** Titus MotoLite Exogrid - Ti/Carbon FS **

[velofrog]

yeah, i know, it's a real mouthful of a name! :roll:

so, this is what i've replaced the Salsa Ala Carte Ti with, a very rare and unusual Titus frame

Ti main tubes, chain stays alloy, seat stays carbon, linkage plates carbon, and down tube cut and then inlaid with carbon fibre!! :shock:

It's a cracker of a frame, spent four hours in the shed re-finishing the main triangle with scotchbrite and a quick skiff-over with some polish, it's come up a treat!

only casualty so far is one seized bottle bolt, it was turning the rivnut... :facepalm:

however, some careful dremel work got rid of the bolt head and the rivnut flange allowing me to just tap it through, and a quick shake saw the remains pop out of a hole in the head tube! I'll fit a new rivnut and then it should be time to build it up!

will update once i make some progress

in the meantime, here are a few pics taken just before the sun went down tonight

 

[velofrog]

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a couple more.....

 

[stevet1]

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Yep that is very nice, is it the on that was for sale on here? Would have bought it too if I'd had a use for it.
Whoever says bikes can't be classed as art is very wrong IMO.

 

[velofrog]

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yeah, that's the one!

the bloke I bought it from is Jason Miles, Guy Martin's mate and his partner in the CH4 Speed series where they broke the tandem bike world record!

it was lying in a box in his shed for almost three years, unbuilt, so it's time it had some tlc!

 

[sinnerman]

Re: ** Titus MotoLite Exogrid Ti Carbon **

Very cool, from an era when Titus were cool, and not Planet X/On One etc.

Ill have a look for the review for this, im sure i have it somewhere, Cool Mate.

 

[markwashington]

Re: ** Titus MotoLite Exogrid - Titanium inlaid with Carbon **

That is startlingly beautiful. Apart from looking amazing, what is the reasoning behind inlaying carbon?

 

[velofrog]

Re: ** Titus MotoLite Exogrid Ti Carbon **

thanks lads!

apparently the carbon was inlaid, then an air bladder inserted and inflated to push the carbon through the holes in the ti tubes..... it apparently makes it lighter and gives it a unique character when riding

here's a pic of a perforated tube, which looks epic, and a cut-away to show the carbon within

a lot of work in these frames, no wonder they were expensive!

 

[velofrog]

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been giving a lot of thought on how to build this.... new wheels? new forks? etc

then i got to thinking, it's a 4 or 5 inch travel frame.... i think the Psylos are 80/100/125mm adjustable, and they're 20mm bolt through, and they're air sprung like the fox rear shock.....

added into the mix is the fact that i've never serviced a fork.... so i bought some 5wt stendec fork oil, stripped it and removed both the all travel spacers to give it the full 125mm travel, and now it's had an oil service into the bargain!

i have a pair of old hope disc wheels in grey running 819 tubeless rims and tyres so fitted them, the only issue being that my lovely XTR centre lock rotors are now no use, and they don't do 6 bolt, so it will have to be a pair of 6 bolt XT discs instead :facepalm:

i also have another pair of 819 wheels with the same hope hubs, but in red with black spokes, might try them also

other than that, i need a shimano chain pin, and could probably cut down the rear brake hose, but i reckon the build as it stands should give me a pretty versatile machine that will climb pretty well and descend even better! can't wait to try it out!

here are a couple of shots of as far as it got today, i know the forks will be marmite, but hey, if we all liked the same thing it would be a boring old world.......

 

[velofrog]

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took a wander over to Monsterbike yesterday, got myself a pair of XT Ice Tech discs as my XTR's are centrelock, and the Hope wheels require six bolt.... :facepalm:

they only had a single 180mm, but also had a 203mm, so opted for the big disc as i'm not the smallest of riders!

a new pin for the chain and a 203mm IS to post mount adapter saw all the parts necessary to complete the build, so i finished it today, looks good!

gonna get a 31.8 ti seat post collar, and prob change the saddle for something less white, but other than that, i reckon it's done!

need to learn about the rear Push shock, see how you go about tuning it, i've read so far that a good starting point is your weight in lbs is equivalent to psi, 15 stone is 210 lbs, so inflated it to 210psi, will take it from there! not sure if it has a lock-out, will try and find out

in the meantime, here are a couple of pics

 

[velofrog]

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