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New Litespeed Ultimate G2 gravel bike news and impressions
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- čas přidán 14. 08. 2024
- Is titanium still relevant?
Litespeed has been making titanium bikes in Tennessee since 1986, and the brand just updated its gravel race bike, the Ultimate Gravel, with the G2 model that has more tire clearance, a stiffer rear end, progressive geometry and, yes, that plush ride of the pricey metal.
If you plan on keeping a bike for more than a couple of years, then a good ti frame is the way to go - especially for gravel. No worries about paint - no chipping, no fading, etc. Really durable. No wondering if that jagged line on your carbon frame is superficial or a structural issue. No rust or frame fatigue issues. I really miss my ti road frame, and my next bike will most likely be titanium.
I couldn’t agree more. Love a Ti frame.
Im leaning towards stainless
Completely agree! I just purchased my first ti road bike and about to pull the trigger on a gravel ti bike as well 😅
@@TheAcfallejoseph Stainless is a very nice option. We definitely have some nice custom steel builders here in the US 👍
I have a Sage Titanium Barlow. It’s a great all road bike. This particular model is welded by Lynsky. I’ve been riding and or racing for 50 years. I’ve owned every frame material out there with the exception of titanium. This is the best riding bike I have owned. This frame material is awesome! It’s a life time bike! It would take a lot to get me to ride any other frame material.
When old technology tube orientation become high tech again. Thanks GT!
100%
Two years ago as o was looking for a bike that has the right geometry for me I found and eventually I built a Cherohala. The bike is fantastic. I have two sets of 303s. One for gravel with 40 mm and one for road with 30 mm tires. My favorite bike ever. The experience of purchasing the bike directly from litespeed and the few interactions I had with them since have been absolutely superb. Fantastic value for money as well.
Saw someone riding one of the old litespeeds upto ward a few weeks back. Glad they are still producing solid bikes!
The fact you used "dampen" properly is reason enough to subscribe! BTW, I love my Ekar equipped Watia with Spynergy's. The wife feels the same way about hers too; great bikes!
Good stuff Ben, loving the work 👏 looking forward to riding with you again sometime soon 👍
Cheers, Nibs. Hopefully again in Flanders!
Love you content, first of all. I just came back to cycling a couple years ago after More then a decade ultra trail running, and don’t have or care to get that deep in tech of bikes. Having said that I now a several bikes : carbon mtb cross country, trek domane, but in all this I prefer to ride my most recent purchase, blackheart titanium. It interested me because days of old in early 90’s I raced xc and remembered the feeling of ti. Also this brand is a boutique brand here in Los Angeles Venice beach at this cool shop called LUFT in a old vacuum shop. The ride is incredible on and off road here in the Malibu mountains. Since I don’t have experience in ride feel of gravel or road, I go by feeling. I’ve done 10k vert a week on rocky terrain, then hit the road and feels smooth. I always wanted a litespeed but when for this bike and love it, I recently through Luft purchased 650b carbon wheel set to run 50mm tires too. Fit’s the bill! Still love my carbon bikes too.
Super cool. I met the Blackheart guy at Sea Otter. Can't remember his name. Bikes looked great.
Hello Ben! Good to see you again.
Miss you on Bike Radar.
Hey Stanley! Thank you. BikeRadar was a good few years for me until they closed their US operation. Building it from scratch here. Thanks for following!
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney
I have always enjoy your work. 🙂
Seems like excellent value compared or some of the bigger brands.
Looking forward to the post Loco race report.
czcams.com/video/EABgEnWpnJ4/video.html&ab_channel=TheRidewithBenDelaney ✌
Ti is my favourite frame material especially on gravel
Damn! Litespeed! Ttanium. Nashville. This has been my frame. With Campy rec. drivetrain. So many miles. Thank you. Accident. TBI. Still thank you.
