I like that GCN is separating out the sponsorship plugs from the ride itself. I'm a realist and know you've gotta pay the bills - separating out the content from the sponsorship is the right way to go.
I’ve owned almost every frame material in a bike. Three years ago I bought a Sage Titanium Barlow gravel bike. The ride is very smooth and the weight is reasonable. The frame is almost indestructible. I get a lot of positive comments on how the bike looks. Because it’s a gravel bike with close to endurance road geometry, with a second set of wheels it’s very versatile. It’s a lifetime bike.
About 4 yrs ago I built up a Lynsey GR270 gravel bike in brushed titanium and etched writing. It looks lux. I’ve built with flexibility in mind, Ultegra 2x rather than 1x but easy compact gearing and two sets of wheels, Hunt super wide with gravel tyres and 35mm deep carbon hoops with road 30mm tyres for the commuting, easy days and some Bikepacking. It’s so comfortable and looks great. While I love my Canyon Ultimate for strictly fast road, my Lynskey is like a multi tool of a bike that changes character as I need. My forever other bike - I’ll just upgrade the components over the years.
That Moots is absolutely the finest bicycle ever featured on any GCN video, bar none! More beautifully designed, constructed, and finished than any carbon composite bike ever made.
I have a 2021-2022 Vamoots disc RSL which I absolutely love. I ordered it when Moots first introduced the CRD. Looking back, I wish I asked what the difference was between the two models. My Moots rep told me the CRD would be better for more imperfect roads. But being from SE Florida, our roads are pretty smooth, and I do little to no gravel riding. You mentioned the CRD allows for 32mm tires. I got my RSL with 30mm tires and recently replaced them with 32’s with no clearance problems. I got my Moots at 57 years old and hope to keep riding this bike into my 80’s! The honeymoon is not yet over. I get a smile every time I swing my leg over the saddle.
Such a lovely bike. Out of my price range but I'm glad companies like Moots have an audience for their products. I love titanium as a material for a bike frame and I own a titanium bike from another builder based in Tennessee, USA. It has a more traditional set-up with external cables, rim brakes, things like that. It does have a T47 bottom bracket though! But that actually suits my needs and preferences better. I didn't get a titanium bike because of some supposedly magical ride quality although I love the way my bike feels and responds when I ride. I got it because I wanted a fuss free bike that I could ride in all conditions without fear of damaging the frame or finish. I also got it because I love great craftsmanship. Sometimes I just look at the welds on my bike and smile a sweet smile. Granted, as sweet as it is, it is still only a smile a mother could love. 🤣
I feel exactly the same way about my Tennessee bike. I don't worry about clamping the frame or scratching it. I even got a tour of the factory when I picked it up
I’ve owned a Litespeed Classic since late 1994 when the brand was still owned by the founders. It’s my go to bike though I also own a nice carbon Felt Z4 and a Steel All City Mr Pink. I replaced the original carbon fork on the Classic when my car was hit from the rear as the bike was on my trailer hitch travel rack in 1999. One of pedals punctured the radiator of the truck that hit me. No other damage to the bike besides the fork. The Litespeed is still going strong with updated wheels and new-ish SRAM 22 components. I have close to 80,000 miles on this bike after 29 years of fun on it all over Louisiana, Texas and the Colorado mountains. The ride is sublime and with a polished frame it is so easy to keep looking brand new.
Sensible tire choices, well played. For those of us who are not at race weight and hammering down mountain passes, the larger rear rotor is a good idea. Especially given the weight difference is said to be 8-ish grams so about 1/8 the weight of a gel. Or the weight of eight gel wrappers. A small price to pay for the additional stopping power. Congrats on a solid result for this brutal event.
I’m with two Lynskeys’, they are both a work of art! Love them both ❤… I am even thinking of swapping my cyclocross/winter bike with a GR300 frameset (amazing sale going on through their website).
I was expecting more concerning the ride qualities of that titanium bike, but I guess that will be in another video. Great tip about having inner tubes for tubeless tires as you can swap them out easily on the road. Makes a lot of sense.
To be fair, I do think it is established that Litespeed are the best in titanium frame making also having done it for the longest. They used to work with NASA if I am not mistaken. Their frames are actually a bit lighter than the one presented here and I believe builds are available for less money as well - though I appreciate that this is the silly money top spec you got here and all companies run those.
05:15 I run tubeless and carry tube in case I want to fix on the go as quickly. 10,000km and 3 years later, I haven’t had a puncture while on the road. I ride BAUM Corretto which is also a titanium bike.. the company is founded in Geelong Australia ~30 years ago similar time to moots i think
Always wanted a Merlin but it was always outside my budget. Would love a Moots like this one except without the internal cable routing. Making something so beautiful and simple more complex seems like a step backwards to me. Now, I think I will jump on ebay and see what classic Merlins are listed!
Absolutely lovely. It makes me sad every day that I had to sell my only titanium bike many years ago. I've banged on over the last several years about bike prices and I stand by that. However, when you can customize geometry, ride quality, and everything else, it starts to feel a little more worth it. I still couldn't afford one and probably wouldn't spend that much even if I could, but it makes a lot more sense than spending that much for an off the shelf complete bike with basically zero options.
@@justineseiferth8010 I’ll be honest, I don’t know Habanero but sounds like I need to check it out when I’m ready for a new bike. Thanks for the heads up!
Good bikes for sure. I've had a Litespeed Ghisallo since 2007 and it still looks as new. With some upgrades I did recently it came in at 6.8kg without pedals but with bottle cages and everything else, in a size XL with 50mm deep wheels. Would have been good to get an overall weight for your 16k setup
Carbon is great until your next crush. My Van Nicholas Titanium SKEIRON survived 2 major accidents. No cracks, no dents. Small scratches can be buffs out with a green dishwasher pad.
@@gurinderkular7209 That makes sense, as to why Si broke with GCN tradition. I've seen a vid by a Canadian guy who's Ti bike (not moots) was, he said 8.5kg. Maybe the Moots is the heavy duty version for touring.
I was going to get a moots but decided to go for a 2021 Ducati Panigale I found for 16000$ with less then 4500 miles on it 17500$ for a bicycle when you can buy a motorcycle that is a super bike is absolutely nuts
Missed opportunity to put the seat tube bottle up a few inches so you could have 2 bottles on the downtube. 3 bottles inside the triangle would be a nice option, or you could have a bolt-on frame bag in lieu of the third bottle.
Ti is my favorite, but why on God's green Earth did we not get the specs on the yellow crocs!? Is that in an upcoming video?? I'll be watching the tech channel closely.
Its not what its made from, its where its made. Its a hand built frame that is being manufactured in a location where the median housing cost is $1.4 mil USD. Yeah, paying people living salaries is expensive. Welcome to the reality if you want not made in China.
@@thenormalberries6767 Where were the tubes sourced? What is the material? Who is doing the painting? What is the operational cost of all these locations to include labor cost, itself a function of CoL?
No doubt this is an amazing bike. I have fallen in love with Titanium bikes few years ago and searched for the perfect bike a long time. There are not many brands (I know of Moots, De rosa, Kocmo, Falkenjagd, No22) capable to build a bike with fully integrated cables. If I had enough money to not worry about, I would not choose a Moots. I would prefer a No22 made in NYC with 3D Ti stem and all matching finish.
Fully integrated cables is not any trick and is no different with Ti than other materials. They've put the cables inside the bearings and through the tubes. It's electronic groupset only so you don't have to worry about shift quality with the complex routing. There's nothing about Ti that makes it more complicated than any other bike, it's more a question of the fork which in this case is an ENVE carbon fork.
Litespeed make cheaper, more advanced and much lighter (the world’s lightest) Titanium bikes than Moots. Unfortunately they don’t pay 40k for a video advert on GCN… “Moots are the masters of Titanium…” masters of paid advertising more like. “Its 1.4kg for the frame… for titanium that pretty impressive…” 1.4kg would be like the heaviest road bike frame Litespeed make, like a T5 or something. Their top end road frames are less than 1kg. “Moots have been making titanium bike for 30 years…” and they still don’t shape their tubes? They are all round and straight gauge? No innovation in 30 years! Litespeed have been making Ti bikes almost 40 years and they have incredible complexity in the tube design. Litespeed have been
@@pretzelhunt Please explain what cheap Ti means? There are two forms of Ti for bikes. That is all I have ever seen in 30+ years of owning 2 Ti bikes. Still ride both of them.
