guitarplayerone

This is cross posted from the commuter forum because what I am to build looks a lot more like a low to mid level competition Ti CX bike than a ultrahighlevel commuter

Hello all
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Been lurking for months, first post. BF is awesome.
So I tend to ride 10-20 miles a day on average, with a few occasional rides 30-40 miles each week through New York City and my suburb of Staten Island. I'm 22 at 5'11'' and weigh 190 lbs. I ride road, urban, pothole, gravel trails, large hills, etc. I am also looking to do some trekking/commuting, but NOT heavily loaded. This is instead of buying a car, and my primary source of transportation, so I'm spoiling myself somewhat.

After commuting for three or four years and figuring out what I need I have decided that I need something which is: light, bombproof, fast, semi-relaxed but not fully relaxed geometry, and titanium. Please let's not turn this into a discussion on frame materials, call me stubborn and made up.

I know that Habby makes a relatively cheap TI cross/touring frame, and that there is the Motobecane Fantom Ti. There are other companies but they are out of my price range.
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I want to spend ~1500 dollars and build something ~18lbs. Used is fine. I have a former bike shop friend helping.

I wanted to create a list of ti frames besides the habby, litespeed blue ridge/appalachian, and moto fantom cross ti that fit 28cs. Specifically frames like the litespeed ultimate, etc which are much more common on ebay translating into more likelihood of a cheaper build. If I can build a list of road frames to choose from, that makes life easier, the cross ones seem hard to find. Yes I know geometry is key. But I will look around for deals on frames and measure myself up anyway, if I buy a great frame for a good deal and it doesnt work out, I could still resell it.

SRAM rival seems like very good value for the whole groupo. But it is still expensive. I assume shifters and deraileurs need to buy new, but is it safe to buy other components used which don't show visible wear (eg cranks)? (Yes I know I need to make sure that the deraileur i'm using will shift cogs with numbers of teeth I plan to use) Is it financially feasible (as in instead of buying an entire groupset?)

Mavic open pros seem nice for the price, but I hope the rear won't die like I've read on reviews considering my weight. Thoughts/experience?

Finally, is my dream feasible considering typical going prices for components? Any ideas on how much an individual component should cost of my ideal build on the bay, any alternatives I can use for specific components, etc.

I was very dubious about posting this at first, but I really have been researching for a good while. I should also mention that I do have a friend who can help me assemble everything, as he worked at a bike shop for years. Truth be told, he won't be able to help much with indexing much since he worked mostly on vintage road bikes and fixed gears.

Thanks a ton in advance

Chad1376

That's a lot of background. FYI - most forum participants have ADD - myself included. All I can say is, $1,500 will get you a nice bike, but a sub 18-lb Ti dream bike?..Your going to need to do some serious bargain hunting (along with a bit of luck).

Bruzer

Lynskey Performance has a CX frame called the Cooper, but you can not even get the frame for $1500. https://www.lynskeyperformance.com/a/.../cooper-cx.php

Habanero Cycles makes a Ti cross frame for $949. https://www.habcycles.com/cross.html

It is going to be pretty hard to beat the Motobecane price for a complete bike.

I have a mountain and road titanium frame both of which I managed to break and both were fixed under warranty. I had a similar goal of getting a titanium cyclocross frame, and building it up. In the end I couldn't justify the cost of another titanium frame. I ended up with an aluminum frame that was 12 to 15 times cheaper than a titanium frame. I am NOT trying to change your mind, but the factor for me was the titanium frames are not twelve times more comfortable, durable or practical than the equivalent aluminum frame.

pennstater

I bought a 2010 Lynskey Cooper CX frame for 1,100 at chainreactioncycles.com. Size ML.

Barrettscv 

I would get the Bikes Direct Century Pro Ti: https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...rypro_x_ti.htm

Jack's ABC

I bought a Ti cyclocross frame off Ebay for about $600 and a used fork for another $100. That took a while of looking and built it up myself with compact crank and other bits I had and more I had to buy. All in it came to more than $1500.
The bike is great, Ti is such a nice material for a cross bike or any bike that is going to take a fair amount of pounding and vibration.

I've never weighed it as it wont be as light as I want, the frame was about 1400 grams and its easier to save a couple of pounds off my gut than the bike.

Unfortunately building up your own bike is going to cost you more than buying an ready build up bike for Bikes Direct or someone similar.