Originally Posted by HillRider

Touchy aren't you? I didn't "grudgingly allow that they might exist", I just said I didn't know about them and e-bay is not the most reliable source of information. You made your point.

Originally Posted by Kontact

"Perhaps" your rather overarching skepticism that a Ti EMS fork could perhaps exists in the face of someone telling you about them and providing evidence was, perhaps, off-putting.

Perhaps.

Originally Posted by MidTNBrad

Will do.

Originally Posted by shelbyfv

Do you live in Franklin? If so, I'm not far from you and would be happy to put another pair of eyes on it before you cut stuff. I don't know any secrets, pretty much everything has been suggested, but moral support and all that....

Originally Posted by MidTNBrad

Thanks for the offer. I'd love another set of eyes on it. I'll PM you.

Originally Posted by HillRider

Those headset "races" you pictured aren't really races, they are just cups that locate the bearing cartridges, so they should never show any wear. I had one of those HP-6500 on my '96 Litespeed and it was a great headset. It's too bad Shimano withdrew from headset manufacture after threadless headsets/forks came on the scene.

Originally Posted by MidTNBrad

It seems like a great design. The cartridges are easy to open, clean, lube and close and it makes the fork installation a snap. No balls or cages falling out while trying to hold the fork in place.

Originally Posted by MidTNBrad

I was diligent to make sure I greased threads everywhere it was needed and I put some anti-seize on the stem/fork interface. I’m guessing it might be a good idea to pull the stem out once a year, clean it, apply fresh anti-seize and replace it in an attempt to keep the galvanic action at bay.

Originally Posted by ThunderOne

Awesome job! Very nicely done and it's a great feeling to rebuild your own bike instead of simply paying someone to do it for you. More pics please!

I found this thread while searching for a question on my 2000 LS Classic as I am upgrading my headset. I hope you don't mind if I ask a question here in your thread. You may know the answer or one of the LS experts as well.

I want to upgrade to a Cane Creek 110 headset. I have a threadless 1" steerer tube on my fork. I'd like to know the inside diameter of the headtube. I'm guess the 1999 and 2000 shared the same size headtube. Can anyone tell me what the ID is on these headtubes?

Thanks in advance and I must admit, although I am partial, LS really did a great job on frame building back in the day. I'm sure they still do, along with Lynskey now, but what a sweet riding machine these bikes are.

Originally Posted by MidTNBrad

Well, I finished installing everything last week and I’ve put about 100 miles on the Tuscany and I must say it was totally worth the rebuild. Some thoughts:
...

Originally Posted by MidTNBrad

Hey everyone! I’ve decided to rebuild my 1999 Litespeed Tuscany. I bought her new when I didn’t have a lot of responsibilities in my life. It was my dream bike back in the day and that first year I put a few thousand miles on her. A year later my daughter was born and my riding time dropped significantly for the next three years and dipped even more when my son was born, we moved and I took a new traveling job all in quick succession. My job required me to be on the road Monday-Friday for weeks on end, so when I was home I spent time with my family rather than on the bike. So the Tuscany stayed in the garage unused for about a decade. A few years ago, I changed positions where I wasn’t traveling so I got the Litespeed back on the road and started slowly by putting a few hundred miles on her per year. In 2016 I decided I was going to get back into cycling whole-hog and to celebrate I upgraded to a Cervelo R3. Since getting the Cervelo, the Litespeed has been hanging in the garage and I’ve decided to rebuild her.

The Tuscany has all of the original Shimano Ultegra 6500 group on it and the Mavic Open Pro wheels with Wheelsmith spokes and Ultegra hubs. Up front there is the original Look carbon fork. I’ll still ride the R3 as my main bike, but I’ll look to the Tuscany for inclimate weather days and riding in the late fall thru early spring. I also expect to get her out during the summer to change things up a bit too.

Goals (in no particular order):
With all of the above in mind, I’ve decided to replace all of the Ultegra 6500 with 105 5800. This isn’t going to ever be a weight weenie bike, so no sense in paying a premium for Dura Ace. The latest Ultegra is more than I want to spend, although the price for 6800 is pretty decent. 105 5800 is less, gets me 95% of the performance of Ultegra plus 5800 comes in silver which is in keeping with the same aesthetic from when the bike was new. So 5800 it is.

As for the wheels, I’ve already replaced the original Mavic Open Pros with the set of Mavic Aksiums that came with my R3. Not the sportiest of options but solid nonetheless. I’m going to keep the handlebars, fork, stem, seatpost and saddle as they all have life left in them.

The plan is to keep my eye out for deals on 5800 components from online retailers and scour E-Bay for lightly used or take-offs. I’m finding that silver 5800 components are harder to find than their black counterparts so I’m being patient and don’t expect to have everything I need until this spring.

Anyway, this will be my first strip-down and rebuild job. I’m looking forward to the process and I’m finding the Park Tools videos to be a really great resource, but I know I’m going to need some coaching. I’m starting this thread as both a way to document the process and a place where I can ask questions when I get stuck along the way.

Thanks in advance for all of the questions I’ll be asking! The “before” pictures will be coming soon.

--Brad