Paul Barnard

Almost I should say. I do have a steel tandem. Yesterday I completed my Lynskey MT29 build. In the past year I also built a Lynskey Backroad touring bike and bought a Litespeed T6 road bike. The Backroad is going to be my favorite. There is just something about the feel of Titanium that gets it done for me. I realize we are all different and have different preferences. I am not trying to convert anyone, and I am not asserting that titanium is superior. I love the balance it strikes between handling, responsiveness and forgiveness. As a bonus, it's nice to support US manufacturing.

I bought the MT 29 frame as a refurbished trade-in model directly from Lynskey. It must be an older frame. It has rack mounts which I may end up using. I built it without any Shimano or Sram labeled components other than the chain. It has a Race Face Atlas crank, Race Face BB and Race Face Narrow Wide chain ring. Out back I have a Microshift 11 speed 11-42 cassette and Microshift XCD RD. My shifter is a Microshift XCD. I went with TRP Spyke mechanical discs and TRP levers. The Fork is a fairly simple Manitou Markhor. The wheels are Sun Ringle wearing Clement XC LXV tires. Th build is rounded out with VP platform pedals, Pro Max seatpost and stem, Answer carbon bars with Oury grips and the seat is a Selle SMP TRK.

In running it around the block, it feels great. This is the second build I have done with Microshift. It works really well. It's not a light bike. It tips the scales at 27 pounds. I have no idea what kind of weight 29ers normally come in at, but that seems a bit high. I guess with the spec level I built it at, it's probably about right. I am a casual trail rider, not a racer.

I do have a bit of a chainline issue. When I am on the 42, the chain angle is too drastic. When I am on the 11 it's fine. I am using one BB spacer on the drive side and none on the non-drive side as is the norm for 73MM BB shells. I tried removing the drive side spacer, but as I start tightening it down, it binds up. I suppose that is a function of the tube connecting the two bearings. I need to get that figured out before I head for the mountains.

GrainBrain

Awesome color combo! Fwiw my chain line is also extreme for the last position. I think that's just the nature of the beast on 1x.

delbiker1 

Nice Job! I doubt you will see any replicas and it is going to get checked out by lots of people.

Paul Barnard

Thanks, I did a similar color combo on my Backroad. The chainline issue has me confounded. On a 1X there will obviously be a greater chain angle than with a 2 or 3X, but I would expect the angle to be the same at both of the extremes. On the 11 cog it's not bad at all. On the 42 it's bad. Let's see if this pic does it justice.

79pmooney

I did a quick spin on a Merlin MTB ~1990. (Founder Gwendalf Jone's personal bike at a family re-uninion, He's a distant cousin.) Knew right away "this is it!" Took almost 20 years and a major step up in jobs before I could afford a custom ti bike and when that happened I was living in Portland and TiCycles had made me a couple of custom stems. TiCycles has now made me two, And one of my sweetest and fastest 20 miles was behind TiCycles founder and his girlfriend on their ti tandem.

Ben

Paul Barnard

Thanks. Titanium frames are kinda blah to look at, so I thought I'd spruce it up a bit with some color in the parts.

Paul Barnard

I have tried to describe the Ti ride, but always fall short in capturing the essence. Each of my frames rides a bit differently as you would expect since they are all built for different purposes, but each one has the balanced feel that I like.

GeezyRider 

I've never had the opportunity to ride or own a titanium frame. I need to do something about that.

Paul Barnard

You really do. If your user name is indicative of your age, your body will likely appreciate it. I'd highly recommend finding one to demo.

Marcus_Ti

Nice rig

The ProMax post, stem, and spacers (?) really do pop. BTW, if you want some more blingy--Hope makes ano seat clamp collars in a variets of colors...finding them on this side of the Atlantic is hard, but I can link you an LBS on EBay that can hook you up....course that ProMax blue is a wicked hard color to match ano (I found a cheapo alloy bottle cage on Amazon that does)

My stable is Ti...don't want to change it one bit. Stuff is durable, and understated, and just puts a grin on the face.

GeezyRider 

Yes. Now my first task is to convince the Secretary of War that this would be a good thing for our marriage. She rides also so I at least have that going for me.

indyfabz

Feel the same about the look of ti, so I spruced up my frame with color.

