Mike45

I have a Teledyne Titan that I am currently riding. I bought it new (or maybe slightly used) back in the late seventies (1979 I think)

Here are my questions:

1. Should I spend the dollars to upgrade the frame to the present day or keep it as a classic?

2. Where should I start on the upgrade process? (i.e. forks first, wheels, crankset....)


I need a bike that I can ride a lot. (I am doing Triathlons and also want to ride centuries) It still rides nicely even though it does squeek a bit.

My budget will allow me to upgrade parts over time. I don't think I can swing the $1.5k - $2k all at once that it would cost me to get something new.

Thanks,

Mike

lotek 

I personally would keep it classic. If you want faster, I would spring for
lighter wheels, probably a good set of tubulars.
You can probably go lighter with CF crankset and fork (not sure how much
lighter CF fork is than Ti Fork. If you do upgrade fork you are going to have
to go to a threadless headset, and a stem to fit it.

As I said I'd go for wheels first, you could build up wheels to use with
your existing (6 speed?) drivetrain.
One other thing I would consider is having to cold set a frame to accomodate
the newer axle and hub sizes. I don't know if Ti can be cold set you should
probably discuss this with LBS, or better yet a qualified framebuilder.

Marty

Chongo

It would be cool if you kept it classic, but if you ride it, don't go too fast. I knew a number of Titan riders back in the days who had forks of downtubes break on them. It wasn't pretty. Rumor was that they were made of infreior-grade Ti. They are cool frames though.

number6

Got to trace down the squeak, check the oversleeve near the seat binder, and the fork should be pulled including the crown race, use crack check there (aircraft mechanics dye to check for impending failure). Forget coldsetting to 126. Also. small chance one or both of the BB cups are making noise, and or the cranks.

Mike45

I have heard of the fork breakage issue. Is this first hand knowledge? Where did it break exactly? I am REALLY curious about this because this is the bike that I ride. I need to know if I should quit putting miles on it or get a good life insurance policy for my wife.

DrHansNoodleman

I've heard about breakage issues with this frame over the years. None of it first-hand. I did once see a reference to the issue in one of the bike mags. The mag claimed the breakage was related to the crimp in the seat tube (crimp may not be the best word - let's call it the squished area) where the front derailleur mounts. Does your frame have this?

My 2 cents is definitely definitely keep it as a classic.

masi61

Mike: A good life insurance policy might start with you NOT riding the teledyne at all... hang it up for a wall decoration, or sell it on ebay but with a big disclaimer about how it was a very earlier titanium road bike that really did not have the strength for everyday use. I don't know how tall you are or how much you weigh but overall I would not push my luck with a Teledyne Titan. I am basing this on a test ride I took years ago when me and my classmate who were both former employees at a "prestigious" Dayton, OH bike shop but a few years apart. Mark was a few years older than me and I really thought he walked on water. He had an all Campy Atala and an all Campy Teledyne Titan. Anyway, one spring day I saw him out riding and he saw me on my ride :late '70's Masi Gran Criterium. We got to asking each other questions about each other's bikes and decided to "swap" for a while. I'll just say I had a greatly improved appreciation of my heavier Masi after that swap. I've heard of having a flexy frame but that Teledyne needed constant trimming of the front derailleur due to the fact that the down tube would "sway" so much. Now I am a bit bigger of a guy than Mark was (We were both about 6' tall, he probably weighed #165, me back then ~#185). But I have always been a smooth spinner, not a pedal masher at all, I understood even as a teen the importance of keeping the power smooth and progressive....and that teledyne just stunk....

Mike45

Thems pretty strong words....

I'm ~#170 these days. The bike has a great deal of sentimental value (I'm not sure why) but it really sound like everyone thinks it should be a wall hangar.

Anybody got a couple grand laying around I can have?

Thanks everybody for your inputs.

Mike

bikemeister

Keep it a classic. From what I remember they only sold about 2000 of those things, and they had a reputation for breaking. They were made out of commercially pure (CP) titanium, and they pushed the design a little past the metallurgy of the time. Light but "flimsy". The newer 3-2.5 (or better yet, 6-4) titanium alloys are more perfectly suited to cycling. Unfortunately, they're not perfectly suited to your wallet! Unless you're the seller.

Chongo

As far as fork breakage, I only saw the result of a rider's faceplant into the tarmac. It was quite messy and made me keep my Masi and stop lusting after a new-fangled Ti frame. I did personally see my buddy's downtube crack at the crimp where the shifters went. No crash, but I had to ride home, get my car and pick him up. Most "experts" recommended to not use the Ti fork but a steel one instead - or an aluminium one from an Alan. Still, I wouldn't mind owning a Titan for the sentimental fun factor. Good luck.

SoonerBent

A couple of the guys I trained with in the 70s got Titans. I saw one break the down tube right at the shifters during a sprint. Bike didn't have a season on it. The other guy parked his. Titanium in general, not just in bikes, was just starting to be used in consumer goods then and the stuff anyboby but the aircraft industry was getting wasn't very high grade. I agree with making a wall hanging, maybe with some nice Nuovo Record?

SB

Mike45

Ok...My Titan is officially a wall hangar now. I went ahead and bought a new Trek 5200. Good-bye titanium hello carbon fiber. Now to find a bicycle sized glass display case.

carpbum

I remember Ron Skarin used to race on one in SoCal back in the 70's; he won everything he entered, and it wasn't because of the bike.
The shop I worked in sold them, but not many of them, because they were probably the most expensive frameset around in 1974. We had two of them come back. IIRC, they both folded at the narrow part of the down tube where the shifters went (you couldn't buy shifters back then for fat tubes, so Teledyne built the bike with a "waist" in the fat down tube).