Originally Posted by
Kimmo
I was going to post about this bad boy, but couldn't find a link. Isn't this one of a very limited run of team bikes made at a cost of about $20k per frame?
IIRC, much of the cost was down to getting the damn things straight, thanks to the seam-welded tubes.
AFAIK, the original Litespeed Blade production were for the LA Sherriff domestic racing team back in 1992.
That was the only pro team that I know that rode titanium road race frame supplied by a sponsor.
Claimed production cost was upwards of $20k due to the difficulty of working with 6/4 ti and the specific tooling required seemed to wear out quickly.
Only 10 frames were produced before the tools wore out.
1994, LA Sheriff rider Steve Hegg won the National TT championship on a 2nd version Litespeed Blade with 650 front & 700c rear wheel.
1996 Steve Hegg rode in the Olympic TT with a Litespeed Blade:
Lance used to ride a re-badged/painted Litespeed Blade for his TT efforts, before Trek was willing to build him custom carbon TT frames:
