airborne black widow, titanium build.

been putting this together over last couple of months and always wanted a full on titanium build so here is how far i have got. obviously titanium cranks are very hard to find and always seem to have bad reviews so dont think i will be getting one so my jonesied xtrM960 will have to do. got a 36 tooth titanium chain ring on the way. favourite bits are the controltech stem and seatpost. most ti` stems are pretty fugly and i never liked the idea of welded parts on such an important part of the bike which takes a lot of stress. this controltech one was bloomin expensive but is soooo! sexy and miles ahead of the rest in terms of looks and weight. got some quad ti` eggbeaters nearly ready and a few bolts to change and thats it finished. it weighs 20lbs at the moment so its lovely to ride. first time on rigid forks in many years and they are more comfortable than i thought they would be. they weigh an incredible 580 grams! so i have to like them. what do think guys? cheers. ad

Ti Controltech stem and post? Yum, never seen those before!

I hadn't seen 'em either until now and don't they look the biz.
Rest of the bike's cool as well

hi carl, yes there are your fabtastic wheels. its sort of like reaching a point where all you can do is change wheels without getting any better when you have had king hubs(in my opinion). they really are fantastically designed and should given proper servicing and use be a lifetimes worth. thats handy as they say titanium is a bike for life.

the controltech bits are awesome! its branded as `ti`mania`as is so far ahead off any other choices our there. they brand it as a monocoque design and looks to me like a tube with clamp at either end but all welds are fettled back so it looks like a mould. that said the walls are very thin and if that was a weld all the way round and ground back i couldnt see that lasting very well. they dont give anything away on the site but i would love to know. its lovely stuff but mental expensive.

CONTROLTECH Titanium Seatpost $272.00
CONTROLTECH Titanium Stem $312.00
CONTROLTECH Titanium Flat Hand $177.00

got them on ebay from thailand
they knocked off $31 for saving on air postage but i did expect a bit more knocked off for such an outlay but they really dont budge much. mind you they are much better than uk prices! that is if they can supply them which most dont.

Now thats nice
Fancied trying the whole Ti build thing with my Airborne but its soooo hard to find the parts at anything like sensible money so kudos to you for doing it.

yes you are right in that there is not much choice of ti` gear and most of it is well over the top on price. i hate the expression but its a bucket list build and i had to throw all good sense out the window when it came to price on most bits. just ordered a titanium 36 tooth for the crank and will at some point get a full ti cassette when i change to ten speed so would have a good coverage of gears that should last a very long time. thats the blurb on the ti` chain that supposedly last 3 times as long as usual. its definitely quiet! but a lot of that is down to not having any gears up front. apart from a few bolts and possibly jockey wheels there is not much else i can think of to get in ti`

or is there??

Wow...everyday day is a school day. Looks great! Glad you got the wheels sorted
Damn...do not think I can out-build with my Merlin now the Controltech stuff is very nice

PS Cut the steerer tube down

cut the steerer down you say!!!

no way in hell!

i paid for them spacers and i am bloody well going to use them!!!