Now that Fall is coming around, I’m looking to upgrade my bike. While I’m happy with looking at the complete sets, I already have upgraded my bike to the point where I love my wheels & handle bars. I’m thinking of possibly customizing my bike and just upgrading my frame.
Question, if you had to choose a solid sub $3K frame built for IM racing, what are the general consensus best performing two or three frames? I am pretty set on DA components, but have been looking at some real dozy frames (Guru, Litespeed, Kuota) and while all the features sound great, I’m not a bike expert and need the advice…
Calfee makes an awesome road bike, but for TT/Tri, they aren’t super sexy. Ditto for Parlee. But then I’m a Lotus/Cheetah guy who settled for a Stealth…
QR Lucero. At $2195 (frame/fork/seatpost/headset), you will have enough money left over for 2 IM entries plus have a fast, comfortable, very light bike.
After several 100 mile rides, I have absolutely no complaints.
“You know you are getting old when you see your father in the mirror.” anon.
I like my Litespeed Blade…aside from the ride qualities the one thing that I really like is the way that Ti holds up while traveling…no scratches, dings, chips, cracks etc…
I just did this and bought a Titanflex frame. This thing is the most comfortable bike you’ll ever buy. You can change it from road to tri geometry and any angle in between.
Freeflyer wrote: I just did this and bought a Titanflex frame.
The only thing I find odd about this is, Tom gives such good prices on parts sold on his TitanFlex bikes, it’s hard to justify NOT buying a complete bike from him. You do have to know what you want out of the bike in order to make it as adjustable as possible.
For example, a buddy of mine has a fairly decent size upper body (like many AG triathletes). So, for weight distribution reasons, he requires a little longer front-to-center geometry when he sets his frame up for time trialing. We did that by getting the frame size that bordered on being bigger than he’d need if he were going to set up as road only. Add the fact that he’s found he really likes the very steep positioning (80 degrees and steeper, which I’m not sure he would have discovered without the adjustability of the TitanFlex boom), and then it’s obvious that he really needs a shorter head tube.
So, Tom cut off the top lip of the head tube (shortened the head tube by 2 cm +/-) and cut the titanium boom to be shorter than standard. Result? PERFECT solution. Actually, my buddy would have fit better on a 650 TitanFlex frame without needing these modifications, but, he wanted to stay with 700 wheels to match his other bike.
Why did I go so far down this line of reasoning? Because, unless a frameset really fits your required body dimensions and is set up ideally for your actual use of the bike, you might have a great frame but a not-so-great bike. You say you are new to all of this, my advice is to seek out someone knowledgeable that can steer you to the right frame/bike. If you want a standard Double Diamond frame instead, at least do yourself the favor of consulting Ves Mandaric at Yaqui…he makes arguably one of the very best Scandium framesets offered anywhere…custom only costs an extra couple of hundred dollars if your geometry demands custom). Best of luck in your search…bikes are wonderful things when they are done right.
The only thing I find odd about this is, Tom gives such good prices on parts sold on his TitanFlex bikes, it’s hard to justify NOT buying a complete bike from him.
I know, and I would love to have bought the full set, but it would have been another $1000 for the group and I just couldn’t swing that far. Likewise I’d have loved the half price zipp 404’s, but there’s a limit to the budget, so I just transferred the group over, and bought some velocity spartacus 700c wheels from him at a great price.
Loving it so far and tweaking down the position after the fit on Monday.
If you want a bike that handles well in a steep geometry then this is the only bike I have found. I ride mine at 80+ degrees and have no issue with bombing down twisting mountain roads. I can ride no hands and peel a powerbar with no issues, or put jackets on an off. Ves has been making steep tri bikes for a long time.
Plus, I have never seen a Yaqui on eBay, so that makes me think that once you buy one you never want to give it up. I sure never will.