iPd Cameron

I do believe it's a Lynskey at heart. Even looking through some of the official Litespeed catalogs back in the late 90s they refer to themselves as part of the Lynskey family. I have seen many Indy Fab bikes -- very nice bikes in my opinion. Many reviews I read about Ti bikes praise that they're a good mix of being comfortable yet stiff. I don't ride super hard so comfortable it more what I opt towards generally. For this new bike I would love it to be as light as fast as possible without getting crazy so it would seem +1 to Ti bike there. As I had mentioned earlier in the thread too I want the new bike to be the bad weather/rain bike as well and Ti certainly has the corrosion resistance advantage. I've had a few Aluminum bikes and I like the lightness of them but they can feel harsh after a while to me. I love the plush feel of the steel frame on my Cielo and while it's certainly not heavy, it's not that light either. If I could build up the Litespeed I'm looking at to be sub 20 pounds complete I'd be plenty happy. I don't think that'd be too much of a chore either when starting with a 3.4lb frame.

Nice! Thanks for the feedback on the subject. Price definitely seems right to me -- I'm thinking I could pick it up for $550 or so. That's for the frame, matching Litespeed Ti seatpost and already installed Chris King headset. Add maybe $100 or so for a good condition used carbon fork to match and should make for a pretty darn light frameset. I'm pretty sold on the brushed finish too. Easy to touch up as you said. I might even consider taking it to have it freshly media blasted before putting it together too for a nice even and fresh surface finish.

So who ride titanium frames? I found a good deal on a Litespeed classic frame. Around 2000 vintage so it has the cool "L" dropouts, curved chainstays, etc. Brushed raw finish with no decals which is rad, and comes with Ti Litespeed seatpost and CK headset. Only funky thing is that those old Litespeeds use 1" threadless headset so I'd have to find a decent fork to use with it. All in all it'd be about the same price as the new Traitor frameset I'm planning on. So price being a wash comparing the 2 essentially, do I go with 15 year old Titanium, or new steel. I like steel bikes a lot but haven't spent any time on a titanium frame. I will say I'm intrigued by the fact that the Ti frame weighs 1.5 pounds less than the Traitor frame. I'd probably save a pound on the fork too if I find a nice carbon fork for it. I'm no weight weenie, but 2.5 pound difference between framesets is nothing to scoff at.

Never once even tried it. On an unrelated note, does anyone know of any yellow '95 850 T5R wagon for sale? Or anyone that has one that may be persuaded into selling theirs? I know Spencer won't sell his, but how about anyone else? There's gotta be one that can be talked out of the current owner's hands...

Funny you should mention that because there were a dozen sheets of drywall in my garage behind me when I took that pic a couple days ago! Hung a few sheets last night and should have the rest up in the next few days. Doesn't move as fast as I'd like since I'm working by myself in the evenings after my boy goes to bed.

My wife doesn't care -- she knows that there are much worse hobbies/ways I could pass the time than Volvos and bike stuff.

Parts pile for the new road bike is slowly growing as I find good deals on eBay and CL: Also picked up a Fizik Antares VS saddle for super cheap off CL yesterday and a left side, almost new Rival shift/brake lever on eBay for a great deal the other day too -- just need to be patient to find a matching right side one for cheap to complete the set.

Cool factor for sure, and I like to brake late. I much prefer holding speed downhill as long as possible and braking late and having confident braking power. Best brakes I have on a bike right now are the Paul Components Racer M brakes on my single speed gravel/dirt bike. Paired with the Paul canti levers they are the best rim brakes I've used. Another big plus I'm looking forward to with disc brakes is no more wear on the rim. Not that I eat through rims as it is, but I still see a big plus of disc brakes being that the rims won't end up streaky silver/alum around the perimeter.

I have heard only good things about Stan's stuff, but it's still a good chunk of money more than H Plus Son rims. The Stan's Alpha 400 also only look to be about 25g lighter each than the TB14s. The more I look the more I think that I'm not going to find much better deal than what I've been thinking already unless I use some bargain basement rim like an Alex or something but that doesn't appeal to me too much right now.

Speaking of shedding weight - anyone got any suggestions on light-ish road disc wheelsets? New bike I'll be building for winter/bad weather road use is going to be disc brakes and looking for a wheelset that is on the not heavy side without spending a ton if possible. I'll take the weight over spending a small fortune, but looking for a middle ground if one exists. Not carbon, and not tubular. So far I'm leaning towards building a set with SRAM 506 hubs and H Plus Son TB14 rims.

Pre ride pic from Saturday:

Oh yeah, bike pics too from this weekend. Put cross tires on my single speed and explored some local trails Saturday morning. So much fun, but the 44x18 gearing is a bit much for any real hills off pavement.

Yup, keep riding! It'll come quick if you keep it up -- ride often, and it gets easier and more enjoyable every time. I took a long break from riding during/after college and didn't pick it back up again regularly until about 5 years ago. At first, the 5 mile rides were enough to wear out my legs. Within even just a couple weeks that wasn't so, and soon enough 20 mile rides were the norm.

I might take that charcoal map pocket off your hands for my S70. How much you want for it?

Another beautiful day for a lunch time ride. Brought the single speed again today:

I thought that for a long time too, but having the rack is very nice. Today for example here in the NW is was chilly and super foggy at my house and I was running a couple minutes behind. So while ideally I'd have just ridden into work I just plopped the bike on top so I can go out for a ride at lunch. Also came in handy yesterday -- I was on a ride and flatted 10 miles out without a spare tube. Wife came and picked me up in my car and just put the bike up on top to easily transport it home to swap tubes. Way easier than stuffing a bike in the back of a wagon or whatever. I enjoy having the rack for the convenience factor.

Volvo + bike content:

But I like it! I actually also picked this particular one because it's from Portland Design Works. I tried to stick to as much USA, and specifically Portland as I could on this bike. The frameset was built at Chris King here in Portland, Chris King headset made in Portland, CK rear hub made in Portland, Paul front hub made in California, both wheels hand built by Portlanders, Retroshift shifter/levers which is also a Portland company. All the brake components are Paul made in the USA, the seatpost is Paul made in the USA. I will agree though that the cage is a bit out of proportion for this bike... I'll buy some King cages for it eventually.

Current state of my Cielo:

Not nearly as cool or visible as nyan cat wheel:

Like with cars, a looooooooot of people don't maintain their bikes. No chain lube, WAY too much chain lube, creaking bottom brackets and headsets, incorrectly inflated tires, etc. I will agree with you -- fresh, properly adjusted and lubed drivetrain sound is very satisfying!

Rode down to Fort Vancouver last night: