1992 Litespeed dream build

[trailwright]

Very very nice. Those bottle cages reminded me of a titanium pair (can't recall the brand) I fitted to my road bike in the late 90s. Super light but on a practical level completely hopeless. They were just too flexy - a 750ml bottle would be shaken out on anything but a smooth road.

You're fortunate that nothing was lost by the customs twats but a good lesson generally for bike packing to keep loose items to a minimum.

Look forward to seeing the finished product!

 

[Zepreeme cycle]

Very very nice. Those bottle cages reminded me of a titanium pair (can't recall the brand) I fitted to my road bike in the late 90s. Super light but on a practical level completely hopeless. They were just too flexy - a 750ml bottle would be shaken out on anything but a smooth road.

You're fortunate that nothing was lost by the customs twats but a good lesson generally for bike packing to keep loose items to a minimum.

Look forward to seeing the finished product!

Ha, I know what you mean. These American Classic ones feel a bit more solid, but I’ll keep an eye on them once/if the bike sees some real riding.

And yes, I got lucky with customs this time. Loose bits just tossed around in the box… could’ve ended badly.
Still a few bits left to sort, but it’s getting closer.

 

[Zepreeme cycle]

This project took a little sideturn.
I first finished up the bike, only to realize it was too big for me—a real bummer.



So, the plan changed: I decided to sell the frame and reuse all the components, wheels, and fork on another smaller ’92 Litespeed I had sitting around. The large frame went off to Italy, and through a trade with a fellow collector in Austria I swapped my fork with the long steerer for his with a shorter one. We then went a step further and exchanged my matte-blasted frame for his polished frame of the right size. Phew!

In the end, I’ve basically ended up with a similar frameset as I started with—but this time in a size that fits me better. I actually prefer the neon decals on this one too, so that’s a bonus. The fork decals are a bit faded, so I might turn to SSSINK for fresh ones later on.
The trade also brought in a stem with the diamond logo decal, which I like more than the previous Litespeed one.




So… the build is officially restarting!


A few differences on this frame compared to the first one:

• It’s from an earlier production run 4130 vs 5xxx, with downtube routing for the rear derailleur cable.
• It has no separate seatpost collar but instead an integrated seatpost binder bolt.
• Earlier generation stem with the smaller diameter stem

Excited to get this build back on track.

 

[Zepreeme cycle]

One of the pedals was missing a dust cap, but luckily a lower-spec version uses the same type. I found a used pair with decent caps — so the pedals are now complete again.


Continued with mounting the XTR M900 headset . I hadn’t noticed before that the crown race actually has a retaining ring in a groove, nice detail!
Unior tools really are great for this kind of work.


Pressed in the headset races and the crown race. The steerer is slightly too long, but I don’t want to cut it, so I’m using a few spacers for now.
To get a bit more room for the handlebar to slide in, I sometimes put a coin in the split and tighten the bolt slightly to open it up a bit more.



Also mounted the bottom bracket, which weighs in at 163g.

 

[Prodigal Son]

hmmm.... sweet

 

[Zepreeme cycle]

New frame has an integrated seatpost binder, and I’m not sure what a period-correct binder bolt would look like...
I did find a silver QR in my parts box that fits quite nicely though.



And yes — I’m keeping the dealer sticker!


I’m really tight on space, so I made these stands to store the frames without wheels — they lift them up just enough to clear the chainrings and rear derailleur. Works quite well actually.


The rear derailleur outer gear cable from the last build is unfortunately a bit too short...
So now I’m on the hunt for some XTR M900 gear cable outers.
Let me know if you have any spares!