It's a "forever bike" because it's made of titanium, get it?
Anyway, it came just this morning (the last time I'd tracked it the estimated delivery date was Monday so it was a good thing I happened to be home) and so I immediately put it together and headed out for a ride:
It was just my usual lunchtime jaunt but first impressions are maybe there's something to this whole titanium thing. Anyway, I'll fill you in next week, and also let you know which of my many bikes will soon be joining the collection at the Classic Cycles bicycle museum.
Until then,
I remain,
Your's truley,
Etc. and so forth,
--Tan Tenovo
podiating yo.
ReplyDeleteWow! Podium? How many bikes do you have now??
ReplyDeletethat might be the only forever bike litespeed ever made.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna guess it's the Renovo being donated
ReplyDeleteHappy New Bike Day! Rat bastid. No, I'm not bitter at all.
ReplyDeleteI have a Litespeed Saber of the same vintage with Ksyrium wheels, too. I soooo thought it was my forever bike when I bought it in 2005. Now it sits in my garage and stares sadly at me as I ride bikes with bigger tires and higher bars. Poor buddy.
ReplyDeleteI loved the hard tail mtb Lightspeed that I had - that thing took a lot of punishment and was a blast to ride - plus it had that exact same logo!!!
ReplyDeleteHope to be in the top 10 because I read the entire post.
Have a wonderful weekend all.
Titanium Bike!?!? You've been as good at quitting Fred-dom as I've been at weening myself off of nicotine.
ReplyDeleteI had assumed, quite wrongly it would seem, that with your recent dalliance with the tubbier of tyre and the flatter and jonesier of bar that it would be a rigid Ti mountain style bicycle.
ReplyDeleteA level top tube on a road bike? What will they think of next!?
ReplyDeleteSo that makes my Ksyriums "vintage" now?
ReplyDeleteCool--maybe the museum would be interested in my Salsa Campeon that's wearing them.
ZOMG I have practically the same frame. My 'comfy' endurance ride is a 2005 Tuscany. Some guy wanted it out of his garage and didn't know what it was. The decals were removed, so just the headbadge remained. He sold it to me for 200 bucks, and threw in a full carbon Easton EA90 fork with carbon dropouts and an SLK carbon post too. I threw on some 105 5600 bits with an ultegra crank I had in the parts bin, and a decent set of ROL aluminum wheels not really sure what to expect out of her, and in the year or so I've been riding the frame, I've really fallen in love. No, it doesn't take the place of my carbon wonder bike, or my awesome steelie, but man it eats up the bumps, flexes in all the right places, and is generally super nice to ride.
ReplyDeleteOh! I see it's old bike day.
ReplyDeleteIs the bike you're donating any of your bmx's
Enjoy the ride.
I don't care if it's the best bike ever in all of human history, it's ugly.
ReplyDeleteGood news is; it's easily fixed: start with those godawful wheels. I mean, c'mon, aero spokes, lurid red hub and the single coloured spoke affectation on that frame!?! If they'd at least put the coloured spoke next to the valve, so you could easily locate the valve, they might've been able to claim some justification for their pretentiousness. Replace those wheels with something more more in keeping with the frame's classic, subtle lines. But whatever you do, put some friggin caps on those valves!
That fork's architecture borders on the aberrant, but the fading paint job pushes it well and truly over the edge. If the black paint "faded out" in a slight arc at the point where the silver rim becomes black tyre, and if that theme was replicated on the seat and chain stays, it might have worked. Either pull out your rattle can of black paint and fix it as per my exposition or get a new "plain" fork.
The livery is crude, crass and garish. If you must plaster branding on your product, make it discreet, a little classy. Confer some mystique on your creation. If they're decals, remove them all as a matter of urgency. If they're under clearcoat have at them with an angle grinder — a few scuff marks would be less of an affront than those logos.
And what's with the components? Looks like someone rifled through their parts bin and just chucked on the first thing they pulled out. The black cranks, brakes, stem and seat clash frightfully with the frame's arousing satin titanium finish. The white detail on the black and silver pedals would be funny if it wasn't so tragic and on that bike, the gloss black headset complements the chrome seat post clamp the same way explosive diarrhea compliments projectile vomiting.
Finally, what's that backwards pointing nipple on the headtube? Pump holder? If so make a pump a permanent fixture on the bike or grind away the superfluous protrusion.
As it's your forever bike, I suppose you've got forever to fix it, but it would be a crime against humanity to expose innocent people to that abomination, so either rehabilitate it immediately or bury it under a runway and never speak of it again.
Anonymous 8:12pm,
ReplyDeleteYou made some decent points but the valve caps comment undermined your entire argument. Valve caps on Presta valves are the pie plates of inflation.
But yes, the early 21st Century road bike aesthetic isn't old enough to be "vintage" yet, so in the meantime it's kinda ugly.
--Tan Tenovo
My Forever Bike is 17 years old now. Great bike are made from Fe. (Made in the same factory as your Milwaukee)
ReplyDeleteThose Tuscany's were stupid expensive 6/4 titanium and georgeous curved stays. I'm seriously interested in how it compares to your carbon china-bike.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 9:59pm,
ReplyDelete3/2.5 I believe.
Yes, I definitely need to ride both back-to-back.
--Tan Tenovo
Seal of full approval!
ReplyDeleteIs this another curated collector's item from Bainbridge Island, or do you intend to stable it up and keep riding her into your dotage? It would be a pretty good choice of bike for that, as it is the kind of steed old farts like to ride once they transcend carbon, but aren't willing to suborn themselves to steel - too prole. I always thought titanium felt a little noodley, but I guess that could also be called omnidirectionally compliant.
