Originally Posted by kingston

I was looking for a travel bike for randonneuring and to get everything in the case and keep it under 50 pounds titanium is hard to beat. My Seven has S&S couplers, eyelets for rack and fenders, Campy SR 11 and a 46/30 powermeter crank. There's no off-the-peg bike like that. Interestingly, Seven was the most common brand on the Iron Porcupine 1,200k last year and four out of five Great Lakes Randonneuring board members ride a custom Seven. Titanium is a very popular choice among the experienced long-distance crowd who are mostly over 50, can afford to ride a nice bike, but aren't necessarily super concerned about having the lightest bike they can get. It's never someone's first bike, so by the time they get one, they know that's what they want and are pretty happy with it. I've noticed with many people getting into randonneuring, they start with steel or carbon and eventually end up with titanium. Not everyone, of course, but it's a pretty common progression. I love all my bikes but ride the seven the most miles by far. I may replace components but expect to keep the frame until I'm too old to ride it anymore.