good luck!

How many miles has the other rear CK hub done Daffy?
They do that ’till you’ve run them in.
Very surprised a Hope is doing it.

Of the bikes mentioned, in the original post and in passing, I’d go Soda or Scandal for a race frame. The Soda is plenty stiff enough, and the Scandal is far more comforting/forgiving than you might expect for an alu frame. Both are proper light and handle well with the kind of forks I’d consider on a race bike.

Lecht – I run a standard 9mm QR on the Ti456. are you running the same or a 10mm boltthrough.

I service mine every 4-6 months, they’re running just fine on every other bike. Not the Ti456 though.

daffy – i too run the std 9mm QR.
ringdrive service needed ! or as kelvin says, more mileage !

Not tried them, but have a look at Zero-Four bikes in Dorset. Custom build Ti hardtail for £899, which makes it a good starter on price alone, and then you’ve got the advantage of having things sized to you.

I’ve got an airborne lancaster, old school I know, but seems to combine best of both worlds, the Ti comfort and really direct power delivery. I wouldn’t recommend an airborne black widow for racing as it’s too flexy at the back. Saying all that it’s not much help as they seems pretty rare nowadays!

another vote for the airborne lancaster, i have one, love it!

you can still get the black widow, its made by van nicholas as is the lancaster (zion) and a newer design longer travel frame the name of which escapes me…

lancaster/zion is the best bet i reckon, specially for racing, great with a 100 mm fork

I love this thread…I have some money (at last) and was thinking of Ti but I am not racing it (not fit enough) so I was wondering which would be best as an all round bike (might be my only bike).

Will have you the airborne still for sale?

aw – my hummer is for sale – 18″ 2006

if you’re after an airborne, I’d get one off ebay – same frame from China and when I was looking last summer they were about £350.

pk-ripper – Member

if you’re after an airborne, I’d get one off ebay – same frame from China and when I was looking last summer they were about £350.

That’s the one I got – but the exchange rate has probably knocked that up to nearer £600 now. Great frame though. Bike is used for local rides, is loaded up with panniers for highlands XC/camping and I’ve had RC31s on it too. It just feels soooo lively compared with my old Inbred and is comfortable enough to be ridden all day.

get an Eriksen, lynksy, IF or black sheep.

Then hope Gordon Brown will bail you out when the credit card bill lands on your mat!

The welds on those Eriksens are something to behold