Seems like most Ti owners have the same tendencies: build a bike that is super strong and durable but deceptively light.

After 3 years of work I'm finally considering my Merlin Works CR 6/4 "feature complete":



A few noteworthy parts:

* King Cage Iris stainless steel bottle cages are awesome, though not purely WW. After breaking numerous carbon sets these are indestructible and don't scuff your water bottles. They're also have the easy-in/easy-out shape that you see in carbon cages
* SMC Selle Dynamic Carbon saddle is comfortable and dropped 1/3 pound off my bike
* While the Ciamillo Negative G GSLs were a hassle (http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=99665) I love the modulation, power, and immediate and noticeable weight savings
* Though I took most of the cheesy decals off, the Ti is 6/4 which is slightly lighter than the 3/2. iirc this was only in production for one year
* May not be carbon but I love how the Ksyrium SLs spin up and handle
* While the Garmin bike computers are HEAVY from a WW perspective, it is the first in it's family to make any sense to own as the navigation works as expected. I recently loaded up a bikely gpx file for The Longest Day http://www.linuxha.com/other/non-ha/bicycle/LongestDay.html and the alerts were flawless which is key--adding mileage onto an already 208 mile day is ungood
* Thompson stuff all around including seat post clamp. 'Nuff said
* Salsa Ti skewers are curvy and sexy, highly usable, and surprisingly leightweight
* Edge (now ENVE) fork was a revelation. The stock reynolds fork was a squirmy noodle and this is a samuri blade slicing where I aim it, while adding a little compliance

Tips the scales at 16lbs 12oz (or 7.59kg) for a size "Large" (56cm equivalent) with the computer on.

As a side note about Ti: Fell in love with the ride from the very first time I took her out. It was a spring day which meant roads were pretty beat up from the winter. After going hard for 50 miles I returned feeling rejuvenated rather than beat up. This was not at the expense of responsiveness or get up and go.

I did have to work on building some extra upper body strength, though, as the bike is so quick to try to jump out from between your legs that I had a tough time controlling it for the first month!

It's been about a year and I still love this thing. Rear wheel is now a Smart .4 rim.

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x43x.com

Looks like you've got eebrakes there. I almost bought a pair of those due to the hassle Ciamillo put me through. What do you think of them?

They are fantastic. Zero problems with mine. Simple to set-up and well designed for easy adjustment. Great modulation and breaking power. Basically everything the Fairwheel review says. Plus I got them when they were still anodizing the bodies, so they match my bike. Even better!

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x43x.com

Nice. If my Negative G's ever need service again they're going in the bin for a set of these. Brake upgrades are always one of the first things I do to a bike as it seems to be one of the quickest ways to drop a ton of weight, and in the case of these: possibly even improve the braking.

Cheers.

Colnago CT 2 titanio by willy gil, on Flickr

Colnago CT2

Has it's own thread but may as well post final build pic here as well to update the in progress pic a page ago:

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My Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel Ti -
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=104115
My old Chinese carbon -
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=86513&start=45#p877127

ps the Colnago is fantastic!

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My Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel Ti -
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=104115
My old Chinese carbon -
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=86513&start=45#p877127

Is this colnago a special colour ?

philhul,

I think your bike will look nice with black tyres

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Parlee Z3sl - 5 kg

Passoni Xxti- 6.2 kg

@willy , wow... that Colnago rocks...

Willy, in a way it looks a lot better than before, but on the other hand... It's always sad to see an authentic and original paint job go away. The frame just lost some of its charisma.

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Slammed. Campy. Tubulars.

@europerg, true, NL4 was a mice colour scheme...but...it was so scratched and upbeat, it was a sad sight in itself....trying to replicate NL4 was not an option, since it would have been evident that a repaint had been done, so I opted for the PR99 paint job but leaving the ti bare...

FWiW I think it looks fantastic.. no envy here, none at all.. nope, none...

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Gravitas est meus Hostilis
Painted Roads Cycling: http://www.paintedroads.com
Words: http://mikesimagination.wordpress.com

Here's my Helix OS, thought I'd stick a pic up here although you may have seen it in it's own thread.

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Ti or dye!

The Weenie formally known as CAADHEAD

BeeBee30, very excellent! A ride report?

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-For my next trick I will set myself on fire!
-This board and the world in general would be a much nicer place if everyone could just take themselves a little less seriously.
-Sticky Fingers John Rockefeller
-First one over the cliff wins!