So I want a titanium gravel bike

[Mikej]

Fireflys are around 2 years wait. But yeah, FF if you can wait. The Sevens are pretty nice, I heard they are offering internal brake hose routing now. Otherwise Built.

[Spdntrxi]

if you dont need super tire clearance ...I would just get a Routt otherwise 45 is a good choice too

[zambenini]

You won't go wrong with anything here.

My list would be: Moots, Mosaic, Jim Kish, Firefly and narrow from there. I just got a ti xc bike from overseas and I love it. I won't hesitate to stick with ti whenever I can for the future ('cept a lugged steel road bike some day), and back to a U.S. eff-builder when I have the change, but I got little kids at home and $$$ is in demand.

[Clancy]

T-Lab

When NAHBS was in Charlotte, I remember walking around and thinking how similar most booths where. Gravel had started to take off and many had gravel bikes in Ti on display. Other than graphics, it was hard to distinguish one from the other. I talked to the folks at Moots as to how they differed and they stressed tightness of joints/selection of tubing - all very important of course.

When I first saw the tubing on T-Lab I thought it to be very cool but also wondered if it was more show/trickery. But the more I read the more I saw the validity, T-Lab had figured out a way to manipulate tube shapes much in the same way that has been done in carbon. Ended up ordering one. You can read up on T-Lab in another thread but after owning a couple of Lynskeys (great value, solid bikes) and an Eriksen (spectacular), plus a Serotta Ti, I honestly believe the T-Lab is the finest bike I’ve ever ridden.

Check’em out.

[GonaSovereign]

You asked how titanium compares to carbon. It obviously depends on the frames in question, but I went from riding a Focus CX frame (stiff, very light), to a No.22 CX frame (equally stiff where I want it to be, pretty light). The 22 is a CX race bike, but I had it specced with a slightly lower bb than standard and a few other minor adjustments ….not a gravel bike, but related.

The No22 gives up nothing in bb or HT area stiffness (and the Focus is a monster there), but is more enjoyable after multiple hours. I’ve used both as road bikes, and the Focus was not a great ride, while the No22 is excellent everywhere, even after 3-5 hours. Here’s what it looks like set up to ride on the road. Those are 28s, but put some 35s on and ride this thing through the apocalypse.

No22 Broken Arrow

[Hank Scorpio]

Originally Posted by cmb5286

58 cm]

Ruh roh.

[cmb5286]

Originally Posted by Hank Scorpio

Ruh roh.

[joosttx]

If you want to go top shelf I would recommend a Bingham Built or a Seven evergreen.

[eddief]

http://carverbikes.com/frames/custom-titanium/

[wc1934]

Originally Posted by joosttx

If you want to go top shelf I would recommend a Bingham Built or a Seven evergreen.

A couple of steps down might be the Seven Redsky, which I love.

[Hank Scorpio]

Originally Posted by cmb5286

Short answer yes. Long answer Yyyyeeeeeessss

[dpdan93]

Do it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jchasse]

How about Eriksen or Bingham? Either way you get a bike designed and built by Brad Bingham, who's a super good guy and he's been hands-on building Moots and Eriksen frames for eons. He's pretty into ti gravel bikes.

[AngryScientist]

lol.

at this point in time there are almost too many choices.

last time i walked around the philly bike expo, or look at nahbs photos, it's like i was transported to a Russian Submarine conference.

there are so many builders making a bespoke titanium gravel bike right now it's mind boggling, lol.

you have to pick based on the builder's reputation, style of bike you are after and price point. at this time, i think they're all good. we just dont hear about ti welds cracking and other fatigue issues we did in the past, so i assume the quaility of ti tube material has gotten better and we have figured out how to reliably weld it now.

i will caution though, that the idea of a lifetime titanium gravel bike is flawed.

ti is very durable, but the wrong crash will dent a ti bike just the same as it would steel and the same as it would crush a carbon tube. they CAN last forever, but there is no guarantee, to be sure.

[Elefantino]

Don't forget Steve Potts.