#threaddredgebut I’m curious how far you have to tear the bike down to pack and travel? I’m a few inches shorter, but have held back from buying an S&S bike b/c of the threat of my frames attracting airline fees based on various recommendations. I’m a capable home mechanic, but if I can avoid pulling the fork and associated headset issues…
Probably the first ever bike I’ve seen that the Thomson setback post actually looks good.
Better than good, looks perfect!
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I agree, the Thomson setback looks good, maybe the bike light takes the eye off the kink.
I want to rotate the image slightly so that the wheels are parallel though, so that it is Super Nice.
Great bike!
Sorry to double-dip on posts, but I took some slightly better photos of my Twin Six Ti Rando XC after breaking it in this weekend. This thing is sweet! Super responsive and comfortable to boot, which is a massive improvement over my Frankenstein steel build I just retired.
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Titus Fireline Evo SRAM GX1 Mountain Bike, Quarq XX1 Eagle PM. TiTo handlebars & stem, i25 WTB with Tubeless Schwalbe G-One tyres. Nukeproof Horizon Pro Sam hill titanium Euduro pedals. Custom frame fitted Alpkit bag.
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Those handlebars are wikkkkkid!
So tempted to try them out. Have you considered mounting the brakes/shifters to the horizontal/flat part?
I did consider that but after yesterdays ride I found I use the outer grips more when in a position of required control and thus brakes were in the correct place for that for me. But you never know I might move them at some point!! Find the handlebar angle now produces no stress on my wrist joints and the front bars are great for cruising and when you fancy a change.
I ordered them from here TiTo Handle bars and only took 2 weeks to arrive via UPS at a great price. They are a custom width, I requested a 780mm width and arrived to spec.
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Oh, ok then. Here’s my new mountain bike:
It’s a Sonder Broken Road. Shimano XT running gear, some Hope stuff and DT Swiss wheels.
HEre it is on its first ride:
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Training bike, had it for well over a decade now, though most of the components have been replaced at some point.
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Thanks John. I saw the dry stone wall behind the bike and assumed you were in the UK.
My contribution: a 2012-ish Lynskey Helix Pro Road. Dura Ace 10 spd mechanical has proven bomb proof. Zipp 404 Firecrest with 23mm Conti GP5000. Comes in at 7.7 kg in extra large. Occasionally I lust after a new bike like an Addict RC but this Helix fits me so well, and rides so well, that I can’t justify it. Plus the industry seems to have gone utterly bonkers with pricing these last 10 years.
Photo taken towards the end of a recent 100k ride on Balmoral footbridge, Deeside, Scotland.
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New bike in the stable. T-Lab X3 shown in Road Config with Nox/Chris King wheels shod with Conti GP5000 Tubeless. So far a VERY smooth ride and breaking Strava PR’s pretty much everywhere I ride.
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Gosh, I just put down the deposit on a high end carbon gravel bike, I was planning to go pick it up this weekend and work with the shop to swap some parts around (grouppo, 650b wheels, etc.). However, after ogling this thread for a while and finding a Ti bike manufacturer that can get me an incredibly similar geometry and specced bike for right around the same price, I’m having second thoughts about the carbon.
Can anyone convince me in one direction or the other? I plan to use this bike as my gravel grinder for short and long 1-day rides, and possibly as an overnighter, so having all the mounting points the Ti build offers seems more appealing.
@ciarrai I cannot speak to a carbon gravel bike, but I have had both Steel and Titanium now and can highly recommend the latter. Even a nice Steel frame is likely to be great, but I had a cheap frankenstein build that wasn’t great.
Titanium won’t rust on you, is infinitely harder to break than Carbon, and you won’t have to worry about rubbing off any nice finish with whatever bags or accessories you mount. Ti is still plenty light as well.
All that said, while I love my Twin Six frame, I’ve been drooling over the frames from Allied lately…
Thanks for the thoughts. I had a steel gravel bike that was pretty comfortable but had QR dropouts that drove me crazy with the discs, so I started riding a carbon CX bike on the dirt. Then the varied smooth/chunky roads that I ride on left me wanting something with more endurance geometry for those longer 3+ hour rides.
I’m thinking next year will be the year I can pull the trigger on a Ti MonsterCross bike for doing some longer distance bike packing adventures. In the meantime, some helicopter tape should keep the frame looking great and I know the resale on the carbon frame will be high if I change my mind in 6 months. I’ve been flirting with this bike on my computer for weeks now. https://lindarets.com/kegeti-tianium-bikepacking-monstercross-29er/
Edited: I changed my mind, the deposit on the carbon bike was weighing heavily on me and I didn’t feel great about it so I decided to cancel the order. Ti here I come! 
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Outside of winter (when my turbo bike gets most use!), I mostly split my time between my carbon road bike and my Ti road bike.
I love them both, but the Ti I love more for its more compliant ride, its beautifully simple, pure, lines, but most of all for its cosmetic robustness - after all these years it looks brand new when it’s clean, and I never, ever worry about damaging it due to my clumsiness.
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Custom Ti Cycles w/ S&S couplings built up in 2004. Had it built w/ long reach brakes and room for 28mm tires + fenders. Ultegra 9 speed (had to replace crank, have a cheap Sora temporarily), Ksyrium SSL. Barely rode or any form of exercise 2004-2020, then decided to get in shape during COVID and been riding 500-600+ TSS since May, lost 25 lbs and starting to feel like an 80’s racer again at 53. Need to drop the stack height a bunch now that I lost my gut. Will upgrade the whole kit to Ultegra 11 speed and nice new wheels next spring.
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Here’s my Ti road bike, a Litespeed Ultimate disc. I love love LOVE this bike. So fast and so smooth. Litespeed managed to square off the top tube and make the down tube a truncated airfoil shape so there’s a few aero touches. Combining that with zipp sl aero handlebars and cockpit and my flo45s this thing gets moving in a hurry. I’m also finding I’m getting pushed around far less in headwinds and crosswinds in contrast to when I was using those same wheels on my 2017 specialized diverge elite so that’s a pretty big added bonus. The frame easily fits 30c tires as advertised and could probably fit the right pair of 32s. Bought it with riding mainly road with some light hard pack gravel roads here and there on occasion for which I have a set of dt swiss 460s with donnelly cdg tubeless tires ready for the quick switch. With cages and pedals the weight comes in a 18.2 lbs. All in all It’s hard to find any faults with this bike, I’m keeping it forever. I might switch out the ultegra mechanical for Di2 when the next gen comes out and will definitely be getting more aero wheels for it because more wheels means more fun. If you come across anyone complaining about Ti not being aero point them in the direction of litespeed. Yea it’s not as aero as a tarmac or emonda or whatever but they’re not nearly as smooth to ride as this.
Probably going to buy the litespeed ultimate gravel to go with it because aero-ish Ti gravel sounds splendid.
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