I am in need of a new road bike and I want to stay away from carbon fiber. So, I was thinking about buying a titanium le champion from Bikes Direct for $1700. I’m too poor to afford anything much more than that, and even that price is pushing it for my budget.
But then I got my hands on a 2.7-lb magnesium frame so I thought, sweet, I can build that up and have something unique and maybe save a few bucks. Word is that magnesium’s supposed to ride a lot like titanium…I guess.
Anyway, I crunched some numbers, and the total cost of parts to build the mag bike would be about $1600 and the nominal weight would be 15.76 lbs. I’m getting parts from places like Bike Island and Performance so I’m not going for very expensive items. The groupset is Campy Veloce from Total Cycling for $515. The point is that there won’t be such a price difference after all, and the titanium bike should weigh in at 17.5 lb, so there’s a small weight difference but not much.
Which do you think is the better choice? Building the magnesium bike or just buying the titanium one? I haven’t included the costs of any tools in my calculation.
Alternatively, I can save ~$350 by selling the magnesium frame and buying a 2.7-lb aluminum le champion frame (with a fork and headset), and then building that up. If the seatpost and fork are carbon fiber, maybe it won’t be such a harsh ride, but I don’t actually know anything about that. I have never used any carbon parts before. Any advice on this option?
Why don’t you get something like the Cervelo Soloist Team? For a couple hundred bucks more you’ll have a bike you know is quality, you can buy from a dealer (so you know where to get it serviced), and it won’t be some no-name frame that’s essentially worthless when you’re done.
You know once you’re out of school you’ll want to upgrade anyway, and with this bike you’ll have good resale.
And why are you trying to avoid carbon?
Well the Soloist Team would bring me to about $1000 more than I wanted to spend originally. I don’t think I can justify it, although I agree it would be a good choice.
I’m avoiding carbon fiber just because I don’t want to baby it or replace it if I get hit, and I have heard that the ride quality of carbon is variable depending on how much you can spend on the frame.
Skavoovie
I can’t speak to the ride quality of Ti, but I can tell you what I think of Mg. I have the Pinarello Dogma FPX, and it is the most amazing ride I’ve ever had. If you like the ride of steel with the vibrations smoothed out, and the stiffness of carbon with a bit more ‘edge’ to it, then you will like the Mg frame. I have a carbon P3C and, of course, like it, but compared to the Mg, it does not have the ‘feel’ to it.
So, I’d stay the the Mg frame. Generally Mg frames are your most expensive option, Kinda suprised you got one cheap.
DB
Gotta love ebay 
The frame is made by Litech, which is some defunct Russian manufacturer that used to supply frames to Paketa. Brand new and powder coated for $480 shipped. I had some pics but it looks like the page has disappeared.
To quote some fast guy: ‘Ride it like you stole it"’‘’’
Have fun
DB
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Can you give me specific names? I looked into custom steel once from R & E cycles, but they were going to rape my wallet.
