new frame
 

I'm going to be building a bike for myself this school year (I'm in college). I'm planning on getting a Shimano Ultegra set (including their pre-made wheels) and a titanium frame with S&S couplers. I did a loaded tour a couple years ago and decided it wasn't my thing, so this new bike will be for light touring (motels, restaurants, etc.) through well-populated areas (the coasts of North America, mostly).

I've come up with a list (by looking at the S&S site) of companies that sell stock titanium touring frames wholesale (I work at a bike shop): Cherry, Dean USA, Serotta, and Seven Cycles. Other possibilities are Anvil, Davidson, Holland, Merlin, Moots, Ogle, Quetzal, Spectrum, Ti Cycles, and Zinn. Anybody have any knowledge of any of these companies?

I had similar thoughts as yourself.

For light touring I decided on an off the shelf option : a Ritchey Break-Away Cross .
The frame splits in two - the joints are at the seat base and near the BB.
I bought the frame from Excelsports. The groupset is Centaur with Paul Brakes and a Tubus Fly rack.

It's a lot nimbler than my heavy tourer ( ex MTB with Campag centaur & drops ).

The frame was also considerably cheaper and lighter than a S&S custom frame.

http://www.homepage.mac.com/donald_i...BreakCross.jpg

Hey Cameraman, that is a nice looking tourbike setup....

how much was the frame, went to Richey site but no list price...

I too was planning on a ti tourer with s and s, but this might be a better option......

doco - the frame and forks were $1200

pfadfaog - If your set on Titanium, I'm sure that there was a preview of 2006 frames on the Ritchey site last month ( I can't find it now ) which added a Ti version of the cross frame.

No prices - but the Carbon/Ti road version is $3000 frame and forks !!! you say you are a student ?

I am a student, but I'm not right out of high school. I'm 26, I've worked, I've got some money in the bank. I want this to be a sweet bike that I'll have for awhile.

Try a Gunnar Sport. It makes a great lite tourer.
I like to avoid high bottom brackets in a bike for touring.
Tubus makes a great little rack called the Fly. It weighs 12 oz, or about half what some racks weigh. But the real trick to lite touring
is keeping the weight down of the stuff you carry. Feather light synthetic clothing can save pounds. Check out GoLite and Patagonia.