jbcNewYork

I'm looking for a new bike to replace my aluminum 2000 Specialized Allez (it has a carbon fork). How does the ride of a Titanium bike (Litespeed, Airborne, etc.) compare to a full carbon bike. I usually ride about 20 or 35 miles a couple of times per week, with occasional bike-a-thons of 65 miles.

Jonathan

karesz3

Jonathan,

They both ride very smoothly, and you can't really go wrong with either one.
It's been stated numerous times, but it's very true: fit is the utmost important aspect of bike selection.
I just got my first full carbon bike a few days ago after riding a Ti frame for 2 years.
I like both frames a lot, and they both have their advantages.
The carbon bike has a little snappier acceleration due to some weight savings and slightly increased stiffness. It’s impossible to give you the right advice without knowing what your goals are in the next few years. You should talk to a reputable local shop and figure out what would be the best fit for you. The worst thing you can do is focusing on the frame material alone.

Cheers

shokhead

Have YOU been on either one? We can tell you what WE think or like but YOU need to get on them. For me,i already have a pretty good steel so I'll go with carbon because going to Ti doesnt feel that much difference as it does with carbon and carbon will be abit cheaper.

55/Rad

And if you really want to have fun check into the Ti/Carbon combo frames - like Seven, Litespeed, Opera, Lemond, Serotta and more - all with some mix of the 2.

55/Rad

TimB

first get a proper fitment done , then buy the best bike within your budget.

My Aluminium winter bike fits me jsut as well as my Litespeed Tuscany and feels just as lively. The only time I notice the extra weight is after 150km when there's till a 15km to get over to get home.

Fit is most important, not brand or material.

CycleFreakLS

Any quality CF or Ti frame will give you an excellent ride. I ride 6/4 Ti. Generally, 6/4 is a little lighter and stiffer than 3/2.5. I love the quality of the ride and the lightness of the frame (sub 2 lb). There are many grades of CF as well. I don't think you can go wrong with a good frame from Trek, LeMond, Giant, BMC, etc. I think the new Kestrel Evoke SL is a killer frame.

Like karesz3 said, get one that fits the type of riding you want to do. Go down to some LBS-s and test ride a few. Try to test bikes that have comparable builds on them, specifically the wheels, as a change in wheels can impart a completely different "ride" and what you want to compare are the frames.

Best.

Chef23

Is the reason that Litespeed puts carbon stays on some of their bikes for stiffness?

2manybikes

There are many overlapping factors that change the way a bike feels.

Find a shop you trust. Find a patient person who will fit you well and answer your questions.

Test ride the bikes you like as far as possible to try and get a feel for that bike. Ti and Carbon do "feel" different, in general,but you have to try the particular bike.

2manybikes

I think it will make the bike stiffer. But aluminum bike makers sell that feature as more comfortable. The curved seat stays on My litespeeds are springy and comfortable,but the straighter ones are stiff and comfortable.You can have stiff ti tubes if you do it right.

It seems like marketing to me? It is less costly than ti tubes. It's a big fad right now.

sydney

Well, actually, There is Ti that would ride like a jackhammer for some lighter riders.CF isn't necessarily snappier and stiffer. It isn't about the material,but how it's designed and used.

sydney

Bull....There is some Ti that is overbuilt and would ride like a jackhammer for lighter riders. 6/4 is marginally stiffer than 3/2.5 but that quality is usually utilized for weight savings and 6/4 really isn't noticably stiffer unless it is also larger diameter.

karesz3

The bike industry is in an interesting phase now. Many small companies are trying to either offer an inexpensive carbon frame with the best possible equipment or build an insanely pricy full carbon bike with different build kits. The big boys are hard to beat, and Giant will always win the first example. Ti manufacturing is a little more mature, so you only have a handful of fabricators to deal with; Litespeed, Moots, Seven, etc.
Your original question was about ride characteristics of Ti and carbon frames. In general, you get what you pay for, and both materials can be built skillfully or cheaply. Everything comes down to price since the good quality bikes all ride very well now days, so you need to make an educated decision on what you can afford for your type of riding. This debate about carbon vs. Ti or carbon vs. aluminum is just industry hype. Try to find the right geometry from a reputable company (Litespeed, Giant, Trek) and pick the best possible components you can afford.

