Smorgasbord42

I would think the real question is whether the kind of customer who is willing to buy a bike online (a bike that one has never ridden and maybe never even seen in person) would be willing to spend, as you say, $500-$600 more than your carbon frame, for what will be a heavier frame. Take a look at the competition: those in England can get a $1K titanium frame from Van Nicholas. In the US, Habanero makes a Ti touring/cross frame for $850. Habanero Cycles. It weighs about 3.4 lbs, depending on size. Also, Sheldon Brown has a page on a fully equipped version: Habanero Century Special .

Typically, people choose titanium because they want a custom sized and custom tuned frame and titanium as a material is very suitable for that kind of production. Would you spec your frame for stiffness or for comfort? Would you be using double-butted tubing to keep the weight down? How would you effectively communicate the bike's handling characteristics to propsective on-line buyers? Habanero has a custom geometry option for about $250 more - would you have a similar option?

Some of the custom makers are now offering custom carbon fiber frames as well as combination Ti/carbon frames, because they're finding that carbon has some advantages. It may a step backwards to offer a non-custom Ti frame, because as cheap as you can make it, it still will be too expensive for the performance one actually gets out of it.