ReplyDeleteHey, yo.
ReplyDeleteAJ from Cali- here.
Been meaning to get a bike for WAAAAYYYY Too long, and since the last thing I rode seriously was 1981 Huffy Performance something or rather (new) it's been a few years.
Your book about scared me away, but then again, kept me interested enough to finish and use the pointers for safe cycling.
Got a new (to me) Specialized with tires, a chain AND pedals! Ready to ride.
It spent a few days locked in the back of the truck, being all scary, weird, foreign and otherwise terrifying, sorta like adopting a pet hippo or something.
...except I didn't have to feed or clean up after it, thankfully.
Waiting mostly to gear up...
(helmet required, spare parts strongly recommended, etc.)
...and for days off work, so by the time I finished reading, been on two rides, about two miles each, but there's about 20' worth of flat ground between both, so getting back home, was winded and rubber-legged.
Wouldn't call this a dream, although it has been a bit surreal.
Dream bike, probably not, but it's a start, and I blame you for part of it. ;)
Thanks for the newbie tips.
-AJ
Well, at least we know the real Snobby is back. A used, obsolete, metal bicycle as his "forever bike" doesn't much suck up to the bike industry. Next, WTF is the damn Eroica story?
ReplyDeleteI bought a Lightspeed Classic of the same vintage from the estate of a friend who was killed by a reckless driver while riding a different bike. It had most of a Dura Ace 7700 group, which I think is the prettiest version to date. He had it setup with 9-spd down tube shifters, which I really like. It's a sweet riding machine, even though it's a tad small, and I know why he liked it enough to consider it his top road bike out of his dozens of wheeled steeds. It brings a smile to my face every time I ride it, and it reminds me of him, which is always a good thing. http://www.richardtomfoundation.com Almost all the decals had been removed, and I think it looks better that way. The workmanship is outstanding, and I expect it to always have a respected place in my little fleet of velocipedes.
ReplyDeleteI started using valve caps again at the same time I came to the conclusion that most (cotterless) cranks look better with their dustcaps installed. It's a bit like a car without hubcaps on steel wheels. Kids think it looks cool to take them off, but others think they're worth the trouble. I do think the perfect valve has a smooth, brass stem, like a Michelin. They work best with a Silca pump head.
One of the benefits of passing 60 is that you get to ignore the rules you think are silly, as no one tries to correct you, and you wouldn't care if they do.
I have those Mavic Ksyrium 25th anniversary wheels with the 1 red spoke on my #1 bike. They compliment its black and red colorway quite nicely.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the critic may have commented anonymously, but I'm pretty sure it was Tommy Hilfiger.
I also own a vintage Merlin titanium, so I offer up this hint. Standard bike cleaners leave the frame streaked and ugly. Surprisingly, Lemon Pledge is how you want to go.
Welcome to the land of titanium. It's only pretentious until you ride it.
ReplyDeleteps - I too presume its the wood bike that will be shipped to the museum.
ReplyDeletepps - Not old - classic - still my favorite mug.
Random thoughts, since they seem to be popular now: Fred, thy name is Snob. IIRC, the Tuscany was the sorta affordable road 3/2.5 Litespeed, toward the end of my roadie years. I wanted one because it was somewhat attainable, and I’m a sucker for curved seatstays, like on the Ritchey Swiss Cross. Litespeed’s logo is awkward, no argument there, but that’s kind of cool. Titanium is all about performance dammit, no hands wrung over aesthetics here. The ones with aero downtubes and tube shaping were crazy pricey 6/4 Ti. This one looks good for the era, but I distrust crabon forks and would swap that for a Riv fork ASAP. Presta valve caps are completely unnecessary and why have I never noticed this? The stem seal design is self clearing even if dirt got in there.
ReplyDeleteLitespeed, the Tennessee terror FTW!
ReplyDeleteAll things considered you beat me to it. I woulda snatched it immediately. So much for criticism here !
ReplyDeleteI would think Snob's erstwhile readers would know the difference between "compliment" and "complement" and use the appropriate word.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the new furrever bike: Only one H two Oh bottle cage???? How many lectures on this subject have you given?
Donating the Renovo would definitely get rid of the creak.
ReplyDeleteAnon 8:12 is the Editor in Chief of Bike Aficionado, Simon Cogwell. He also judges bike beauty contests...and dog shows.
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 8:12pm, reminds me of the guy who had me re-replace his bar-tape since he had requested “black cork tape”, and the Cinelli black tape had unacceptable specks of brown therein. The whole rush job came to naught however when race officials would not let him ride/race. Seems his zealous removal of all labels, including helmet certification sticker(s) inside, left him unqualified.
ReplyDeleteMy Diamondback is hellishly ugly and it's also my de facto forever bike. Uglyasfuckness is a good trait if you want to keep possession of a bike long enough to be called forever. Tan's sled seems to follow that philosophy also.
ReplyDeleteUntil this spring I had a 2005 LItespeed Teramo. Bought it in 2009 when Titanium wasn't cool. When the original rims cracked from age I stuck some Zipp 101's on it. Those black rims looked great on that bike. It truly is a forever bike.
ReplyDeleteWell, Snobby it's not a Merlin, but still great. - Mas
ReplyDeleteI'd love it if it was the Ironic Orange Julius bike going into the museum as an early example of an internet famous bicycle, or even the Performance Bike fixed gear, or Rusty Ritte but I guess the Renovo would also be okay.
ReplyDelete