Which road bike companies have low priced titanium bike offerings? I have a friend who only wants to spend ~2K and has a history of back problems. He’s looking for something that will last forever and ride comfortably, so titanium is the natural choice. Steel would be good as well, but we want to look into Ti bikes first. Who should we look at to find bikes in the sub $2K range?
Thanks.
Look no further: http://www.habcycles.com/
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He’s looking for something that will last forever and ride comfortably
You’re going to get a lot of people say that material doesn’t matter for comfort- things like design and fit matter much more.
To which I’ll add my two cents that material doesn’t matter much for durability, either, in the real world. If you’re friend managed to wear out a frame of any material, I’d be absolutely shocked.
Airborne…if you don’t mind your ti coming from Asia.
Lightweight steel is damned near as light as any but the most expensive Ti. Steve over at Open Road Bikes thinks the road of Ti is ‘unfortunate.’ He much prefers steel and he is a climber. A Soma will run about 4 lb, Gunnar 3.5 and Waterford ~3 lb. In the scheme of total rider and bike weight, a few extra ounces ain’t much.
Dre’ tells me that Larry California has great things to say about Rex.
There is more to durability than just fatigue life under normal cycling loads. AL bikes dent easily and are unrepairable. Although you could buy 2-3 race-quality AL frames for the same price as the cheapest Ti frame.
I agree that there are race quality aluminum bikes that will ride incredibly… however you would need to ride a ton of them to find one you like, and chances are they will be expensive once you find one… I’ve owned a few aluminum bikes, and ridden a few more, and the only one that I ever thought was comfortable enough to keep was a CAAD6 Cannondale SI. These aluminum bikes that ride like steel or titanium usually cost more than $2K… but if anyone can recommend one less than $2K, and it’s something my friend can get ahold of and try out (IE not custom), then I’m sure he’d be glad to look into it…
As far as durability goes, I totally agree that the average rider won’t ever ‘wear out’ a frame due to fatigue. I typically consider a bike to be one that will last forever if it DOES NOT have a carbon rear triangle. Some will disagree, but I consider a bike that will ‘last forever’ one that will survive an attack by my five year old with an aluminum bat while hanging in the garage… Most AL bikes that ride halfway decent have carbon rear triangles these days as well.
Try http://www.titaniumsports.com/
I had one of their frames a couple of years ago branded as Mongoose. It was a pretty good frame. Really nice looking welds.
Mike
A (or is it an) Habanero. (the H is silent.) $7-800 for the frame if I recall.
I thknk you can get the lowest end litespeed or merlin for ~2K, but the MSRP is over that.
I’ve never seen one built up as a complete bike but the people from www.aerolite.ca had some frames at the Toronto bike show a couple of years ago. They looked like they had nice welds and their prices are awesome with a standard road frame selling for $600 US and a custom frame at $900. I use one of their 0 offset carbon seat posts on my tribike and it held up great until some meathead at the bike check at KTown this year decided to make sure my seat wasn’t “loose” and cranked on it so hard that he broke the glue seal between the carbon and alloy head … he then told me that I would have to tighten it before I could race since it was loose … not a good way to start your day at a race.