Titanium or Stainless Steel Frame - Any idea what this is?

[kingfish254]

Titanium or Stainless Steel Bike - Has anyone ever seen a stainless steel frame like this one? Any idea what it might be?

 

[Fv2]

Does it have any kind of badging at all?

 

[kingfish254]

I still haven't seen the bike in person. But it doesn't look like it has any badging from the crappy craigslist pics

.

 

[Fv2]

Wow, no identifiers at all. I don't think delorean built bikes as promo items.
Good luck with this one KF.

 

[kingfish254]

Horizontal rear facing drops, internal cabling, brazed/bolt on FD and shifters, seatstays joined a few inches below the top.
Just an unusual bike.

 

[kingfish254]

I am guessing 90s from components

 

[kingfish254]

After checking with some old steel roadies, they think this is Titanium rather than SS.
I'm gonna take a look at it tomorrow.

 

[Fv2]

If it weighs next to nothing that would be it. Should be interesting to see what it might be.

 

[2Can86]

Id say titanium aswell, it was more common than ss as a bike building material. A spark test could prove it but i doubt youd be wanting to do that to a nice frame

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Beautiful frame whatever it is!

Get any numbers you can off it, I may be able to decipher the grade of Stainless if it is...

Luke.

 

[Walker]

check the drop outs for stamping. If they are no name, its probably a mass produced frame, if they are like Ritchey or something, it may have been hand built. Tange fork?

 

[alistair clark]

I'm thinking Ti rear facing forks say perhaps a track bike that was worked over to a roadie. Need way better photos to tell for sure.

 

[kingfish254]

Planning on picking it up this afternoon.
Love it when out of the ordinary stuff pops up on CL

 

[Bicycle808]

Best guess would be a Lynskey-built (Chattanooga, TN, pre-buy-out) Litespeed, possibly a Tachyon. I'm basing this off of the track-ends with derailer hanger, and the seat-stays meeting the seat-tube all low; if it's got 650c wheels, that's even more likely that it's a Tachyon. Later Litespeeds had a separate seatpost collar, but the earlier ones had an integrated clamp, like in your picture. Many Tachyons had a curved seat-tube, but not all of them did. (These were TT/Tri bikes, with steep geo and short wheelbases. I think the curved seat-tube was mostly on larger-size models?)

FWIW, I'm pretty sure later-90s models had regular vertical dropouts. Check out these pics, and see if you agree. https://www.google.com/search?site=.....0.17.1144._cgsdmHtE4w#imgrc=DinTJi2btqdHMM:

 

[Bicycle808]

 

[kingfish254]

@Bicycle808 - you came to the same conclusion that some other bike buds did. I picked up the bike today and have been chatting with them and sharing more detailed pics. I'll update the thread later.
Here is a great site for the Litespeeds
http://mombat.org/MOMBAT/BikeHistoryPages/Litespeed.html

 

[Bicycle808]

@Bicycle808 - you came to the same conclusion that some other bike buds did. I picked up the bike today and have been chatting with them and sharing more detailed pics. I'll update the thread later.
Here is a great site for the Litespeeds
http://mombat.org/MOMBAT/BikeHistoryPages/Litespeed.html

Congrats on the new bike!
Yeah, that was a great company that sold-out and the sale even had a no-compete clause, so the Lynskeys had to lay low for a bit until they could re-enter the bike biz. https://lynskeyperformance.com/ My buddy PAdge has a bike that looks really similar to yours, and it's a Lynskey-era Litespeed with 650c wheels, but vertical drop-outs. It's a really sweet little ride.

 

[kingfish254]

This one has 650 wheels too (26x1 tires)
It rather small at 51cm too

 

[kingfish254]

Well here is a ton of pics and the detective work that others helped me with.

Looks like it's a circa 1990-92 Litespeed Tachyon titanium bike.
Stamped 4075 on right rear horizontal drop
W X stamped on bottom of BB under cable guide
No markings or badge on head tube
11 pounds (with wheels) according to my trusty Shimano fish scale
51cm frame with 650c wheels (26x1 tires)
Aero tapered down tube and seat tube
Sun Mistral aero alloy ultra hard anno rims with Dura Ace hubs
8 speed cassette
Dura Ace 7402 RD
Shimano 600 brifters and brakes
Sakae aluminum fork
Stronglight headset
Internal brake cable routing

 

[Fv2]

Now you just have to figure out what to do with it.