Are there any professional teams riding Titanium bikes? One team in the US Tour I think? Many people mention how great they ride but I do not seem to see much of them in races like the Giro. I have never ridden Titanium but I am extremely curious.
They ride whatever they want, and I am certain Litespeed has a few with some different names on te downtube as they have in the past. Ti paints pretty nicely.
Actually Herbert has written on this before. It takes a huge financial commitment to sponsor a cycling team. Most of the Ti builders are small time compared to the major mfg. There is a pretty good history of repainted Litespeeds in the pro peloton. Like Lance Armstrongs TT bike a few years ago.
Right - only the Lotto/Adecco team used standard, company badged Litespeeds (Vortex main bike, Ghisallo for the hills, and Blade for the time trial). Many others (including Lance) used rebadged Litespeeds.
Also, since pros have like 5 bikes each and an unlimited supply and team mechanic and tuned nightly, the extra “durability” of titanium is really a moot point. A very nice carbon bike (i.e. Cervelo 2.5, Trek Madone, Look, etc.) would serve duty very well for a tour. These guys could ride a heavy steel Waterford just as fast (or should I say comfort), but they are looking to eeck out that last bit of performance advantage. Comfort be damned - these guys must have buns of steel for sure.