I only just discovered this web site. It's great to find others who share my obsession!
This is the current incarnation of my 1994 Litespeed Ocoee.
I originally purchased the bare frame new in '94 with a Litespeed logoed Rock Shox Mag 21 standard (non SL) shock from Colorado Cyclist with insurance money I received when my neon green Klein Attitute (or was it a Pinnacle?)was stolen. Highlights of my original build were 8 speed Deore XT trigger shifters, derailleurs, crank & canti brakes, Litespeed Ti quill stem, narrow Titec XC Ti flat bars, Synchros aluminum seatpost, Mavic 231 rims with a Ringle Bubba up front and a very trick silver White brothers hub on the rear. (I now have that wheelset on my 1998 Rocky Mountain Pipeline.)
Over the years, I pursued a "mostly closeout" strategy to upgrade the components. Several of the parts have been swapped out 2-3 times over the last 17 years. I would wait until a particular part was discontinued by a manufacturer or closed out by a shop & pick it up on the cheap. That led to the purchase of a Synchros Titanium seat post that's still on the bike. Being an old motor head, early on I switched to 8 Speed Sram Grip shifters and then to the SRAM 9 speed 9.0 SL ESP Carbon shifters & rear derailleur that are now on the bike. When I went to 9 speed, I added the current XTR/Mavic 517 wheel set, a closeout from Excel Sports, which is one of my LBSs. The Raceface Turbine LP crank & square bolt BB were added when discontinued. I added a Chris King headset when I went threadless a few years after I bought the frame, which unfortunately rendered the pretty LS Ti quill stem to book shelf display. I ran Hutchinson Python tires for a long time. The Titec bars were swapped out for slightly more rigid & lighter Easton CT1 carbons. The XT cantis gave way to XT articulated V Brakes & levers. I switched a few years ago from Time Impact peddles to lighter, super cheap Crank Bros. Candys. The only constant from the beginning is a San Marco Titanio 200 saddle, IMO the best XC saddle ever made -- I have 4 including a Bontraeger modified profile version. There were other swaps, but those are the most important. I have thought about adding a disc on the front, but the V's are one finger stoppers, weigh less and it doesn't rain much here in Boulder County, CO.
Like a lot of old time rigid riders, I was obsessed by the new front suspension forks. The original Rock Shox that came with the frame were heavy and short travel, which led to a light but pogo stick like "all elastomer" Answer Manitou, a nice Marzzochi Z-2 bomber, a lighter 63mm SID, and finally an 80mm threadless SID.
By the time I installed the 80mm SID, I had accumulated a couple of FS bikes for the rough stuff and started to question whether I really needed suspension on this Ti bike at all. Even the original short travel Mag 21 felt like it wasn't really suited to the frame geometry and added a lot of weight. When I went to the SID 80mm, it felt even more slack & laid back, even though it was still within Litespeed allowed fork specs. Here's what the Ocoee looked like in 1994 catalog with suspension.
Here's the same bike in the 1993 when it came with a rigid fork. The geometry specs are exactly the same, but even allowing for sag, the 93 rigid bike obviously has steeper angles. They didn't change the frame in '94, they just added suspension.
A few years ago, a little research turned up a rigid 670 gr. Mosso carbon wrapped aluminum fork on Ebay, a $120 direct import from the PRC. A-C length came out at 413, a good replacement size that looks pretty close to the '93 Ocoee with rigid fork in the picture.
As might be expected, the difference is night and day. The bike handles much quicker and no longer has the hinged feeling of a suspended hardtail. On hard pack, it climbs out of the saddle and accelerates extremely well. With its NORBA credentials and relatively stout tubing, the Ocoee always held a line very well. The Mosso fork has very little tuck under breaking, but is still comfortable and tracks very well at speed. Best of all, the joys of a Ti frame now really come through. The weight now comes in at 20-21 lbs, depending on the particular components I am running.
Of course, that fork change led inevitably to more changes on the bike. The Hutchinson Pythons were swapped out for a pair of fatter, lighter, more absorbent, lower pressure and faster rolling (and wearing) Schwalbe 2.25 Racing Ralphs run at about 35lbs --- I weigh about 200. When one of them wore I out, I recently added a 2.4 on the front. That big tire added to the the narrow flat bars, low stem and faster frame geometry all made the bike too twitchy and hard to control in the rough, so I added wider Easton monkey light carbon high rise bars and a Richey high rise stem. The bike is now much easier to control without sacrificing handling and is much easier on my lower back. Unless you are Hans Rey, this is not a Rock Garden bike of choice, although it's a quantum leap beyond the rigid bikes I used to ride in the Rocky Mountains back in the 80s. Ti manufacturers should consider producing rigid bikes again _- I ride this bike regularly on the rolling hardpack singletrack around Boulder --it's a blast!
I tried converting the new 2.4 "tubeless ready" Schwalbe using a Stan's kit, but after several frustrating hours, couldn't get it to inflate on the narrow Mavic 517s. Going tubeless is probably the logical next step for this bike.
My other bikes - I am the original owner:
1989-90 Look Carbon Kevlar "Hinault" road with down tube 7sp SIS Dura Ace.
1992 Litespeed Ultimate road -- Like the Ocoee, heavily modified over the years. Mixed Campy 10Sp with Easton SL carbon fork.
1998 Rocky Pipeline FS freeride. 8sp SRAM /Avid/XT. Somewhat modified with original Marzocchi Z-1 100mm Bomber fork.
2000 Fisher Sugar 2 FS XC. Stock except for Gripshifters swapped when bought & Easton carbon flat bar.
The wife has a nice original/stock purple 1993 rigid steel Marin Pine Mountain.
