Third Time's a Charm: Litespeed T3

[Imaking20]

And here comes the measuring tape...

Still no less than 2500 miles and twice the life left on the pads compared to your photo.

[tonytourist]

@Imaking20 you and @RyanH need to upgrade to Alto and settle this once and for all.
Thanks.

[RyanH]

If we're measuring in miles I may die of old age while I wait...

[shannon123]

Hello Ryan..been reading thru your thoughts on the Litespeed particularly since I am considering the T1SL to join my Parlee Z5 which I love.

I know you spoke somewhere on this thread that if you were to replace your current Litespeed, you would probably go with the T1SL.....can you elaborate on what you feel like you would be gaining and losing (a bit of weight of course) by making such a switch. Also, do you think the T1SL would be stiffer than your T3? Perhaps as stiff as the Parlee Z5sli ?

Thanks for your input....I am approx 6' and 155 pounds.

[RyanH]

When going back and forth between all of the carbon bikes I've had over the past year and the T3, there was never a point where I felt the T3 lacked stiffness. I'd get back on the T3 and then immediately go, ahhhh...that's nice. When I'd get back on a carbon bike I'd most often notice the increase in BB stiffness but going back to the T3, I didn't really ever notice the decrease in BB stiffness. So, for me, the T3 has always been just the right level of stiffness to not be noticeable.

Recently though, I don't think I'd actually pull the trigger on the T1sl. From my understanding, the T1/Archon was overcooked. It defeated the purpose of Ti. You had a Ti bike that rode rather stiff and matched the stiffness of carbon. When I spoke with Litespeed to see if the T1sl was as stiff as the T1, they confirmed it. So, my guess is that the T1sl probably has the compliance of your Z5 SLi or a C59, but at that point, why have a Ti bike? I'd rather save the extra 200g with the Z5.

As a side note, I'm 70kg and not really much of a sprinter. I am, however, pretty particular about wheel stiffness and I won't touch most wheels under 30mm for that reason.

[RyanH]

As promised, following holiday glut comes New Year Resolutions to lose weight.

First up is a Kalloy stem for a 40g savings:



It's a good start but I've been very fat over the holidays. So, next up is some Veloflex Extremes, net savings of 104g:





OK, some progress, but that's still not enough, maybe some skewers:



Ah, dammit, +4g!

Well, I guess there was no other option than these:



Mmmm... German goodness...





Once I get a replacement Shimano freehub I should be at 6.03kg...not bad for Ti with 9100 brakes.

[Imaking20]

At least now it lives up to the signature.

[glepore]

Man, you do go thru wheels. I have a set of ventoux that I just glued up with Dugast Silks, waiting for a trial ride, but the weather in the east has been very inhospitable. I'm curious to see what your impressions are. Might mix and match with a spare standard rear...
You've inspired me to do a ti build...on a very inexpensive used custom Cysco frame that'd been floating around on ebay so long I couldn't stand it anymore

[Lightweenie]

Definitely much better:) I have to admit that I liked its look with Campagnolo a bit better.

[RyanH]

@glepore looking forward to seeing that. Regarding wheels, ya, I've been a bit of a wheel slut this past year (I think 13 or 14 sets now in the past year). I've been looking for my holy grail wheelset and I think it may not exist. In order of priority, I wanted braking on par with Mavic CCU, stiffness on par with Mavic CCU, has that gliding sensation when drilling it (Mavic lacked in this category, Enve shined here), rim bed radius friendly to 25mm tires, sub 1200g weight and esthetically pleasing.

The Enve I built was supposed to be that (excluding the weight). Braking was the issue until I finally moved to Dura Ace, which it's now phenomenal....but now I'm chewing through pads like no tomorrow. With my yearly mileage, we're talking close to $700 a year in pads...

There's a few wheelsets I'd like to try still:

Corima MCC s+ 32
Corima 32 laced to Wheels Mfg
Schmolke TLO 30 laced to Wheels Mfg
Maybe something from Xentis.

I think the Bora 35s were the closest to checking all of the boxes. I just didn't like the slightly yellow tint to their resin mixture.

My initial impressions of the Gipfelsturms from today's 80mi ride though is that they're quite nice. They feel very snappy and responsive when throwing the bike around out of the saddle up fast hard rollers, which I find a weak spot with a lot of wheels under 35mm deep. I'm unsure about the braking though as they were very mediocre with Black Prince but I did very little braking today so they may not have had a chance to fully bed. I'm using the Lightweight pads tomorrow though.

@lightweenie, I agree, Campagnolo for style but I needed better braking for the Enve. Now that I have 9100 though I'm unsure I'll go back to Campy (or SRAM)... This shit is fantastic.

[4ibanez]

They look great! I've been wondering what those Roadsailor wheels are like. They're fast and light, and if braking is similar to AX.....

[RyanH]

I'm curious about them as well but there's a few things that make me a little hesitant to try:

• For a daily wheelset, I'm not keen on Extralite hubs and their house brand hubs are a big ?
• I'd be concerned about pulling carbon off on the wheels when swapping tubs. I managed to do that to my Tune Skylines and have heard stories with Ax wheels in the past.
• I really wish they offered an additional size in between the climbing set and the 48 aero set.

If braking is like the 77 composites wheels, which I believe is similar to Ax, then that'd be really good.

[Nefarious86]

Have you tried the Areo 46 in a tubular? I can't remember. They should be 1250g for the pair.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[spdntrxi]

I have extralite on my daily wheels ... I do service them every 5/6 months and clean them out and lube with their special stuff.

But you ride more then me if you are spending 700 on brake pads..

[RyanH]

If it's true that the Enve pads only last 500 miles or so which seems to be the case for my first pair, then 10K miles per year would be 20 sets of pads at $40 a piece, or $800 actually...ridiculous, no? I think I got 7K or more out of my Reynolds Power Pads.

@nefarious No, Isaac has offered to lend me his pair since he believes in them so much. I've had the previous gen wheels, which I like for what they were. My only gripe with the old ones was that the brake feel wasn't very smooth when coming to a final stop.