Aphelion Ti 1985 Model
 

Hey Everyone. I am a frequent lurker but first poster. I wanted to pass along some serious love to Aphelion Cycles. I took the plunge during the US's shutdown and, without much more than the word of some past customers and the help of their sales team, had them build me a custom Ti singlespeed--their 1985 model. The bike is downright gorgeous, the welds are expert, and I can't believe how much bike I got for the price.

If anyone is looking for Ti without a crazy price tag, this company really is worth checking out. Their website is pretty bare bones, but the sales team is very quick to respond. Pictures to come once I hit 10 posts...

Alright: I got one photo uploaded to an album. More to come.

Pic Assist

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5a5fe0d3bb.jpg

Thanks, CB. The wheels, tires, and saddle are all upgrades; everything else came from the company. I've put maybe 400-500 miles on it since August 11th, and it is so, so much fun to ride.

That's a neat frame. Love me some Ti.

Odd choice of an integrated seat mast but square taper cranks? But I love seeing more titanium fixed gear road bikes and maybe you could get it sans seat mast.

Give us a longer term review, I am curious to hear your thoughts on it. Did you do a custom geo or is it their stock bike?

That is sick.

While the seatmast’s upper looks crooked in the pic (probably a lighting illusion?) I love it and don’t know why anyone would want anything different.

hsu...I am pretty sure it is crooked in that picture! I was playing around with spacers and saddle height, and I think that may have been a day when I had the seat topper too high on the seat tube, allowing for some play back and forth between the topper and the post. I've fixed that...


Veganbikes: The design and component packages from Aphelion--until you get to their 4300 pound sterling road bike-- are odd. High quality ti frame, custom geometry facilitated by an incredibly responsive sales team, really lovely carbon fork and handle bars, and then very heavy and very "stock" pedals, saddle, wheels, and tires. I'm a small dude--roughly 76 cm inseam--so that helps bring the weight of the bike down, but between the Fabric saddle, the Egg Beater pedals, and the Ellipses, I was able to shave 1-1.2 kg off the bike without spending a ton more.


I fell in love with the aesthetics of ti frames when I taught 5 or 6 blocks down the road from Firefly Bikes in Boston. The picture above really doesn't do justice to just how lovely the frame looks. In terms of ride feels, I've moved from 32mm tires on an alloy frame + steel fork to 25mm tires supporting the ti frame and the carbon components, and the difference in comfort is pretty astounding even with the much narrower tires.

Firefly is awesome, they are at the top of the list of bikes I really really really really want badly but cannot purchase at the moment. If I could get Kevin to weld me up a few bikes I would be so happy. Dude is really nice and does some AMAZING work.

Most companies love to just cheap out on components it sucks. That is why I don't buy complete bikes unless I have to for some reason. Nobody builds 'em like I would build 'em and if they do they are dumb AF because I like odd stuff that most probably wouldn't buy or stock on the bike.

Nice! Ti bikes are sweet. I found a Lynskey era Litespeed frame on eBay a while back and built it up as my road bike, definitely one of my favorite bikes I've owned at this point. I'd probably have more Ti in my stable if it wasn't so expensive.