I have a 2018 Ti bike from an outfit called WHY Cycles (they're in Colorado Springs, CO) : Their all-road "R+" has been my "one and done" for quite a while now
and I plan to have it for many many years to come - the abuse that gravel riding puts on a bike means I wouldn't pick any other material than titanium for a
long term build.
Idk about weight - sure Ti is not as light as carbon fiber (my bike is like 7.8 kg) but i think most of the weight on that bike might be those Spinergy wheels.
Regardless, brands Like Litespeed and Moots have always impressed, but there are so many other Ti brands to look into. I'd love to see a long term review of this bike.
Yep, I am familiar. My friend Betsy took a Why to Mid South in 2020 (I had a Warbird). And of course Mosaic here in Boulder does incredible work.
People focus too much on weight which is why they are spending huge amounts of money on delicate carbon. Carbon will never last taking the abuses all bikes go through in their lifetimes. That's why the only option that made any sense to me spending over $10,000 for a custom made bike was choosing titanium. I chose a USA builder that actually knows how to weld Ti over that stuff coming out of China that fails with pictures posted on the internet as proof. I also had options when choosing the tubing sizes for the stiffness I wanted. I may not totally get the comfort everyone talks about with Ti but I got a frame that is responsive. What I do know is that it is a bike I can race that doesn't beat me up. People, do yourselves the favor and go custom and don't worry about the money. I'm sure it will be a bike you won't want to replace and will last you a lifetime. And if the weight really bothers you put Dura-Ace or another light groupset on it and you'll get a bike that weighs less than 19lbs.
The Tongler gets a shout out. Tim too!
The original Ultimate Gravel is still a great option.
Great video! Going to Gravel Locos this weekend as well, happy riding!
Right on! Come say hi.
G2 looks really nice. Noticed you are running an Ultegra crank with your GRX and think you mentioned 38m tires. Seems like a nice (almost) road bike. This is exactly what I’m interested in. Subscribing for a more thorough review on ride.
That was built up for SBT but things got sideways. More on that in the next vid. Thanks for following along.
Nice back drop
Remember well when Litespedd and Merlin were the hottest and most desirable brands.
Back to the future!!
Triple triangle! I love it !
Looking like the retro GT mtb bikes on the back end of the bike. Me likey
Right?
I really need to move to Colorado. Great video Ben.
Come on out. I’ll show you around.
at my age, i need a MOOTS gravel Ebike.
More great content 👍🏼
Ben, ask them to ship you an Obed GVR. Would be awesome to see your review on that bike. And will help me with new bike selection ;-) They do have it with GRX di2 2X, your fav group set.
Haha! Okay, I will ask. 😁
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney We got u, fam.... ;-)
Any mechanical mullet 1X set-up suggestions for a Litespeed Ultimate or Toscano gravel bikes?
Both SRAM (11-50t) and Shimano (10-51) have big-range 12spd mechanical options.
I love the fact that the bike weighs 20lbs and that is told aa a negative in the bike world. Most bikers have 20lbs to lose in their gut yet complain about the weight of the bike. Which weight is more important for a high quality of life?
Please also try other wheels, i really want to find out if those Spinergy wheels add further comfort to an already-super-vibration-killing frame/tyres combo
Yep, will do.
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney Yes, interested in your thoughts on the Spinergy wheels. Believe the hubs are essentially Hadley (higher engagement) and they claim the spokes are stronger and more compliant vs. traditional spokes.
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney Thanks! saw the new video just now!
Thank you for sharing your input and I'm wondering did you shoot this entire video in Boulder Colorado because I want to take a trip out there now- beautiful scenery! I called the company yesterday and I'm wondering also if I wanted to use caliber brakes in lieu of disk, can the frame accommodate that?
Yep! The main piece was shoot in south Boulder, and the ride footage is all in and around Boulder. Definitely worth a visit to ride. The frame is not built for calipers, no.
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney OK thank you Ben
I like this bike only because of the seat stays.
Ti for gravel makes total sense. Why ride carbon on dirt? If you get a paint chip...oh well...you asked for it.😀
Nice review. What do you think of the Litespeed Watia?
