This is my first post to Slowtwitch. First let me very briefly describe myself. I’m 45 and just starting to train for triathlons. Since I’m a bonafide newbie, I wouldn’t be posting here except for the fact that Tom Pishkin references the Slowtwitch forum on the TitanFlex website and I just had publically provide feedback (you know, similar to that eBay thing...)
I bought a medium 650c TitanFlex from Tom last May. For sure, his customer service is absolutely the best I’ve dealt with. He’s obviously an expert about bikes. He’s patient, responsive and bends over backwards to help you get what you want. I don’t think you will get better component prices when you buy your bike through him. This is not new information, so I won’t dwell on this.
What I'd like to do is focus on performance characteristics. I just completed the Hotter ‘n Hell 100 on my TitanFlex which should serve as a basis of comparison. Course is mostly flat with some rolling terrain. The conditions were slightly hotter and windier than last year. We had some thunderstorms and lightning rolling in, with stiff headwinds developing later during the ride. Despite this, I was a few minutes faster this year than last year. Last year I rode a Cannondale CAAD5 multisport with Velocity Spartacus Pros, so a few minutes improvement is not impressive. right? Well last year, I drafted whenever I could, which was about 50-60% of the time (I would have drafted 100% of the time but a lot of pacelines I hooked up with often stopped at the break areas). This year, I deliberately avoided drafting just to see how I might do. I passed a lot of pacelines and begrudgingly pulled a lot of pacelines. My computer showed an average speed of 21.9 mph but even though I measured the wheel, I think the speed was more like 21.5 mph based on actual time and purported distance. I honestly don’t think the motor is that much better than last year. Comfort-wise, the TitanFlex was outstanding. During the first part of the ride, I heard people complaining about the roughness of the road and it struck me as funny at the time because I didn’t know what they were talking about.
As far as aesthetics, my bike certainly got a lot of amazed looks and comments (photo is a bit dark because hurricane Katrina is affecting our weather). I don't think most roadies (which I started as) know about TitanFlex, heck I didn't know about them until April of this year.
I have some small criticisms of the TitanFlex and XLab wheelset. The upper frame mounted bottle cage doesn’t work for me. I ride with my knees closer in and I constantly kept brushing against the cage (I removed the cage for the photo). Extremely irritating! I haven’t tried the lower mounting points, so I may try that. The XLab wheelset turned out to be almost a full pound heavier than advertised, so hill climbing is not great with these wheels (the TitanFlex frame is very stiff in this regard). Also I don’t think the manufacturing tolerances are as good as the Hed H3; the wheels have a more complex shape and are not a high production item (it took 6 months for me to get my wheels through a local dealer, but that may have to do with the fact that I wanted 650c which are not as popular) so I can accept the tradeoffs. Despite these shortcomings, aesthetically I like how the wheels match up with the TitanFlex. Their high speed performance (i.e., less drag) is far and away better than the Spartacus Pros. I haven’t used Hed H3 so not sure which has better aero performance, but even if H3 (or any other wheels for that matter) was better, I’d accept the tradeoffs and still chose the XLabs. The XLabs also seem plenty strong, though I’ll only use them for serious rides.
As far as the other components on the bike, suffice it to say that my choices were often based on tradeoffs with what's currently out there.
Regards,
AeroEgg
P.S. I did the graphics if you were wondering, maybe Tom will offer something similar, or you can have it done for you -- if that's your thing.
I bought a medium 650c TitanFlex from Tom last May. For sure, his customer service is absolutely the best I’ve dealt with. He’s obviously an expert about bikes. He’s patient, responsive and bends over backwards to help you get what you want. I don’t think you will get better component prices when you buy your bike through him. This is not new information, so I won’t dwell on this.
What I'd like to do is focus on performance characteristics. I just completed the Hotter ‘n Hell 100 on my TitanFlex which should serve as a basis of comparison. Course is mostly flat with some rolling terrain. The conditions were slightly hotter and windier than last year. We had some thunderstorms and lightning rolling in, with stiff headwinds developing later during the ride. Despite this, I was a few minutes faster this year than last year. Last year I rode a Cannondale CAAD5 multisport with Velocity Spartacus Pros, so a few minutes improvement is not impressive. right? Well last year, I drafted whenever I could, which was about 50-60% of the time (I would have drafted 100% of the time but a lot of pacelines I hooked up with often stopped at the break areas). This year, I deliberately avoided drafting just to see how I might do. I passed a lot of pacelines and begrudgingly pulled a lot of pacelines. My computer showed an average speed of 21.9 mph but even though I measured the wheel, I think the speed was more like 21.5 mph based on actual time and purported distance. I honestly don’t think the motor is that much better than last year. Comfort-wise, the TitanFlex was outstanding. During the first part of the ride, I heard people complaining about the roughness of the road and it struck me as funny at the time because I didn’t know what they were talking about.
As far as aesthetics, my bike certainly got a lot of amazed looks and comments (photo is a bit dark because hurricane Katrina is affecting our weather). I don't think most roadies (which I started as) know about TitanFlex, heck I didn't know about them until April of this year.
I have some small criticisms of the TitanFlex and XLab wheelset. The upper frame mounted bottle cage doesn’t work for me. I ride with my knees closer in and I constantly kept brushing against the cage (I removed the cage for the photo). Extremely irritating! I haven’t tried the lower mounting points, so I may try that. The XLab wheelset turned out to be almost a full pound heavier than advertised, so hill climbing is not great with these wheels (the TitanFlex frame is very stiff in this regard). Also I don’t think the manufacturing tolerances are as good as the Hed H3; the wheels have a more complex shape and are not a high production item (it took 6 months for me to get my wheels through a local dealer, but that may have to do with the fact that I wanted 650c which are not as popular) so I can accept the tradeoffs. Despite these shortcomings, aesthetically I like how the wheels match up with the TitanFlex. Their high speed performance (i.e., less drag) is far and away better than the Spartacus Pros. I haven’t used Hed H3 so not sure which has better aero performance, but even if H3 (or any other wheels for that matter) was better, I’d accept the tradeoffs and still chose the XLabs. The XLabs also seem plenty strong, though I’ll only use them for serious rides.
As far as the other components on the bike, suffice it to say that my choices were often based on tradeoffs with what's currently out there.
Regards,
AeroEgg
P.S. I did the graphics if you were wondering, maybe Tom will offer something similar, or you can have it done for you -- if that's your thing.