I'll post this on other forums, but thought I'd start here.

Litespeed seems to have the entire TI road bike market in my part of the world. But, has anyone seen examples, from ANY current manufacturers (or custom builders), of nicely finished, "polished" titanium frames out there?

Is this polished ....or is this polished? :



https://www.panabyc.co.jp/products/pos/color.htm

- Melvin

Like you hint at C an V might not be the best place to go for info on current builders. However I have seen polished frames from TST.

Yes, definitely a nice polish ~ Thanks!

My browser cannot decipher the .jp characters (which I would not be able to read, anyway). I wonder if that is a current product catalog. It appears they charge an additional (US)$270 for polishing - which seems a very reasonable amount.

I have an early Japanese built TI bike which I purchased from the Yellow Jersey bicycle shop in Madison, WI, USA a few years ago. Truly, one of my very favorite bikes - EVER! The following link cannot possibly show how beautifully made this bike is. The welds on my bike are so finely filed, finished and polished, the frameset appears to have been filet brazed and then nickle plated.

https://www.yellowjersey.org/SUMITOMO.HTML

I'm considering a light touring or Audax frame which would be suited to my lengthy recreational day rides here in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Essentially, what I'd want is a bike with clearance for 28-32mm 700c tires, aluminum mudguards, semi-wide-range gearing with 9-spd rear hub and a double chainring set-up, a rear rack... I suppose it's somewhat my personal (modernized) vision of a classic Rene Herse 'Randonneuse'... fashioned in polished titanium. So, I'm afraid what I have in mind exists only in the realm of "Custom" bicycles, anyway.

I found the following UK website. They seem to understand some of my personal... uh... "retro" preferences - AND they build in titanium.

https://www.setavento.com/Setavento_A...e_Photos.shtml

I would love to find a US builder who is willing to work with TI construction. Unfortunately, the better US framebuilders (understandably) favor working with steel. [Alas, TI seems a VERY demanding medium!]

I'd welcome any recommendations...

Serotta, Indy Fad, Moots, Seven, Dean and Merlin all come to mind as us builders but there are quite a few others. These makers all target the high end custom (usually roadie but also make mountain bikes) market. However if you were to go to them and tell them what you wanted i have no doubt they would be able to build you just that. Also just remembered there is a smaller company called Habanero that does custom titanium frames, they are still not cheap but are more affordale than most other makers.

Okay, Japanese may not work for you, but what if you paste the URL directly into Babelfish? :

https://www.panabyc.co.jp/products/pos/

https://babelfish.altavista.com/


Nice bike you have, stronglight. Yellow Jersey is also doing Panasonic if I am not mistaken.

...but I now notice there is no Ti Panasonic touring frame.

- Melvin

Not sure if he ever builds anything with gears, but if you like titanium frames with beautiful welds, you should look at Matt Chester's work. https://www.mattchester.com/ His Tig welds look as smooth as the best filet brazing.

I've been to the Habanero website. It's an American company, but their frames are made in China - that's why they are less expensive.

Bill Holland titanium touring bike on ebay right now all polished up (for a small charge).

Bill Holland titanium touring bike on ebay right now
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=7231191424
This is a very special Custom Holland Cycles Touring bike and was built with every attention to detail for every part.

Frame Material= TiSG, finish is Polished, seat tube is 55 center to center, top tube is 57 center to center, Frame cost was $2400.00. Polished was additional $200.00. Added K stand mount was $50.00.

Fork Material=Custom steel, fork painted to match decals of bike in neon blue, fork cost was $325.00

Cranks are Campy racing triple 24-42-52 170mm; Ergo shifters, front and rear derailer, hubs and brake calipers are campy chorus; rims are Mavic T217; bars are Deda Elementi 215 42 cm; bike had new gel black handlebar tape; stem is Deda Murex 10cm; Headset is Amel sil; seatpost is Chorus 27.2; saddle is Brooks with leather saddle bag; bike has complete Ride-on Gortex brake and gear cable system; chain is campy c-9; Cassette is campy 13-28; spokes are 14ga straight with brass; tires are 700x28 panaracer Pasela; Skewers and seat qr is Salsa silver; Also had 2 silver alloy cages on downtube; Cateye Cordless 2 computer; Eyelets on rear stays and fork for panniers; rear rack is installed; bike comes with 2 spare tires and 2 spare tubes and many tools carried by experienced tour person. Bike will come with the Holland Cycles sheets that were filled in to have bike built, component specs, geometry specs and all individual prices for original work.

This bike has been ridden but is in emaculate shape. Frame is perfect. Bike has been detailed by professional bike shop before pictures taken. All components work perfectly. Computer works perfect.

Bike Cost was $5203.91 and was assembled by Holland Cycles, in Spring Valley, Ca in the summer or 2001. The serial # is 489.

This is a very special bike.

Bike will be packed by a Professional bike shop that specializes in packing custom bikes.

Sorry about that miserable job of cut and paste. I really intended to copy the link to the ebay site.

Somebody loooved that bike (the holland). I feel sorry for that somebody, because he'll be lucky to get 1/3 of the money he put into it.

Rlong, I edited your post. btw your bike?

marty