Haven't ridden that one, sorry.
Hi Ben I just noticed you having a Ultegra groupset in the new Litespeed G2. Any reason why you didn't select Shimano GRX?
I am hoping to purchase the LS G2, my ride will be 65% tarmac and 35% light gravel which size tires will you recommend on 700 wheel set?
Hey Shameel. Litespeed built that bike up, and I believe they choose Ultegra over GRX for the larger gearing, as the bike was originally intended to be used at SBT GRVL, which is pretty fast.
As for tires, 32s are a good 'tweener' option. I really like the Cadex Classics in that width. They are what I used for FoCo Fondo (a gravel event), and I've just kept them on that bike because they feel so good for everyday riding that is similar to your 65/35 split. czcams.com/video/PGbNNqQ_U7k/video.html
Many thanks for your response Ben, just wondering in your experience is there any major difference between the 32s and the 35s where tire sizes concern for my requirement of 65% road and 35% gravel ride?
That backdrop is ridiculous.
Boulder, baby! It's a little noisy since Highway 36 is close by, but it looks a little nicer than the inside of my garage...
Reminds me of GT Bikes
Does Litespeed weld these in Tenn. or does some other local outfit actually do the manufacturing? We're proud of our Tennessee Ti !
Yeah, Litespeed has been building its own bikes in Chattanooga for decades.
GT triple triangle vibes
Totally.
What distance are you doing in Bentonville? Maybe I can pull up next to you on my Lynsey Ti bike ;)
Doing the 100, Aaron. And yourself? Please say hi if you see me.
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney I'm doing the 50. Would love to do the 100 but got a family with small kids, so hoping to spend some time with them that day too. I'll say hi if I see you!
@@AirClark1 I hear you. Have fun.
@@TheRidewithBenDelaney same to you! Hope you enjoy your trip to the Ozarks.
I was looking at the T5, and it would be the last bike I’d buy. Lmao
What psi are you running this weekend??
Probably around 40 for the 38s and my 185lbs. No idea what the roads are like. Do you have any intel?
Saw some footage from last years race and it looks like pretty smooth stuff, should be smooth sailings there
Instead of a G2 they should just call it a GT
😁
A rather handsome bike for what it is.
I, for one, will not buy a titanium frame bike until one meets each single one of the following criteria:
- A compact design (11-17º sloping top tube) frame.
- Compatible with flat-mount hydraulic callipers.
- Has 3D-printed lugs for every single joint.
- Sports properly shaped tubing (rather than plain cylinders all over) that will accommodate internally-routed brake liners with dry hydraulic coupling fittings (à la 22Bicycles, but beautiful - not ugly) and internally-routed hub dynamo wires both to the rear end (tail light) and to the fork crown (headlight).
- Has the necessary mounts for front and rear mudguards; front and rear racks; a fork crown mount for a headlight; a bento box; a minimum of 3 (preferably, 4) bottle cage mounts.
- Comes with Santana Z type couplers - and a dedicated reasonably-sized hard case with hard foam dividers for the entire lot (i.e., Santana / S&S).
- Has a threaded bottom bracket.
- Matches the look and the comfort of my beautiful Salsa WarBird, but has a couple of cm. higher stack.
- Weighs no more than 10kg. (excluding the box, obviously) with the assembly detailed below.
- Costs within €4.000 for the frame (below €4.500 for the frame and case and purpose-built hard foam dividers - or within €9.000 - for the entire lot, including the frame, the case with the dividers; a Sram eTap Red or Force mallet with Eagle AXS rear derailleur, the finest 10-52 cassette and a 45T or thereabouts chainring; RedShift ShockStop seatpost and stem; a Selle SMP Plus vegan saddle; a pair of either Spinergy FCC47 or Scope R5.A wheels, a quality flat-top carbon drop bar; under-the-tape gels and a Fabric tape; a pair of quality light full-size mudguards.