Non-Ebay Deals/Bargains

Yeah 30,000 + miles on mine so far and not a single issue.

My litespeed has 32k kms. Still fantastic. Only thing that shows it’s age is the water float decals have long gone.

12500km on mine in a year, 3/4 of that loaded touring and 1/4 gravel riding. I looked around specifically to find complaints about Waltly durability and didnt find much, if anything.

I know they supply a lot of companies so maybe lost in the mire because Im sure some must break.

If you’re spending Planet X/Titus/Waltly type money then my advice would be to keep the box it came in, you’ll be needing it before too long.

That's not true, is it? If titanium was so prone to failure that the likes of Planet X had to warranty every frame, they'd soon stop selling them as the economics wouldn't work.

I've been riding ti frames for over 20 years and have never had to warranty any of them.

I put 5,000miles on my SS Kish last year. A quick wipe over and it looks like new.
I got it secondhand and it was about 10 years old, when I got it I emailed Jim Kish and asked if he had any info on it and I got the reply should anything ever happen to it just post it back and he’ll sort it out. You can’t say fairer than that.

Selling a bike/frame with a warranty ≠ honouring that warranty.

My real advice would be that if that’s your budget then don’t buy ti but I’m pretty thoroughly embedded in steel bicycles and the industry around them so I’m probably a bit biased.

Good advice right there.

Bike for life

Out of interest, presumably none of these framebuilders can or would want to fix Ti. So why is it discussed so much?

Btw not doubting cheap Ti cracks. I'm sure like all cheap cycling stuff, it's not for life.

There's ti builders on the groups.

But largely I think people reckon framebuilding groups would be the best place to ask.

Ah cool. Who's building titanium frames in the UK?

Hmmm, Ted, Enigma… I think Reilly are buying in but might be doing repairs in the uk. Sturdy?

Titus name was bought by planet-X and even before that they didn’t actually build the Ti frames themselves.
Planet-x they will source as cheaply as possible (China) and stick whichever brand name they own on to suit the intended market.

On the subject of Titus...
Bargain Silk Road for sale based in Loughborough

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Random (perhaps) interesting fact about the Silk Road frame..
PX ordered the frames with the high seat stay mounts with the purpose of allowing fitment of the Trek 1120 rear adventure rack. Until it seems they either couldn't get hold of bulk amounts or the margins weren't good enough.
They look pretty snazzy (although not keen on the colours) - I'm not sure why a normal rear rack would not be good enough though.
They've basically skanked the inspiration and geometry from the 1120, got somebody in China to weld up a load, then stuck-on a Titus logo.

EDIT - These 1120 racks actually didn't fit my Titus Silk road - so there we go..!

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Planet-x they will source as cheaply as possible (China)

Good to know. I only ride frames made by white people.

1120 is legendary IMO

also what stops you from installing the trek rear rack on the titus?

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Yeah not knocking the 1120, and I love the aesthetics of their rack system - the front one also looks very useful.

It just looks like it could be weak in a few areas. And to me the 1120 rack weight saving benefits are questionable vs a traditional pannier system with which you can use a light or heavy bags or strap stuff on as you would the fancy/cool rack.

oh yeah, I am a pannier-sexual. Ortleib quick rack looks like a great Tailfin alternative for bikes like these.

I reckon that Ortlieb would probably be the same weight as the 1120 but way stronger+ more functional overall. I've got a Roswheel tour on mine which is probably heavier but way more useful.

Still secretly want an 1120 rack though.

any decent deals on road tubeless tyres knocking around atm ? 🙏

Clarks M2 full hydro brake with rotor (RH with long hose only, but probably could be flipped over at a stretch) - £9.99
Pretty much worth it just for the rotor and pads.
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/clarks-m2-hydraulic-disc-brake/rp-prod135586

Boost 27.5" fork, heavy and probably quite shit, but only £28.99
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/suntour-xcr32-lo-ds-boost-coil-fork/rp-prod212407

Gutted these have sold out! If anybody got one and now has buyers remorse lmk.

I was looking for that few weeks ago and these were my best finds:
https://www.condorcycles.com/products/hutchinson-fusion-5-performance-tubeless-tyres?variant=37796399382678
https://www.condorcycles.com/products/vittoria-rubino-iv-tlr-g2-0-tubeless-tyre?variant=35655911473302