GrainBrain

I took a couple pics of my chain line on the biggest rear cog (I have a 34x40). Apologies for the dirty chain this is my winter-ride-it-hard-put-away-wet machine

I have over a thousand miles on this chain and configuration. It's a little noiser in this combo but nothing awful, and I've panick shifted into the 40t often.

Ghazmh

GrainBrain

You would post a picture of that sweet machine just before I show off my duuurty undercarriage

Paul Barnard

The Pro Max stem doesn't match the other blue ano on the bike. I'm not to worried about it though. I have seen and drooled over those Hope collars. Box makes one (I put one on my Litespeed) that matches the rest of the blue ano. Red ano is much easier to match than blue.

When asked about general characteristics of frame materials, this is the way I described Ti. A steel bike might be plush and comfortable like my step daughter's 2006 Avalon, but a bit floaty. An aluminum bike might be like a Mazda Miata. Rigid and responsive without being racy. A bit harsh though. Carbon mike be more like a Lotus Elise, light, stiff, racy and responsive, but edgy. Ti is like a BMW 8 series or even a Tesla S. Luxurious, planted, plush without being floaty and yet very connected to the road. Spins up quickly without a lot of drama. Rides with a deceptive hush. Now I realize that there can be significant variations within each frame material, but that's the best way I know to characterize the Ti feel.

You nailed it with the grin.

Paul Barnard

I may have told you this once before, but of all the bike's posted on this forum, that one is a top 3 in drool factor!

Paul Barnard

I am most concerned about it staying on during bumpy, technical, steep ascents. If it does, I'll be happy. I won't be in the upper 2 gears often, so I am not worried about wear. I'll spend most of my time where the alignment is ideal.

Paul Barnard

I prefer my carbon in my fishing rods!

cyccommute 

79pmooney

My two bikes are quite different. Both road bikes but the first was intended as a do everything on pavement but tour or race. 28c and fenders. 3 X 9. It is stiff. Big tubes, moderately quick steering. (I do not like slow steering, high trail bikes.) The second is a purpose built road fix gear. Front end copied off a sport Peugeot that was married to a (probably) Bridgestone fork. Race quick steering. High BB for pedal clearance with 175s. Rear end dictated completely by the needs of the fix gear. (Super long, fully usable road style dropout for quick wheel flips.) The geared bike feels and functions like a really fine early '80s Japanese sport bike. The second, a full on '80 race bike, top of the line, in some alternative universe that never went to gears. Both bikes, despite being stiff, ride like ti over the rough stuff. Yes, a lot more input from the road surface than I would expect on say a Merlin with its much skinnier tubes, but still that ride where I have to curb the temptation to run my wheels over the worst pavement out there (even with steel forks on both bikes).

Speaking of steel forks on ti bikes - to date all the ti bikes I have ridden have had steel forks. It is my opinion that steel fork blades are a natural extension of the wonderful properties of titanium.

Like titanium, a material that functions in a fully elastic mode, but as a fork blade, the added stiffness compensates nicely for the fact that it is the only unsupported cantilever of any length on a bicycle.

And my dream? Get tubular tires on the fix gear. Make it a real race bike!

Ben

Paul Barnard

I spent a little more time playing around in the neighborhood with it today. This is my first 29er. I have never had an MTB other than a 26er. I am very impressed with how it eats up bumps. I got a medium frame. A medium large would have been a better fit, but I got it adjusted out right, and it is downright cozy. It'll be this summer before I get to really run it through its paces out in Colorado, but I think it will serve me as well as my 26 FS.

Marcus_Ti

Dang it, I thought I was just done with Bling....now you have me thinking of replacing the CaneCreek110 topcap on my groading rig...

rosefarts

Absolutely hideous but intentional, so it's brilliant.

I had an 05/06 Litespeed Vortex with full DA. It sucked. I had it maybe 9 months and took a bath when I sold it. I was so happy to see it go. Still pretty bitter about it though.

I did have a 98' GT Xziang. I wish I never sold it.

JanMM

The more I rides my RANS V3 ti the more I loves it! Quite unlike all the other ti bikes above.