67tony 

Ran across a well-used older Litespeed Ocoee, from the Mountain Bike Shop in Ithaca, New York.
Parts were rough but the frame, being titanium, is super cool and in very good condition.

Litespeed wants $25 for a serial lookup (#15959), so I thought I'd ask if anyone here might know about what year it is. And, while we're at it, any idea how much it might be worth...if I decide to sell it?

dombey19

If you go to the Litespeed website you can look up the frame decals they offer. Scroll through them and when you find the ones that match yours, you might have the year. From what I can tell it's at least a 1997, but you have the frame and I don't.

zukahn1 

Not sure on value as for age I would guess late 90's also.

VtwinVince

I think it's a bit earlier than that, and it's a large frame, which is a good thing in the market.

bargainguy

I believe it's 1995. That fits with the canti studs and rear cable hanger, which predate the first V-brake (XT in '96).

Value is a tough call. While the entire used market is down, ti frames still have value. Could be anywhere from $300-500 depending on demand where you live.

67tony 

Yes, it's 22.5", center to top. I found catalogs on the mombat site, and while the decals look like a '94 or '96, none of those years sizes goes that tall, being a mountain bike frame. So, I'm still puzzled about the year, and don't want to spend $25 for Litespeed to tell me. Call me an old-school cheapskate!

Would this be a candidate for a drop bar gravel bike, with an appropriate era set of Dura Ace parts?

bboy314

Could be a good candidate, but keep in mind that mountain bikes of that vintage tend to have very long top tubes, relative to seat tube height, so getting it to fit nicely with drop bars may be a challenge depending on your own body dimensions.

Rick_D

Great tip. That sets this at '99.
https://litespeed.com/collections/li...tle-descending

67tony 

Yes, indeed, that was a clever way to determine the year. Thanks for sending the link.
For mine, I see a blue background behind the word Ocoee, which makes me lean towards a '97.

Thanks again for all the input!

Rick_D

Hmm, agree on the Ocoee background and yet Litespeed has no champion flags. Whatever they had laying around that day? :-)

This has me considering a refresh for my Firenze, which is available and a couple of mine are pretty shredded. Wonder how much a PITA it is, especially with a built bike? Also don't know what "TMDryAP" means in decal world.

DMC707

probably not unless you have gorilla arms and also use a dimunitive stem with the highest wackadoodle rise you can get

Jones bars are what you seek. Drop bars on a mtb frame are not a great idea except in a small handful of specialized circumstances

zukahn1 

I would agree just not a good drop frame. The aggressive short wheelbase with longer than average top line just don't work good with wing or drop's. IMHO.

67tony 

Good points about the longish cockpit, and the need for gorilla arms!

The Jones bars is another good idea, with some decent thumbies?
Or, how about mustache bars, with bar-end shifters?
Not sure how either of those would look...might be a bit frankenbikeish.

I'll probably end up selling it, which is kind of a shame because I've never had a frame this light.

DMC707

in the “good ‘old days” before gravel bikes,

my bike club’s winter saturdays were spent going on gravel rides - on our mountain bikes. This was mid 90’s , so not Far from this Litespeed’s timeline

we went on long fast training rides on our original gravel bikes— 90’s mtb’s with bar ends or bullhorns (mtb brahma bars) - and in most cases that was it, but some would fit as big a chain wheel as could fit*. - the skinniest actual dirt tires anyone would use were the Ritchey 1.75” Z-Max but others would use the 1.9” smokes common then too

Give it a try with a vintage XT or XTR parts kit and a set of the original gravel bars — mtb bar ends. If that frame is even close to your size, you will love it and it will feel like a rocket ship on smooth trails or gravel compared to a modern mtb