I was just wondering who a couple of the original manufacturers of titanium frames were. I recently have been getting my uncle's old bikes that he no longer rides (ie the Richard Sachs mentioned in another thread, and recently this titanium bike along with a Bob Jackson), and I can't remember what brand he said the bike was. If anyone knows some of the older brands and any details or places I could find details about them, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. I'm asking because the decals have fallen off/worn away and I figured this would be the place to ask.

Early examples of Ti road bikes were Speedwell & Teledyne. Both made around the mid '70s & a little later. I've got 2 Speedwells, but still looking for a clean Teledyne Titan in my size... You can spot a Teledyne right away by the squeezed section for the shifter clamp on the down tube.
The Speedwell uses tubes the same OD as most steel frames of the day; no crimped areas.

There was a fellow locally who has been trying to sell a Speedwell frame for some time
quasi-psychadelik paint job (purplish) and all
Titanium
Cool stuff

Teledyne was what it was, thanks, I couldn't remember for the life of me. Yeah, after I keep finding out about my Uncles bikes, I am just thinking how great it will be to get them all in running condition again since they sat around for ages. Anyhow, if anyone can fill me in with any info about Teledyne bikes that would be great. Thanks.

https://www.classicrendezvous.com/USA...dyne_titan.htm

I had one, bought NOS as a frame in 1977. One had to adapt to it, flexible, but it rebounded so was not as flexible as the sway seemed. Short top tube for the seat tube size. 22" had a 21.5" TT, 23" had a 22" TT. 74° parallel for all, 26.8 seatpost, Dura Ace Headset & seat binder bolt standard, along with Shimano produced oversize top tube cable clips for the brake cable. English threading, 120mm spacing, no changing that, Everything clamped on, no braze ons at all. Waterbottle cage was a problem at the time as the down tube was oversize, some guys used hose clamps, some just put a cage on the seat tube. From an engineering view, the necked down tubes were bad for stiffness. the fork should have been straight, the bend for the rake put all the flex near the crown due to work hardening, wheelbase would shrink up to 3/4" during a moderate stop. Light for the day, 17lbs. with "normal" Campagnolo.

Sold mine in 1978 for a tidy profit. I would rank it above the Speedwell, barely. Stay away from the painted ones, they ran a "special" of aqua blue frames near the end, about $200. cheaper, rumored to be rewelded frames that cracked... They were vague about them being cosmetic blems prior to paint...

Why are you looking for a Teledyne in your size? I hope not to ride! It's the crimped section on the downtube at the head tube that caused all the failures. Riding one will just break it. And if it happens to have a Ti fork, definitely stay off it! (But the Ti fork would make it even rarer.) A Teledyne would be best for the display case, not with the everyday ridin' sort of bikes.

Yup; for the occasional ride. That's why I'd want a clean, low mileage example. While there were failures, I think the situation was probably blown out of proportion. Just like the Lambert "death fork" stories... The Teledyne was one of those bikes I drooled over while in high school... I remember seeing a couple in my area around '76, and thinking they must be the ultimate bike, back then. My tastes as far as "ultimate" have changed since, but they're still very cool.

vaguely remember them...
I wuz too busy to pay much attention to them at the time, since I was focused, every evening, in drilling holes into just about any bike part that could be drilled into... even drilled one saavreda seatpost - looked like silver cheese, metal louffa, very goofy

seriously though, Teledyne even sponsored a 'team' of sorts, I remember lining up next one, was thinking "WOW looka da size O doze tubes!" - not many years later I bought a C-dale...

Anyway, Trivia question for the serious Vin-Tahge meister. There was one of the early TI frames that had a buttress (with drilled holes of course) welded behind the head and top tubes - I 'remembered' it as a speedwell - but from classicrendezvous site, I'm obviously wrong.

Anyone remember what that was? 1st correct answer wins some piece of trivia Vin-Tahge **** from my ****box...
A found pic would be kool (I might even have one in my 'archives', but datz a dangerous mission).

Teledyne failures are somewhat urban legend, maintained by those who wish to find them cheap perhaps. There were some failures, mostly at the seatube to BB shell weld, the crimped tubing would be a stress riser but problems there showed up long after the company folded, same with the fork, if in doubt there are many aerospace QC houses that can dye it and then x-ray for a reasonable sum. Can't do that with carbon very easily.

I thought the "webbed" frame was a Speedwell prototype as well, I think a Cycling Magazine of the day made an error in a show report perhaps.

Anyone old enough to remember the Ti-22 Can-Am Series race car? Ti tub and suspension, pretty wild back then, but I digress. It was prior to Porsche killing the series, when McLaren was tops.

Actually, I can verify the urban legend. I personally knew of four people back in the 70's who had Teledyne Titans fail on them. The worst crash I know of was when someone had his Ti fork break. I also was riding with a friend who weighed all of 125 LBS when his down tube cracked at the down tube shifter crimp. I know they were still in bussiness because they replaced his frame. They were cool bikes though. Another person I knew (who' s frame didn't break) got his down to 13 LBS by drilling out his handlebars, break levers, break calipers, crankarms, chainrings, seatpost, etc. After seeing and hearing of all the failures, I stuck with my Masi GC.

I do have to add that Ron Skarin won a lot of races on them, and I never heard that he had one break on him. I still would never ride one.

Still looks sharp.

Skarin rode both rode and track versions, if you see the track bike.... it is hot literally, was stolen from the roof of his car after a race some 30 years ago.

There was a guy in SoCal that had a sub 13lb, 22" Titan, titanium spokes, chain, alloy freewheel, Coolgear saddle, Weyless seatpost, the list goes on, best part was the drill and mill work by Art Stump.