George and Mac from American Bicycle Group, parent company to Litespeed and Quintana Roo, were kind enough to join us for our morning ride today at 7:30 AM. In attendance were Mike Aderhold, Lisa, Pierre, Nate the Giant Baby, Frankie, Mac and George as well s yours truly.
We had a spirited ride, with Frankie putting down the power at 28 mph consistently and Mike Aderhold matching every pull as well as Lisa winding up in the final selection. George took a pull at the end that had everybody begging for mercy. Breakfast afterward with that crew. Great ride.
George and Mac also gave me a look at some new '05 products that they swore me to secrecy on, so I can;t say anything except that you will be impressed and in one case, utterly shocked. I was. Very cool things on the horizon of Litespeed /QR in '05.
On a side note, any comments on titanium being flexy? I was in an LBS 2 days ago, talking with a guy, he said they all thought Litespeeds were too “flexy”, especially if you are bigger. I’m 6’3, 220, I just built a Saber, trading up from my first tri bike, aluminum with aluminum fork. That bike was very stiff. I haven’t noticed this with the Saber, but I haven’t ridden it much yet, because of weather and tire issues. On Monday, my LBS sent it to Litespeed for repair - the sleeve inside the seatpost seized (also, can you get them to turn it around quickly? I race in three weeks and I’d like to get it back before then). Anyway, I’m wondering if anyone has noticed the “flexiness”.
Quite the contrary. Mac was on a Litespeed Ghisallo this morning and I can assure you that the bike did not exhibit any excessive flex. That is actually kind of a ridiculous comment.
Making a generalization about any material is not accurate.
It’s kinda like this: Want comfort? Try a Litespeed Tuscany.
Want stiffness? Try a Litespeed Blade. They are both titanium, albeit, different alloys- one is 3/2.5 and the other is 6/4. They have vastly different designs and ride qualities.
This illustrates the short-cmiings in incredulous generalizations like "Aluminum rides like this, Cro-Moly rides like that, titanium rides like this…
As Bob Jenny formerly of Seven Cycles said so eloquently, “You can make any material ride like anything.”
One of the things I have wondered about Litespeed is why they risked their well earned reputation as a premium high end ti biker maker by delving into lower end aluminum bikes. Why not just create a second brand for the lower end stuff and save the Litespeed brand for higher end bikes/customers. Sort of like the Lexus/Toyota biz model. This is a very common strategy in many businesses. Seems to me they diluted their brand by doing this. I can appreciate they are trying to broaden their customer base but aren’t the big margins in the higher end bikes? In any event, I have a ti QR bike (sort of a Litespeed I guess) and love it. Some of the finest welds I have ever seen.
Hmmm, I would check your headset adjustment. We’ve sold a healthy volume of these and I have ridden the current version myself in several configurations. Absolutely not the slightest hint of such a situation.
Actually, the original Ghisallos were notoriously flexy for anyone over 140 lbs. They may have stiffened them up since (thereby adding weight), I am not sure.
It is certainly possible to make titanium stiff as evidenced by the Litespeed Ultimate and some custom offerings from other manufacturers. But titanium has a lower modulus of elasticity and it will always be somewhat handicapped in the stiffness department compared to steel, aluminum, and most carbon fiber.
The direction of ABG has been a matter of their business plan. I do not know their stratgic vision.
I can guess that they want to position themselves alongside Trek, Cannondale, Giant and Specialized. That is only a guess.
In any event, the diversification of their products into more popular price points does not in any way change their mastery of titanium fabrication at the higher end.
Products like the Blade (new version), Saber, Vortex, Ultimate, Ghisallo, Tuscany and other Litespeed models along with the impressive Quintana Roo Tiphoon and the original Kilo are excellent, excellent bikes.
When I was looking into a new tri bike you, along with others, told me to stay away from ti due to my size (6’3", 190 lbs). Maybe the newest bikes don’t flex under the weight of riders like myself.
The question regarding the branding of bikes or cars in terms of high-end versus more entry level is very good. But the situation with Lexus/Toyata is actually quite a bite different from ours, as Toyotas are known mostly as good but affordable cars and trucks and because of that, more high-end luxory cars/trucks would have been a harder sell. Thus the name Lexus.
A better car analogy is actually Porsche and how the Boxster fits into their world. (I know the 924 attempts were not so good)But I don’t think that the Boxster takes away the Porsche mystique, but it openend that world to a few more consumers. The same thing is true with Litespeed aluminum bikes, or more affordable ti bikes such as Firenze, Teramo and Solano. It allows the customer to step into the world of Litespeed where he/she can expect extraordinary technology, quality, design and great performance. These bikes won’t have all the bells and whistles of the more high-end Litespeeds, but in another “brand world” they could easily stand on the top.
Cheers,
Herbert
Litespeed / QR
Re LS '05: I have an opportunity to p/u an '04 Blade pretty cheap (demo/used), but its not a huge priority to me as am riding a Zipp 3001–would you wait for a year for something new based on what you have seen or take the plunge? i.e. anything going to change (like a carbon rear which is what I really want on the Blade)? If it matters: 6’4, 250lbs, ride a 61cm.
A better car analogy is actually Porsche and how the Boxster fits into their world. (I know the 924 attempts were not so good)But I don’t think that the Boxster takes away the Porsche mystique, but it openend that world to a few more consumers.
So how do you explain the #@$%^& Cayenne?! I know you guys make moiuntain bikes as well, but DAMN that ain’t no Porsche!
Well, you’re right about the modulus but wrong that it means anything. If you built a steel bike and a ti bike exactly the same (tube diameters, shape, wall thicknes, etc) the ti bike would flex more - but this isn’t how its done. Litespeed and every other ti maker tries to optimize the design of the tubing to suit the material. A steel bike can be flexy and a ti bike can be stiff.
sounds like you have solved the mystery on your own. The problem is with your front wheel, not the fork. I experienced a similar phenomenon with a Campy G3 wheel because of the lacing pattern – the high tension, tri-spoke grouping causes the rim to be ever so slightly out of round where the spokes meet the rim. when I hit the brakes and the pads reached these areas, the fork chattered. Switched to another, traditionally spoked Campy wheel, and the problem vanished. It used to be REALLY bad with the old Matrix ISO rims – a small, triangular shaped rim that drew the wheel UP when braking. The forks of those days didn’t have a chance against that thing.
