Subject: RE: opinions on Litespeed? I have a Litespeed Siena (2003) and a Tuscany (2004). I use them as you say for everyday riding. There are pictures of both in my albums I think. I also have a Trek Madone 6.9SSL. My Litespeeds have the hourglass head tube and the cake-decorating welds that Litespeed is famous for. Back in the day when I bought them, titanium was considered the best bike frame material. Carbon was not really quite as good as titanium at the time. I bought mine for the quality of the bike and the fact that they were handmade locally. Litespeed is not the same today as it was in the early 2000's. They almost got out of the titanium road bike business for a while. I don't know if their quality today approaches the older bikes. Titanium is still a great material for a bike. The ride is great and my bikes have many, many miles on them and many more to go. If you shop around on eBay you can frequently find older Litespeeds for sale. If you get one, I would prefer the Tuscany because you can run wider rims like the Zipp 303 and 25 mm tires. This makes the ride very smooth and the handling is very secure if you are going fast downhill. The Siena does not have clearance for 25 mm tires because of the carbon seat stays. I run Zipps on both of these bikes. The original wheels were not as good as the frames. Fun fact. One day I was out riding in the countryside around Ooltewah, TN. I stopped to answer my cellphone. When I looked around, I saw I was next to a mailbox that said "Lynskey". I asked some friends about it and sure enough it was David Lynskey's house. David's father started Litespeed and David worked there until he finally quit a few years after the family sold the business to American Bicycle Group. After the non-compete clause of his contract expired, the family started Lynskey Performance bikes. TW |