Show us your Titanium....

[Foghat]

This is the latest addition to the commuting stable: a Spa Ti Tourer frame built up with Columbus Tusk Trekking fork and mainly components from the Roberts commuter, which has had various items from old racing machines installed in their place. Has a few new bits, such as the Shimano CX70 cantilever brakes, which are very powerful compared with some cantilevers - nearly as good as the latest Shimano dual-pivots if using New Super SLR pull ratio levers.

Hefty tyre clearance was the main rationale for this, for optimal winter tyre selection, plus a paint-free, corrosion-resistant frame. I contemplated going disc-braked but, having 6 pairs of quality 10-speed wheels to wear out after going 11-speed on various other bikes, I decided on the Spa which can ultimately become a second (lighter) touring bike when I do eventually go disc for commuting.

So with winter here, I now have the following tyred wheelsets all ready and waiting for immediate swap-in when required, depending on conditions:

1. Continental Gator Hardshell 32mm - actually 30mm; general spring/autumn/winter tyre, and best for hedge-cutting season.
2. Continental Top Contact II 28mm - nice tough, grip-like-buggery touring tyre with excellent tread, chosen when the roads get covered in mud and gravel, which is often on Cotswoldian lanes, and when leaf fall gets bad
3. Continental Top Contact II Winter Premium 37mm - actually 31mm wide and 33mm tall; special winter compound tyre, good for frosty and quite-icy-but-not-too-much conditions
4. Schwalbe Winter 30mm - studded, and best for snow and severe ice, but monumentally slow and hard work (adds at least 15 minutes to each one-way commute)

In 'summer', the Top Contact II Winter Premium tyres get replaced with '32mm' Continental Gatorskins and the Schwalbe Winter studded wheels get consigned to the loft. I don't like to go lighter or less robust than a Gatorskin when commuting, even in summer, and opt for good tough fit-for-purpose tyres the rest of the year, as punctures on an unlit and at times remote 20-rural-miles-each-way-five-days-a-week commute are not an option.

 

[stumpy66]

Lynskey Viale disc

 

[jowwy]

No Titanium, will stainless steel do?

View attachment 151050

No......put it in the steel thread

 

[Rustybucket]

My next bike is going to be Titanium, might have to wait 3 years until I can afford it thou!

 

[Shadow]

My next bike is going to be Titanium, might have to wait 3 years until I can afford it thou!

It will be worth waiting for - you wont be disappointed!

 

[Rustybucket]

Got my eyes on one of these, hopefully by the time I'm 40...

http://road.cc/content/review/172125-kinesis-gfti-disc-frameset

 

[simon.r]

Got my eyes on one of these, hopefully by the time I'm 40...

http://road.cc/content/review/172125-kinesis-gfti-disc-frameset

Good call If it's any consolation I had to wait until I was 52!

 

[rockenrolla]

My all new Wittson Custom Ti Cycles.

 

[ianrauk]

My all new Wittson Custom Ti Cycles.

Very nice.
Can you please do and post a plain side on shot, so we can get a good look at your lovely bike.
Thanks

 

[rockenrolla]

Very nice.
Can you please do and post a plain side on shot, so we can get a good look at your lovely bike.
Thanks

Thanks! here's a plain side shot

 

[KEEF]

 

[Venod]

The Boardman Titanium SLR 9.4, not mine but thought it deserved a viewing on here.

 

[ianrauk]

The Boardman Titanium SLR 9.4, not mine but thought it deserved a viewing on here.

View attachment 155098

The forks look wrong for the bike. And painted Ti. No no no.

 

[Houthakker]

Love the look of these Ti frames, but they all seem to have (I assume) carbon forks which seem at odds with the frame. Showing my ignorance now, but can you not get Ti forks? Is it not a good material for the stresses for a fork?

 

[ianrauk]

Love the look of these Ti frames, but they all seem to have (I assume) carbon forks which seem at odds with the frame. Showing my ignorance now, but can you not get Ti forks? Is it not a good material for the stresses for a fork?

You can get Ti forks but most of the bikes come with Carbon jobbies. Ti forks are much more expensive. So it's mainly to keep the price down on what is already a hefty purchase in most cases.
I have been looking at Ti forks myself. Burls do a very nice set.