More Ocoee pics;
This is the current incarnation of my 1994 Litespeed Ocoee.
I originally purchased the bare frame new in '94 with a Litespeed logoed Rock Shox Mag 21 standard (non SL) shock from Colorado Cyclist with insurance money I received when my neon green Klein Attitute (or was it a Pinnacle?)was stolen. Highlights of my original build were 8 speed Deore XT trigger shifters, derailleurs, crank & canti brakes, Litespeed Ti quill stem, narrow Titec XC Ti flat bars, Synchros aluminum seatpost, Mavic 231 rims with a Ringle Bubba up front and a very trick silver White brothers hub on the rear. (I now have that wheelset on my 1998 Rocky Mountain Pipeline.)
Over the years, I pursued a "mostly closeout" strategy to upgrade the components. Several of the parts have been swapped out 2-3 times over the last 17 years. I would wait until a particular part was discontinued by a manufacturer or closed out by a shop & pick it up on the cheap. That led to the purchase of a Synchros Titanium seat post that's still on the bike. Being an old motor head, early on I switched to 8 Speed Sram Grip shifters and then to the SRAM 9 speed 9.0 SL ESP Carbon shifters & rear derailleur that are now on the bike. When I went to 9 speed, I added the current XTR/Mavic 517 wheel set, a closeout from Excel Sports, which is one of my LBSs. The Raceface Turbine LP crank & square bolt BB were added when discontinued. I added a Chris King headset when I went threadless a few years after I bought the frame, which unfortunately rendered the pretty LS Ti quill stem to book shelf display. I ran Hutchinson Python tires for a long time. The Titec bars were swapped out for slightly more rigid & lighter Easton CT1 carbons. The XT cantis gave way to XT articulated V Brakes & levers. I switched a few years ago from Time Impact peddles to lighter, super cheap Crank Bros. Candys. The only constant from the beginning is a San Marco Titanio 200 saddle, IMO the best XC saddle ever made -- I have 4 including a Bontraeger modified profile version. There were other swaps, but those are the most important. I have thought about adding a disc on the front, but the V's are one finger stoppers, weigh less and it doesn't rain much here in Boulder County, CO.
Like a lot of old time rigid riders, I was obsessed by the new front suspension forks. The original Rock Shox that came with the frame were heavy and short travel, which led to a light but pogo stick like "all elastomer" Answer Manitou, a nice Marzzochi Z-2 bomber, a lighter 63mm SID, and finally an 80mm threadless SID.
By the time I installed the 80mm SID, I had accumulated a couple of FS bikes for the rough stuff and started to question whether I really needed suspension on this Ti bike at all. Even the original short travel Mag 21 felt like it wasn't really suited to the frame geometry and added a lot of weight. When I went to the SID 80mm, it felt even more slack & laid back, even though it was still within Litespeed allowed fork specs. Here's what the Ocoee looked like in 1994 catalog with suspension.
Here's the same bike in the 1993 when it came with a rigid fork. The geometry specs are exactly the same, but even allowing for sag, the 93 rigid bike obviously has steeper angles. They didn't change the frame in '94, they just added suspension.
A few years ago, a little research turned up a rigid 670 gr. Mosso carbon wrapped aluminum fork on Ebay, a $120 direct import from the PRC. A-C length came out at 413, a good replacement size that looks pretty close to the '93 Ocoee with rigid fork in the picture.
As might be expected, the difference is night and day. The bike handles much quicker and no longer has the hinged feeling of a suspended hardtail. On hard pack, it climbs out of the saddle and accelerates extremely well. With its NORBA credentials and relatively stout tubing, the Ocoee always held a line very well. The Mosso fork has very little tuck under breaking, but is still comfortable and tracks very well at speed. Best of all, the joys of a Ti frame now really come through. The weight now comes in at 20-21 lbs, depending on the particular components I am running.
Of course, that fork change led inevitably to more changes on the bike. The Hutchinson Pythons were swapped out for a pair of fatter, lighter, more absorbent, lower pressure and faster rolling (and wearing) Schwalbe 2.25 Racing Ralphs run at about 35lbs --- I weigh about 200. When one of them wore I out, I recently added a 2.4 on the front. That big tire added to the the narrow flat bars, low stem and faster frame geometry all made the bike too twitchy and hard to control in the rough, so I added wider Easton monkey light carbon high rise bars and a Richey high rise stem. The bike is now much easier to control without sacrificing handling and is much easier on my lower back. Unless you are Hans Rey, this is not a Rock Garden bike of choice, although it's a quantum leap beyond the rigid bikes I used to ride in the Rocky Mountains back in the 80s. Ti manufacturers should consider producing rigid bikes again _- I ride this bike regularly on the rolling hardpack singletrack around Boulder --it's a blast!
I tried converting the new 2.4 "tubeless ready" Schwalbe using a Stan's kit, but after several frustrating hours, couldn't get it to inflate on the narrow Mavic 517s. Going tubeless is probably the logical next step for this bike.
My other bikes - I am the original owner:
1989-90 Look Carbon Kevlar "Hinault" road with down tube 7sp SIS Dura Ace.
1992 Litespeed Ultimate road -- Like the Ocoee, heavily modified over the years. Mixed Campy 10Sp with Easton SL carbon fork.
1998 Rocky Pipeline FS freeride. 8sp SRAM /Avid/XT. Somewhat modified with original Marzocchi Z-1 100mm Bomber fork.
2000 Fisher Sugar 2 FS XC. Stock except for Gripshifters swapped when bought & Easton carbon flat bar.
The wife has a nice original/stock purple 1993 rigid steel Marin Pine Mountain.
More Ocoee pics;
