I am about to go and see a titanium frame bike, all Dura Ace components, the owner says was built by an aerospace business and is, he claims, unmarked, can't tell who made it.

Anything ring a bell here? If it was a named frame would there be a serial # under the BB?

Thanks

Mike

There were a number of titanium frames built by "not in the bike business" companies over the years. Starting from the first (?) Teledyne, and including companies like Sumitomo.

Some of us may recognize a maker based of photos, especially showing details like the seat lug cluster, bottom bracket, chainstays and rear dropouts.

You should focus more on it's condition, ie. any hint of crash damage, than the brand, but if curious post photos here, or probably better on C&V.

Thanks FB, I am going to see it sometime today and, if it looks good, I'll post a picture or three.

Mike

When you mentioned aerospace, I immediately thought of Teledyne.

Here is an informative page: https://www.classicrendezvous.com/USA...dyne_titan.htm

Its un marked and you are speculating on its source , and cannot offer any pictures
and so start another guessing game

Takes a Lot of extra effort to Mark them permanently..

Generic Chinese or Russian Titanium? Sibex, in CO had a deal with the Ruskies for a While
(warrantee voided without their stickers on it) [company folded anyhow, so peel them off].

and they had a Titanium taper-bladed unicrown Cyclocross fork.
which The act of just making them was interesting , considering TI is not going to work cold,
to do the tapering and Hot it has to be in an inert gas environment ..

Just blind guesses without Pictures ..

A company formerly named Titanium Sports in Washington State built Ti frames in the US and private labeled them for several sellers including Colorado Cyclist who sold them under their "Douglas" house brand name. For a while they also sold the bare frames directly through their web site. They were 3/2.5 Al/V Ti and apparently they were pretty well made.

All was well with this deal until the owner called a bike shop and they told him it was worth $6000.00...sight unseen.

I think I will save myself the drive.

Thanks for the input.

Mike

Don't worry, he won' get the $6K, and he'll call you back. However, he might try to broaden the base and get more that he was looking for before.

They were probably just messing with the guy.

A high-line Litespeed, Lynsky or Moots with current Dura Ace, brand new, would sell for that money. A used, unknown frame? Not a chance.

yea you can get a brand new Ti bike for 6000. for an unmarked/unknown frame i would say the frame is worth about 500, add in the component cost from there. my experience with ti frame/bike owners is that they run their components into the ground, hard.

I fit that description. I don't abuse them but my '96 LS Catalyst has over 70,000 miles, my '95 LS Firenza has 29,000 and my '06 LS Tuscany has 25,000 miles.

Before any one asks why I bought two such similar bikes within a year, in 2006 Colorado Cyclist closed out all of their Litespeed frames. I bought the Tuscany early in the year at a bargain price and, later that year, they closed out some 2005 leftover Firenzas at a SUPER bargain I couldn't pass up. As my shopaholic aunt used to say; "I really didn't need it but I couldn't say no at the price".

Buddy of mine, an engineer and bike fanatic, once did some work for Serrotta. He came away with a prototype titalnium frame sample from a manufacturer based on his specs. No markings on it at all.

I'd be real wary of a completely unmarked frame. First, I'd think "Stolen!" look for any indication that a serial no. had been removed. And then, it would nag at me that this was indeed some kind of manufacturing sample... which could be good or bad. Good, because a manufacturer might be trying to impress a buyer with excellent quality in welds and alignment; bad, because the potential buyer might have made substantial and critical changes between a sample and production frame.

Without seeing the frame, I'd venture that about the worst thing about it is that the seller now has an inflated opinion of it's worth, and the opportunity for a bargain is lost to the OP forever. Even if the seller comes back down to reality, odds are it'll be a higher reality than before.

you seem to do maintenance though. these guys come in once to buy their new ti bike for 10-15k. the next time i will see these is when the chain starts skipping. they literally only came in because the bike is unridable. not everyone does this but i see this scenario often with people that have a ti bike

I know that you see many more bicycles and owners than I do, but IME it isn't possible to draw conclusions about bike use or care based on the type or cost of bike.

If I had to, I'd bet that the most used groups would be the B levels, Chorus or Ultegra. Folks buy the best because they can afford it, or they buy the cheapest because that's all they want. But guys who go near the top, but stop at B or C level are value driven folks who plan on riding it to death (however long it will take).

FB nailed it. I am one of those value driven folks. 2 years ago bought a Habanero ti frame because the value was there. Lynsky wanted 1500 more to make the same frame as Habanero had in stock.
By the way, the 1986 NR group set is still going strong! 55k and counting!

I've seen 2 Teledyne Titans. I talked to the owner of 1. He said Teledyne built it to develop their skills at working with titanium for aerospace work. The second I saw parked in front of Santa Monica's main library, scratched up with rusted components and cracked tires, the bicycle of a homeless person (SM has a lot of them; we feed them).

Those Titans were notorious for cracking. Teledyne used CP-grade Titanium, which has much poorer fatigue life than 2.5/3 Al/V grade, used some "standard" diameter tubes and necked down the seattube at the front derailleur mounting point, all of which contributed to their high failure rate. They gave Ti a bad reputation as a bike frame material that took several years to overcome.

That's funny. Tell him to drive it over to that shop, hold out his hand, and ask for his check.
Would love to have that encounter on video!