well... here's the ride report...
my buddy henry, who got a merlin extralight last year, is fond of saying that you really notice the ride quality of titanium on longer rides. and i've always found that the personality of a bike comes through best when you go easy. so i met up with another ride buddy, gustavo on his serotta colorado ti, and headed out on what would turn out to be a 104 km [65 miles in old money], easy [25 km/h] ride.
the comfort of titanium iks amazing. i've ridden ti bikes before, so i knew what i was getting into. sort of. it's an amazingly cofortable bike. a big part of that is the fit; i fit bikes all day, every day, so it wasn't too difficult to get it dialed-in, though i think i'll drop the nose of the saddle by about a degree. the easton bar probably helped, but the overall feel of the bike was better than i expected. it was smooth, but not in that smooth-as-glass carbon fibre way. it was compliant, while still laving me feeling connected with the road.
this is not a small thing. montreal roads are notoriously bad, but while i felt the contours and had a real sense of the road surface, i did not feel beat-up at all despite four hours in the saddle.
what i was not expecting was the responsiveness. to put it mildly, this bike goes -- elle s'en va! the pickup was phenomenal. it cornered better than any bike i've ever had. i have a steel marinoni that i really love, but compared to the litespeed, she corners like a truck. i actually feel a little guilty saying that. the frame has a lot of snap; acceleration feels lilke the relase of a coiled spring.
and it's hard not to love how the bike climbs.
the chorus components are great. a lot of that has to do with the amazing job the guys at the shop did setting it up. on the other hand, the shifting is a lot lighter than on the 2001 chorus components i have on the marinoni. the front shifting is much crisper than i'm used to with campagnolo. the redesigned front derailleur is brilliant.
i'm really impressed with the overall quality of the frame. the welds are clean and perfect down to minute details. i know that the same guys who weld the ghisallos and the vortexes make the teramo, but they muct be particularly obsessive-compulsive and anal-retentive workers.
my one complain is with the wheels, or more accurately, with the spokes. i've found that black anodized, high-tension spokes tend to get a bit noisy, and my rear spokes started chattering a bit after 80 km. not the end of the world. there are solutions, and the wheels themselves performed quite well. they're very comfortable -- reminiscent of my protons -- and quite stiff.
i only have one picture for now, and it's not great. more later.