1994 X-Lite Titanium.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Retro-Mtb-X-l ... 463874cda1

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Although the owner's come down in price a bit with this listing I'm not sure they are worth that. Its basically a RSP far east Ti frame - which are good - but valued at £300 max. Admittedly the fork and the branding is brilliant - but I'd struggle to justify more than a £750 spend on this bike. In fact in February I narrowly missed a mint XTR Raleigh Tourus with the Trimble fork like that for £450 - which I'm admit the X-lite branding would fetch a hefty £250-300 premium, as it is a rare bike, but I doubt the owner will get over £1k unfortunately, but you never know, someone might remember them - I've got the original poster of this bike somewhere at home from the X-lite stand at Bike'94

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masha":vz2oa2hh said:

...Its basically a RSP far east Ti frame - which are good - but valued at £300 max. Admittedly the fork and the branding is brilliant - but I'd struggle to justify more than a £750 spend on this bike. In fact in February I narrowly missed a mint XTR Raleigh Tourus with the Trimble fork like that for £450 - which I'm admit the X-lite branding would fetch a hefty £250-300 premium, as it is a rare bike, but I doubt the owner will get over £1k unfortunately, but you never know, someone might remember them - I've got the original poster of this bike somewhere at home from the X-lite stand at Bike'94

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Custom drawn tubes sourced from IMI in Wales actually (as opposed to off the shelf tubes intended for aero hydraulic pipes which 90%+ frames are made from) and plasma arc and tig welded in Nottingham. But you're right about the price. They are one of the most undervalued frames of the era due to the Raleigh association and some of the shite that was coming out of Nottingham in the 90's .

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I agree actually - I have two in stock at the moment - a 19.5" which is actually a "Raleigh USA" one (but as far as I can tell its identical to the Torus and and another US badged one I sold last month). I also picked up an XL 21" RSP badged late 90s one that was made in UK (even better welds and finish than the others). They are good bikes and there are quite a few varients, and I've always found them good value and ride for a full ti bike.

Re: x-lite

I went to have a look at it last night and was very tempted to hand over £1200 for it. But after reading the posts on it I'm having 2nd thoughts! You have to see it in the flesh though it is one of the best bikes I've seen really nicely done, gutted!There's no way he'd take £750 and to be honest I don't blame him.

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He's got it down to £750 for the frame and fork now - its still a lot of money compared to the XT Raleigh Tourus with the same frame and Trimble fork, (as the high polished XT Torus actually looks better in the flesh than the ball burnished X-Lite version), but because the X-lite version has much better street-cred, its probably getting closer to someone taking the plunge. I'd be tempted at £550 for f&f and would have to snap it up for £450, but £750 is still too rich for me. I'd probably pay £200 for the fork alone as its so unusual and I could add it to one of my existing Raleigh Ti frames.

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The thing is people are valuing it quite low but my problem is where can I buy one cheaper?! I've been looking out for one of these for 2 years and I've only ever seen one other and it was battered!

"arguably the best rigid forks ever made" yes, but then they decided to use that awful stem / handlebar setup.

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masha":2ibr6sje said:

He's got it down to £750 for the frame and fork now - its still a lot of money compared to the XT Raleigh Tourus with the same frame and Trimble fork, (as the high polished XT Torus actually looks better in the flesh than the ball burnished X-Lite version), but because the X-lite version has much better street-cred, its probably getting closer to someone taking the plunge. I'd be tempted at £550 for f&f and would have to snap it up for £450, but £750 is still too rich for me. I'd probably pay £200 for the fork alone as its so unusual and I could add it to one of my existing Raleigh Ti frames.

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Agreed. The fork is gorgeous though.

PS It's Trimnell, not Trimble.

I don't think many owners sell them TBH they ride really well for the era. They can be built up foolishly light (My lightest build was just under 21lbs with suspension and (mostly) M950/1/2 and about 19.5 ish with rigid forks) and thanks to the Raleigh connection they aren't really worth selling, better to ride them to death or mothball them until you have budget/time/inclination to rebuild them.

That's why I have two. One frame, one complete bike.