Very Nice
No pictures , but have a Merlin Aerial , Merlin Agilis, & Litespeed Tachyon.
Kestrel Airfoil & Guru 901 Carbon
These days, the Ti Bikes are let out on special occasions. And have never considered selling them.Never can be replaced
Big happy Family

Beautiful rides you have there

Great bikes, and I wouldn't mind owning one, but a P2SL is probably more aero.

Surprising that we haven't seen any Ti bikes with carbon (or other materials) used as fairings. Take the aero advantage shapes from carbon and bond them to a Ti frame that will last forever.

what model front fender do you have on your commuter? I like how low it goes.

Anything can break but other than the Ti mtb forks, I'd take the ti frames mode of failure over the carbon one in the link.

Even titanium brakes. It just doesn't brake as often and easy as carbon. My first titanium frame, Airborne Zeppelin made in China, survived 5 years of my daily commutes, 2 year for my son's daily commute. It handled well several pretty bad crashes and finally got a fracture in the down tube after getting hit from a side by a stubid delivery guy riding a mountain bike powered by electric motor...

hey I like titanium, it hurt me a bit to post those pictures, but some guy had to do the bad mouthing carbon and mentioning of bustedcarbon thing.

I felt *compelled*

But yes I realize that ti frames usually fail to bad welding, because the welding is tricky. Much like carbon frame usually fail to bad layup design or implementation, because THAT is also tricky.

which is why we should all ride steel =)

(now someone post 100 pics of broken steel frames)

Not sure which bike you meant. I guess, P2SL is more aero than the one with Huffy decals :) Anyway, great Litespeed Blade Stealth on the post made by Monsieur Trois is likely more aero than Lynskey Custom Level 4. May be the latest Cervelo, Trek and even Asian tri carbon frames that sell on eBay for $400-500 are more aero. I don't really care - full package (style, look, dirability, aero, etc.) is more important for me. I do race triathlons and time does matter for me. However, I would never invest $$$ in a carbon frame even if it saves me some seconds during a race. Just a quick look on http://www.bustedcarbon.com/ makes many people think. So I will leave 'aero' talks to those who must justify a purchase of another carbon toy year after year...

Thanks for detailed answer. My apologies, I absolutely forgot that Cervelo used to make great aluminum bikes. Not sure though that aluminum is known for durability and ride quality. Aluminum is aging and still is not as durable as steel or titanium. However, I would definetely prefer to ride an aluminum bike than a carbon one. As far a price/value ratio goes then tri alu frames are hard to beat! Anyway, I don't take seriously all aero discussions. I'll leave test numbers from wind tunnels to marketing and sales. I may open a can of worms, but I don't think P5 will make much difference over an oly tri course compare to P2 SL for an average age grouper with not so aero position. Just picture the frontal area of the bike you mentined together with frontal area of the rider! But if somebody wants to pay almost $100 for every second advantage over an oly course then be it. I ride on my own and I would prefer to have a more reliable tri bike when going for a long solo training ride in a middle of nowhere...

I'll see your Lynskey and raise you a Litespeed! Aero Ti goodness and badness.

Cassidy wrote:

This is a triathlon website. Why should we care about UCI rules?

Maybe that should be a poll, how many folks on this website ride UCI legal on their time trial bike.

As for the excuse of building less expensive, less reliable frames in Asia, it sounds similar to the north American auto industry of a few years ago and perhaps why most bikes are made over seas now. Build a reliable, aero bike in NA and it will sell.

5.11 Bicycle Specifications.

(e) There must be no protective shield, fairing, or other device on any part of the bicycle (including frame, wheels, handlebars, chain wheel, and accessories) which has the effect of reducing resistance. Aerodynamic carriers for food, water, and or cycling provisions maybe attached to or be an integral part of the aero-handlebars if they meet the following guidelines:

#1 - Lynskey Triathlon Custom Level 4 - My gosh! Just when I thougtht I was totally satisfied with my bike and would stop lusting for others........ That bike is awsome. How much was the frame set? I love my speed concept, but maybe I could use a lighter ti tri bike for my mediocre bike split.

To those who have ridden steel and titanium bikes:

Is the whole 'magic ti' thing reality, or myth?

I found it on Ebay.

Three known to exist. Always lusted after it and couldn't believe it showed up. I pestered several Litespeed employees over the years (one on the forum here) trying to track one down. Almost made the mistake of selling it recently but that won't happen again!

I may strip the paint someday...that's my only criticism of the bike.

Great job - very nice and stylish setup! It seems like you was lucky enough to pull the best Guru Ti Tri frameset before Guru gave up (same as Litespeed, QR and many others) on Tri Ti frames.

This bike was never supposed to see the light of day until a marketing department guy saw it and wanted to create a little buzz with it. It never got production approval; much to the chagrin of Brad DeVaney. The paint looks pretty slick, it's not flat black but more of a glossy finish, and it does look like something Darth Vader might ride...the fact that they painted Ti is a mild criticism at most. The bike is a piece of art.

Your Huffy almost reminds me of those old Fuji Ti roadbikes except for the sloping top tube and horizontal dropouts.

So why do you think those brands have given up on Ti? I'm guessing it's the hair splitting over how aero the new carbon tri frames are and that for the same price of a good Ti frame, you can get a top end "superbike". It's a shame, but it's understandable. I know I'm giving up some speed by riding what I do, but for some reason, I haven't given much thought to an upgrade.

man you are a slow swimmer! last bike left in T1

It is not hard to find the maker of the Huffy's....one guy in is WI, the other CO.

Titanium frame with "Huffy" decals could definitely give Huffy credits. However, this one is a custom made titanium cyclocross frame that has a very rare combination of horizontal dropouts, regular road wheel spacing, derailleur hanger and cable bosses.

CW in NH wrote:

Chip certainly knows that its not a Huffy, and he probably knows who built it. Hence his comment.

I wish I could have afforded a Lynskey, I ended up building a Litespeed Saber (06) frame and love it. It is like butter.

shot in the dark, but do you commute up (north) the west side hwy bike path? I think I have seen some of these bikes out there and the aggressive drop is very noticeable.

Good titanium frames require advanced skills and equipment. It's hard to find good titanium welders and production of good titanium frames (double/triple butted tubing, etc.) is very costly compare to carbon. Markup on carbon frames is way higher compare to titanium bikes and titanium bike shops can't invest $$$ on marketing like big carbon manufacturers. Business is business and many former North Amarican ti shops are now switching to carbon to make living or just go out of business. So Lynskey and few more ti shops are the only hope so far...

Titanium has some mystique surrounding it that suggests it is a superlative material but almost nothing about its physical properties would indicate that the argument for it has merit.


-SD

Enough carbon. Let's talk titanium! Just wanted to share some photos of somewhat special titanium bikes. I race triathlons and all my bike have tri geometry with exception of my 'bad weather' commute bike. Here they are:
#1 - Lynskey Triathlon Custom Level 4. IMHO, the sexiest, classy, most elegant and yet aero frame among ALL tri bikes. It's also among the strongest thanks to the main triangle made of 6/4 titanium. Ride quality is perfect thanks to skinny specially shaped seat stays. This is my latest setup for long distance triathlons - not as aggressive as used to be on my first buld posted on slowtwitch some time ago.
Weight of the pictured bike is 16.6 lbs.

So why are hip replacements, mars vehicles, combat aircraft (A10) and fan blades in jet engines made out of ti instead carbon?