Estacado

I wrote in my first post how I was looking for a road bike. I was talking to my brother about it today. A few hours later, he showed up with this Litespeed Tachyon which he said he bought as a basket case about five years ago. Long story short, he never got around to it and gave it to me. I have sent an email off to Lynskey, but in the meantime, can anyone tell me anything about this frame? On the bottom is MZX and 7331. The top tube has a slight bend in it. It appears to have been made that way. I can find no evidence of damage.

My brother also gave me 2 new wheels, tubes, and tires for it. It has a carbon fork, carbon seat post and stem. I know it is old, it has a 9 speed Dura-Ace cassette. The chain rings are worn, it has no shifters/brake levers. It does have a carbon drop handlebar. Anyone have an idea what groupset to buy that would be compatible with the frame? I have not built up a bicycle, but at the present intend to do so slow and steady. Any help/guidance is appreciated.

Bah Humbug

Interesting it came with drop bars; I'd only ever heard of them as tri bikes. A bit of searching shows that they were available in both configurations. It should be compatible with any mechanical shifting or eTap, since 9sp is 130mm dropouts. Just pick your favorite and go.

And do keep us posted; maybe with a steadier hand on the phone.

Estacado

And do keep us posted; maybe with a steadier hand on the phone.



I am sorry about the photo. I was in a hurry. I have done some googling after you said it was a tri bike. (I did not know what that was. Understand I am currently riding a mtb.) I do hope Lynskey gets back with me Monday. I read a couple of reports that state it takes a 650 size tire. This bike has 700 tires. I have no idea if any of the bolt ons are stock or not. Now for the 64,000 dollar question: After my initial excitement, can this be a decent every day road bike? I have only been riding a bicycle for a couple of years.

Bah Humbug

Decent? That is well past "decent". Get it properly sorted and it will give up little-to-nothing to the finest Ti bikes today. I wish I had it in my garage to build up. Enjoy it!

dunrobin

If you want to use the bits you have any 8-10 shimano group will work. Chainrings are an easy change, and the wheel can take between 8-10 cassette...nice frame, can be built into a very nice bike for just a couple of hundred if you're resourceful.

MidTNBrad

Here's a picture of a Tachyon from the 1999 Litespeed catalog. The decals are a little different and the top tube doesn't have the bend, so I'm guessing you have a 2000 or later model. My catalog shows it was spec'ed with 650 wheels except for the 61cm frame which had 700's. The 1999 model was available with Ultegra 6500 or Dura Ace 7700.

Estacado

I appreciate all the replies. I must have a strange duck indeed. The shifters are on the downtube. 700c tires fit it perfectly. Line up with the brakes perfectly. I have mocked it up with a saddle, handlebar, and fitted the wheels. I can see that I need to raise the handlebars somewhat. Other than that, I think this may be a go! I suspect that this is a very early Tachyon. I have had the tape measure out, and other than the bars too low, this bike is not so far off my MTB frame geometry. In reading, I understand the seat post is supposed to have more of an angle. If so, it is not much.

Has anyone noticed that wicked curve in the lower seat post and the distance between the tire and post? You could shove a chihuahua in there!

Bah Humbug

Glad it's going well! The gap, I suspect, is an aero feature. You see, you want either the minimum gap possible between tire/ wheel and seatpost (hence why current tri/tt bikes have track ends that allow exact positioning), or enough gap that the air that spread around the seatpost can reconverge before hitting the rear wheel. The old-style Cervelo P3 had a similar-looking seat tube to accomplish the opposite aero direction.

ridelikeaturtle

That bend in the top tube and seat tube... you'll need to confirm somehow that's the way it's supposed to be, because it certainly does *not* look correct in any way. I'm not sure how it'd get that way without a major cock-up somewhere (everywhere?) else in the frame, but I can't find any photo of a Litespeed Tachyon that has bent tubes like that.

Could be a badass ride!

Bah Humbug

There are another four or five shots I found that have the bent tubes but were on Photobucket and are locked down. Bending that tube is no different from bending seatstays or chainstays.

Estacado

I have not seen another with the top tube bend. I have looked it over, no evidence of misfortune. No cracks, stress, marks. The tube is straight as an arrow from both sides. If there had been prior damage, I would expect to see some evidence. Nothing. I was worried about it also.

SSRI

is the tachyon running on 700c or 650c wheels?

Bah Humbug

Oh, yes, the top tube bend. That's to allow the front end to get lower while keeping the TT/ST junction higher for stiffness, and not having a steep down-sloped TT looking weird. It's rarer, and might be an option for custom fit or certain sizes or the tri-specific config. It's like the opposite of the super-tall head tubes on the current Cervelos that everyone is upset about.

You have an awesome bike. Probably a very rare bike. Build it up and enjoy it already!

Estacado

It has 700c wheels.

TenGrainBread 

That's a 1993 Tachyon. See it in the catalog here. It confirms it is meant to be used with 700c wheels (also 68mm English thread BB and 27.2 seatpost). If you want more details from the serial number (date of production), Litespeed still maintains the Lynskey's old frame serial number database and will help you out over the phone.

Some years it was pretty much a road bike with aero tubing, but some years they steepened the seat tube angle and changed the fork rake, etc... They also switched between 700c and 650c quite a few times. As long as it fits you you should be ok to use it as a road bike. Modern gruppos should work fine.

Here's my 1994 Tachyon in road bike guise, with 11 speed Ultegra and a threadless 1" Columbus carbon fork. Some idiot previous owner put that wrong Saber decal on there.

Estacado

TenGrainBread thank you very much. I hope to get this bike looking as good as yours does.