I've sold Litespeed for quite a number of years along with other titanium bikes such as Seven, Merlin (now part of Litespeed's parent, ABG)and quite few others.

IMO, no titanium bike is as good as Litespeed. We consistently see that Litespeed is the state-of-the-art in titanium bicycle fabrication and design.

Unlike other titanium bike makers, many of which are still quite good, Litespeed started as a titanium fabricator, primarily to the defense industry. Their first bicycle attempts were admittedly rough.

Perhaps the biggest strength Litespeed has is their ability to learn from their (few) mistakes, adapt and came back stronger. The '04 Blade is an example of that. It is so dramatically improved it has nothing in common with the Blade from several model years ago which had a lot of problems.

Litespeed's road bikes keep getting better. There is a reason why you've seen a lot of top pro teams on Litespeed built bikes with other bike manufacturers' decals on them, including Lance Armstrong and Richard Virenque.

This year Litespeed has a $2000 MSRP price point road bike with Ultegra, all hand made, U.S. made 3/2.5 titanium that blows everything else in its category away.

There are other titanium bikes out there, but they don't approach Litespeed's level of design and manufacturing sophistication. Compare them nuts to bolts- you'll see. If I rode a titanium bike, I'd probably be on a Litespeed.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

"If I rode a titanium bike, I'd probably be on a Litespeed."

Tom, any particular reason why you don't ride Ti or is due to a fit issue with the frames on offer?

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For one who has no objective, nothing is relevant. (Confucius)
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Tom

I have just read your review of the Tuscany and that sounds rather attractive too. I will pay a good shop here in the UK to measure me up and chose the frame size accordingly (they are Litespeed dealers).

In your opinion for a traithlete who wants to race log and short, but also do long rides in the mountains around Europe in the summer along with other group riding which frame is going to serve me the best, the Tuscany, Classic or Solano? Price is not really the issue, i am quite heavy and want a tough, stiff frame that is reasonably light. They all look lovely and shiney to me but given that i am big, it will not be possible to test ride all or maybe even any of them here in the UK as they would have to be ordered in specially.

William

I have had a few Litespeeds...

1 - Custom Ultimate with Record (now 10)...Look HFC 1" fork and polished - looks like no other...such a beautiful bike...I lend this bike out often and have a hard time getting it back. This is the bike that I use to "convert" people to the Campy way of life. They even put my Social as the Serial number on this bike.

2 - Palmeres...full Record 9, lent the bike to someone about a year or so ago...will probably never see it again...damnit.

3 - Blade - heavy and odd bike to ride...sold it for more than I got it for a few years back. My Softride Rocket bikes at the time were MUCH MUCH better for TT and Tri than the Blade was.



As for the new bikes...I am dead set against Carbon stays and integrated head sets. I think Litespeed messed up with the Aluminum bikes that have their name on it. I like my Litespeeds like my Kleenex...if you say Litespeed, you knew Ti was the theme of the day...now you can say Litespeed and have to ask...

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?