Considering doing something radical: selling my tri bike and buying a road bike. I’ve ridden my Kuota K-Factor for the last 3 years, and it’s been great, but I’m tired of just having a TT bike. I can’t afford 2 bikes, so I’m considering selling it and getting an “aero” road bike. Here’s my logic: I race about 4 times a year (mix of sprints and oly’s), with a half ironman about every other year. I understand that a tri bike is obviously faster in races, but that’s about 1% of my riding time. I enjoy group rides and do 1-2 of those per week. Does anybody have experience with the Litespeed Archon C series, specifically the C3? Any input is appreciated.
I have the C1 and have to say it is an increadible bike. Very stiff, still comfortable, I think it is noticably aero when riding.
A bit of warning for using it as both road and tr. The head tubes are relatively long, and the seattube is shallow with a setback clamp. I toyed around with the idea of using my C1 at IMC but ultimately coudl not get low or steep enough so I scrapped the idea. I think if I was going to use it as an all arounder I’d have gone with the smaller size, but the seatpost is still at issue (although I think there are aftermarket aero clamps available now.
Super sweet bike you son’t see everyday.
Thanks for the info. I’m not too concerned with the steepness factor, b/c my K-Factor doesn’t have a very aggressive geometry. If I put on aerobars for races I think I’ll just put on some shorties. I also like the fact that you don’t see many of them on the road. I actually haven’t seen any where I live.
Save yourself a lot of money. Set up your Kuota as a road bike: put on drop bars and sti shifters (with a longer stem than you’re likely using now). Leave your seat position approx as it is, so you’ll have a forward position which will help you get aero and generate power while aero. You’ll be able to race in triathlons very effectively (with the right clip ons) and you can do group training rides as well. Pocket the money you would have spent on the bike switch.
I’ve been contemplating that for a while now, but I’m also looking for an upgrade as a Christmas present from the parents. The C3 is a much better bike (full Ultegra) while the K-factor is pretty much all 105. I’m looking at the Archon C3 b/c it’s the only “aero” road bike that’s in my price range. The Felt AR5 is affordable, but it’s a 105 build and the Ultegra AR4 is $1000 more than the C3 (All3Sports has the C3 on sale for $2500).
Just bought a C3. Love it. I’m not sure what input you are looking for. But a couple of the big points for me are the great stiffness and build quality. I have the 2010 so its got the seat mast. The 2011 won’t have that. Personally I’m a fan of the seat mast so its a plus for me.
I was just basically looking for ride quality, craftsmanship, etc. I’m not very familiar with Litespeed, so I was just looking for general stuff. The one I’m looking at is a 2010, so I guess it would have the seatmast. Why did they abandon that for 2011?
The frameset was designed to work most effectively with the seat mast. Dealers preferred the idea of a sliding seat post for easier fitting and test riding on the showroom floor. There’s no Integrated Seat Mast (ISM) conspiracy. The new C1R keeps the ISM for 2011.
Thanks for asking,
Mac McEneaney
Director of Sales, QR / Litespeed
It’s a really sexy bike, BUT I was disapointed with how heavy it is. It’s heavier than a lot of TT frames, which is crazy. Pretty stiff though, but unless you’re cranking 1200 watts in a sprint, you probably wouldn’t notice it over most other frames.
There’s also zero adjustment of the seat mast. Once it’s cut, it’s cut, that’s it.
Personally I think the Fuji SST is totally badass, and it’s a LOT lighter.
Ride quality is very good. Much better than I’d expect on a bike this stiff.
Very little flex while standing. Nice controlled feel on descending. Like many of the other aero frames the big tubes do catch the cross winds but not such that its a problem. I’m not a lightweight person so the frame weight is not a problem. With my 404’s and a power tap complete its still in the 16 lbs range.
C3 (and now the C1R) has external cable routing. I’m not an internal cable fan. Between that and the BB30 its pretty much hassle free in building it up.
what build do you have on it? i’m looking at the Ultegra 6700 build.
The shop I work at has one as a demo bike right now. I have put about 500mi on it so far.
I really like the way this bike rides and looks. Very stable handling, great power transfer, comfortable enough for me to do 80-100mi rides on it without problems.
For me the drawbacks of this bike are the weight and the compact cranks(for where I live and how I ride I like standard rings on my road bikes). A good bit of the weight could be taken out of the bike with just a wheel swap, but the it would still be on the hefty side.
If you are in the Philly area and ride a 54 sized bike shoot me a pm and we can let you take the bike out for a few 100mi and you can make the call for yourself.
The frame weight on a 2010 C3 with an uncut seat mast is about 1250 grams. That isn’t terribly heavy compared to other aero frames. The C2 and C1 got progressively lighter by using higher modulus carbon fiber lay-ups. For 2011, the C1R is slightly over 1000 grams with an uncut seat mast.
Once the mast has been cut, the FSA K-Wing seat binder has 30 millimeters of adjustment. We’ve found that once you go outside of about 45 millimeters of adjustment, you should be considering a different frame size. We also have a sliding seatpost that can be retrofit on the 2010 frames.
The Fuji SST is great looking bike - it is about the same weight as our C1R.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Mac McEneaney
QR / Litespeed
Thanks for the info! I didn’t know about the 30 millimeters of adjustment - forgive my ignorance.
In my original post I guess I should have said the only bike I’d seen “seemed” somewhat heavy. But it wasn’t a very scientific assesment, totally on feel, and I’m pretty sure it was an ultegra build and we were comparing it to some bikes with dura ace and force. That also probably impacted the perceived weight difference.
That said, my unscientific assesment of its weight is basically moot - just noticed Nicole Kelleher managed to ride one to a 3rd place at USAT Elite Nationals last weekend - on an 8 lap course with 2 substantial hills each lap!
What do people think of this, which I came across on Weight Weenies? These numbers seem disproportionately large compared to what Cervelo has published for the SLC (now S-series) as compared to the R-series.
Eye-balling it yields 125 watts (Litespeed) versus 141 watts (control ) @ 30 mph. Presumably that includes wheels, and presumably they’re the same wheels, since the body typically contributes twice as much as the frame, and so you’re up close to 400 watts not even counting rolling resistance or drivetrain losses. But if the bike was tested w/o rider but with a saddle, for example, that would add wind resistance, perhaps, compared to the component of wind resistance due to the bike with the rider in place.
With such big numbers it would be surprising any major pro race in Europe would be won by a round-tubed bike.
Here is a review I wrote a few months ago:
http://university.tri-sports.com/2010/07/20/the-old-dog’s-new-trick/
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realcyclist.com has them in size small only for $1950.
Nobody, though, has any thoughts on the claims for power savings?
I have a C1 and love it. Great handling and acceleration. It is noticably faster than a regular bike on descents, which would suggest at least 7-15 watts. I get a ton of drop on my medium sized frame. The tops of my bars on the C1 are actually a little lower than the pads on my Transition, and I have a 1 cm spacer on the C1 and no spacers on the Transition (both are medium sized frames). Mine weighs 15.25 with 50 mm cabon tubulars and an athena 11 speed speed build/ speedplay X5/steel seat rails… , so you could easily build a 14 lbs bike with some attention to component weight.
The bikes were tested with the same wheels, no saddle, same seat post height. It was comparing an Archon Ti to an Archon C3. We did several different tests comparing the two - with water bottles, without, with bars and without - but in every single instance there was a significant drag reduction. The people who were with me that day in testing knew that there would be a difference, but didn’t realize how much. It was eye opening for us too. If you have other questions, feel free to email me: mac@americanbicyclegroup.com.
Mac McE
Director of North American Sales
Litespeed & QR