New (to me) Steed in Stable - Litespeed Catalyst
 

My new bike part old and part new - Litespeed Catalyst. It has full Ultegra 10 speed group set with triple crank and Mavic 32h CXP-33 wheels with Ultegra hubs. According the previous owner, the Ultegra drive train has less than 1000 miles and the wheelset has less that 250. The guy sold it because he got bit by the carbon fiber bug - he has 4 other bikes all carbon fiber. His loss is my gain. Who wouldn't want titanium???

The seller must have a shorter torso because the stem felt a bit short when I test road it. I'm going to try a longer stem and flip it so the bars aren't so low. The bike is 58cm and fits well otherwise. I'm 6'1". I paid $1,000 for it. That Ultegra group and wheelset would cost more than that if I bought them new. So I think it was a fair price. Now I can't wait until spring. I think I'm going to have to put this bike on my trainer so I can start tweaking the fit.

Now I just have to come up with a reason why I needed another bike when my wife comes home... LOL

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=296257

Sumthin looks strange about the hb setup. Is that a quill stem adaptor?

Here you go :)

Nice looking ride !

It'll be interesting to hear your comments on the BB stiffness... that seems to be the big gripe for older Ti bikes. I used to get chain rub every time I stomped on the pedals (mostly when standing), but my merlin was even older and had a crazy custom BB.

It looks sharp, and will look even sharper after you fix those handlebars!

Here is a close up of the front. I measured my other bikes from the seat tube to the center of the bars. This bike is 2.5cm shorter than my others. So I definitely want a longer stem and one with some rise, I don't like being bent over that far. I also noticed it could use some spacers. http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=296389

And I'm not sure about those bars, I believe they should be turned down more. These bars have a flat tube area just out from the stem before coming round again when they turn out for the shifters. I've not seen bars like that before. So if I turn the bars down so the shifters are up so high, that flat area isn't going to be level with the ground. I'll have to see how I like those bars.

I'll have to try this one out. I have two other Litespeed bikes: 2003 Blue Ridge and 2004 Solarno. I know the Solarno will flex some when I stand and put on the pressure, but not so much that the bike feels wrong. The Blue Ridge has larger tubes so I haven't noticed it as much on that bike. But it also has a triple (vs. Solarno double) so I don't get out of the saddle as much with the Blue Ridge.

I doubt you need spacers, that looks like a quill stem with a threadless adapter for your bars. Spacers are mostly there for preload on threadless headset bearings.

As for your bars, they are definitely turned up way too high - you should probably have a bout a 5 degree angle to horizontal on the bottom part. That may require moving the shifters after you rotate the bars, which will necessitate new tape... and hopefully the cables are long enough. :) That's part of the fun of rehabilitating a bike of course.

Hey, I am getting better at bikes, I thought that too. It is much like Sheldon Brown's solution for too low handlebars on his bike:

http://sheldonbrown.com/images/iro-584-09.jpg

Notice the clamp on the bottom. http://sheldonbrown.com/handsup.html

Nice bike Markm!

OK finch, let's ramp your knowledge up a notch... :) That picture from Sheldon's site is a picture of a threadless headset and you need the clamp to provide the pre-load on the bearing. Threaded head sets (which is presumably what the OP has don't require that sort of arrangement because the top nut provides the preload when you screw it together.

He also says "I do not recommend this approach for carbon fiber steerers, nor for 1" steeerers, but I've had very good results with it on metal 1 1/8" steerers."

Most threaded headsets (not all) are 1 inch.

I think it also looks weird to have a stem that's raised that high with a negative rise on it... that's probably about -17 degrees if it looks flat.

Kudos on finding that though, that's a pretty slick workaround. :)

Nice bike but imo, I'd look into swapping the stem and handlebars back to something more original. Not sure why the guy would change the front end.

With the quill stem, this bike looks more elegant and calssic. If it were my bike, I'd spend the $100 or so to get it back closer to the more elegant original look

A quill stem and a Catalyst I found during a search. See how nice the hb set up looks. :thumb:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8368/8...938097fe5e.jpg
quill2 by gulpxtreme, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8504/8...a61cae5045.jpg
catalyst by gulpxtreme, on Flickr

Well, the advantage of a quill adapter is that you have a MUCH larger range of handlebars available, but you're right - that stem looks funky too.

And adjustments for stem length and degree are much easier.

Thanks!

Nice looking Ti bike.

I just got a used Epic (Everti) Swift made in Seattle ~2003 with new 105 setup for 1500.00 so you got better deal than me.

My epic has pretty chunky tubes so BB stiffness has been very good. A bit of brake rub when standing on steepest grades but otherwise better than expected - I'm a big 6'4 and 260+