Litespeeds

[earlfoss]

I am about to purchase a ~2001 era Litespeed Vortex. It's pre-funky shaped head tube yet still 1 1/8 steerer tube. This will make a great rain and trainer bike. Heck, it looks like it would make a great bike period.

I'm curious to know if any current/former owners have impressions to share?

There's not as much info out there as I thought there would be. In fact, just finding a geo chart for 1999-2001 era ones is tough.

[Ken Robb]

I had a Litespeed from this era and it was a nice bike. I think the Vortex was toward the upper end of the line in price and had "racy" geometry.

[likebikes]

don't some of these use internal headsets? i.e. a chamfer cut into the headtube is the bearing race?

[earlfoss]

I think the newer ones did, but this one has a standard external headset.

[45K10]

They were decent bikes just make sure and check the welds for cracks especially around the head-tube. I had couple of friends whose Vortexs developed cracks there.

Should be a great commuter bike

[djg21]

Originally Posted by earlfoss

I am about to purchase a ~2001 era Litespeed Vortex. It's pre-funky shaped head tube yet still 1 1/8 steerer tube. This will make a great rain and trainer bike. Heck, it looks like it would make a great bike period.

I'm curious to know if any current/former owners have impressions to share?

There's not as much info out there as I thought there would be. In fact, just finding a geo chart for 1999-2001 era ones is tough.

I had one. I loved it. The top tube and seat tube were destroyed when I got hit by a car. Litespeed repaired the bike and returned it to me in new condition for what amounted to the cost of materials. They also replaced the head tube to take a standard headset rather than the integrated one. I liked the bike so much my next bike was a custom Lynskey R420 made from the 6:4 that is very similar. The Lynskey is stiffer than the Vortex in the B.B. because if the biaxial downtube. It my main bike still after 10 years.

The Vortex is a great Ti bike.

[earlfoss]

Great!

Looking forward to getting it built up!

[Dead Man]

I don't think I've ridden a Vortex, but I've ridden and raced several Litespeeds, mostly from that era. I'm kinda surprised your '01 has a 1.125" head tube - my oldest (yet most recent) Litespeed was a '01 Classic with 1", and the fork it came with had a completely incompatible rake for the frame geo. Bike was almost unridable, and finding a full carbon fork that had the correct offset for the frame was a small nitemare. Fortunately I'm so small, I didn't need to hold out for any kind of steerer length... found an Ouzo Pro in 1" with a hella short steerer for not a lot of money, but most you ogres won't be that lucky.

Anyway.... point for posting: I ****en love those old Litespeeds. No complaints, no cracks, no problems, and you can find them in great shape for cheap. Just my style.

[ldamelio]

2001 marked the switch to 1.125 head tubes for everything except the Classic which remained 1" (until the end of production IIRC.) . Still have my 2001 Tuscany / Campy 10 and it doesn't give up much to any contemporary metal bike.

[earlfoss]

Interesting on the 2001 switch to 1 1/8 steerer tubes. I'm pretty curious as to what year this one actually is now! Either way not a big deal since I can run a shim, but yeah, still curious.

[LJohnny]

Congrats, Vortex are a pinnacle of LS Ti frame sets, IMO. 6/4 Ti, light, super responsive.
I have the ‘01 6/4 LS mountain bike, the Tanasi and that’s a keeper.


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[marciero]

Just a remark about construction of the 6:4 bikes vs 3:2. The former is/was too hard to draw into tubes so they were rolled into tubes from flat sheets of titanium and welded, and so have a seam down their length. As I recall the Vortexes (Vortices?) were notably lighter and stiffer than other Litespeed models made with 3:2, but perhaps not as comfortable. Agree it would be a pretty stylin' rain/trainer.

[djg21]

Originally Posted by earlfoss

Great!

Looking forward to getting it built up!

That looks different than the 2003 Vortex I had. Mine had a downtube that was more shaped, like the one in the picture below.

[ldamelio]

Agree. Earl's is 2001 or 2002.

[Jeff N.]

I had a polished Ultimate that served me well. I was always told to keep a close eye on the welds, especially the seat tube cluster, as they were notorious for failure. No such problem with mine. Sold it off years ago.