Cheers

shokhead

I dont think any of the litespeed roadbikes use any carbon in the frame.

Fox Farm

All of these responses are well written and right on. The question of which material to buy is a good one, sort of like asking the question, "I want to buy a sports car, should I buy make is Germany one or Japan?" Both are good, well engineered but offer different ride characterists.

Having riden both and using a Ti Merlin as my primary bike, I then to like it more. If I were club racing, I would probably buy a Giant carbon frame and race that and save the Ti as my special bike. A good question for you would be your body size and weight so that the individual frame will not fit you but accomodate your mass. A heavier rider will not feel as beat up, so to speak, from a real stiff frame. Some of those Ti frames will be more rigid that others. Which ever you choose, make it a bike with a life time manufactures' replacement policy, particularly if it's carbon. Along those lines, the Ti frame should last a life time.

Let us know what you buy. Litespeed, Merlin, Seven, Dean, and even the Macalu from Excel sports are all great Ti frames. I've never really looked at the Airborn, but they are priced such that one can get a Ti bike for not a huge sum. There are so many carbon frames to choose from these days. Of course the Trek are domestically made and have proven them selves in France. I recently look at some of the new Kestrels (I use to own a 200 EMS) and even though they are made in China, they are excellent frames. The shop owner told me that they are probably better frames than the older ones because the resins that are used in China are not allowed domestically, but they yield a better stonger frame. He said that Kestrel are directly involved with the design and manufacturing quality control - something that other carbon frame sellers are not. A number buy carbon frames and put their name on them but they are not really a product of that company's design and development.

Hey, if you really can't deside, Merlin makes a frame with large Ti lugs and chain stays and carbon main tubes. Bring you gold card though...

Fox Farm

Sorry for not proofing my typing. Geeze...

sydney

Some aren't.

sydney

check www.litespeed.com Ultimate has CF seatstays unless you consider the stays to be not frame.

Chef23

The Ultimate does. I don't know about the rest of the line.


https://www.litespeed.com/bikes/2005/ultimate.aspx

shokhead

Yep,so does the siena,interesting.

2manybikes

True about "Splitery bits" it hurts just to think about it.

Not good for a sharp blow to the top tube by my friends coffee table. Scratch one Kestrel.

phantomcow2

Carbon fiber is super strong if its well built. If you get a cheap carbon product yea it may breaka nd get splinters, but if you get a reputable company like giant building your frame it will last and i doubt its ever going to splinter, you can probably crash a steel fork and a carbon fork 30mph into a wall and the steel will bend and the carbon will not, if its high quality. Remember, the process of making carbon goodies is a lengthy and costly one. When companies try and cut corners to save on cost, shift happens. But if you pay the price for quality, i doubt shift will. I know people who have the Giant full carbon frame and they love it, plus with such an attractice warranty its nice.

late

Buy Ti, get a friend for life.

slvoid

What are you talking about? Pound for pound, a carbon frame will severely beat out steel (here come the steel is real people).
A sub 2 lb steel frame will use tubes that are so thin that in the same wreck, while the carbon might have a 50/50 percent chance of experiencing this thing you call "crack" or "splinter", the steel would be turned into a pretzel.

You can also search for the thread that showed the results of some german stress testing done on bikes and of 20 some odd steel/al/carbon/ti bikes, the carbon ones withstood the highest loads for the greatest duration.

sydney

There are no sub 2 pound steel bikes, so what's the point? I think about 1kg or a bit over 2 pounds is the realistic current cf limit too. Irregardless of stasticcally bankrupt static 'failure tests', a fly weight CF frame is unlkely to exit a major crash unscathed either. Besides, havent you heard of catastrophic failure of CF and flying razor sharp shards, and the multitudes of mutilaed bystanders.

slvoid

Ok.. 3 pounds.

BTW, I totally know what you're talking about. A friend of mine recently dropped his CF bike on the sidewalk and the seat stay hit the curb and cracked.