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amey
Rim brakes. Mechanical. Maybe 1 1/8th.
Fit on Monday.
Now that I’m in Los Angeles, the land of dry weather and hills, I thought that it was time to change my bikes up. I purchased a steel Seven Axiom S relatively recently from eBay for not much money and like it a lot, but the geo is pretty old school and it’s a bit long and low. What it did remind me, though, is that I prefer the ease of maintaining rim brakes, the aesthetics and also how well they work when it’s dry.
This has led me to want a new frameset and in particular, a titanium frame as I’ve never owned one.
I have looked at a lot of Ti bikes and builders. Considered stuff used and new from Lynskey, Litespeed, Moots, No. 22 (ex Serotta team members), Seven, Hampsten, Mosaic etc etc.
I went to a shop today. Wow. Ti is super nice to ride, huh?
The geo chart for the Litespeed T5 made me think it would be a good match, but in reality I felt horribly cramped and upright even on a Medium/Large over a Medium. Really, very upright.
A 55cm Vamoots which I'd have written off as being too big had I not sat on one felt pretty good - but do I think it's worth $4000 for a non-custom frameset? Nope. Absolutely not. Headtube felt a bit too tall, too.
I like the idea of one of the racier Litespeeds. They obviously lack sex appeal but there’s no doubt they’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with titanium. The frames were incredibly well welded, incredibly light and the tube profiling was unlike anything I’ve seen with titanium. There is no doubt that they're fantastic bikes, but by the time you buy a T1SL (and pay $95 for cable stops!?), even on sale, you're not far from a Seven at $2800....
Enjoying the steel Axiom made me think that a Ti Axiom made a lot of sense. This is obviously fully custom and its $3350 inclusive of an Enve 2.0 and a full, proper bike fit. Seems like a relatively good deal to me when you compare it to carbon frames and also the other Ti frames I’d considered. Especially the likes of a Moots.
Anyway.
Updates to follow...