The original Litespeed was started and owned by the Lynskey family when they got out of the aerospace contracting business. They were bought out in 2005. Now a tota)y different company. By the way, they now are building bikes in there own name. Likethe old Litespeed days, they can shape their tubing.
@@johnlondon7620 There certainly are differing qualities of Ti tubes, this is quite separate from the two main types 3/2.5 & 6/4 used in cycling... there are also 36 other common Titanium alloy combinations in broader usage. When a brand says something like 'certified US aerospace grade' it means it conforms to the strictest standards of testing of integrity. The cheaper sources of tubing tend not to meet those standards, which isn't to say that it's strictly necessary for bicycle application. From the outset the main US brands prided themselves in using certified aerospace grade Ti, one of the main ways that other brands entered at lower pricepoints is from finding alternative sources for tubing.
@@nellyx1x493 I agree with most of what you are saying. There are 38 different types of commercial use of Ti. However, the bike industry only uses 2 types of tubes, 3/2.5 and 6/4. Again, it goes back to what is cheap Ti for bikes? If you could point me to a bike manufacturer that uses anything else that would prove it I think. Otherwise, cost is because of labor, demand etc.
Si is by far the most serious, as in professional, of all the GCN crew. While I know they have to pay the bills, I think it insults the intelligence of the viewers to present this series without saying that it is to promote a product. Just say it up front that you are being paid to advertise this bike.
I've a Moots Vamoots RSL running Super Record 12s mechanical and ENVE SES 6.7's. 7.4Kgs with pedals and cages. Best bike I've ever ridden. I would argue that for longer races and sportives it's faster than an aero bike for most people as the ride is so smooth you suffer less fatigue from road buzz and the like. Moots make absolutely top-class stuff and although they are expensive we live in a world where people are paying similar money for pre-preg carbon. Well done Si, I think I might give that event a go next year. I was half expecting you to ride back up the Madone from Menton:)
I'm from the states and have always thought Moots Ti frames were really cool. But that CRD with Dura Ace Di2 is $17.5k on thier website. Geez. At some point, it just feels like it's just not about cycling anymore.
@@cjohnson3836 No, that's just the cost of a Moots frame. The high cost of living in Steamboat is not the reason for their price. Go find something else to do, loser.
Why not weight? A fork is orders of magnitude more difficult to weld than a frame. And the shaping qualities of carbon are far more valuable on a fork, than the frame. There are companies making Ti forks. They are incredibly expensive. And like any metal fork, incredibly heavy relative to the frame.
@@cjohnson3836 Haha wrong! Tito Titanium produces some excellent, tapered, Grade 9 titanium forks at an absolute steal. Running a set now. Fitted up easily, brake caliper mount came good & true, can't be happier. Yeah if "incredibly heavy" is just 20g more than the carbon forks they replaced.
@@cjohnson3836 Hi, I said "weight" because it is clear that the carbon fork is lighter (though I learned from the second reply that it's not that much), but then so is the frame. So if I'd go for super weight-optimization a titanium frame is already the wrong place to start with. "Price" might be a reason in a general case, but not here. And to be honest, if I pay for a very expensive Ti bike, I'll have the extra money for the fork as well. So what I can see is: You are more limited in shape and geometry due to material properties and machining methods. So "aero", e.g. is probably not happening on Ti. I guess overall it would make more sense on a gravel or cross bike, right? What about handling/feel?
About 4000,- in the groupset and the wheels, let's call it a grand for a nice fork, seatpost, stem, seat, bars, headset, BB, and odds and ends. You get some pretty nice stuff for that. That makes that about an 8000,- frame. That gets you a 3D printed dropout and some butted tubing. That's some seriously farking expensive welding!
Changing the inner tube of a tubeless tire is also a pain in the ass. Wy not normal tire if you don't want to use tubeless setup? Its also lighter. And use TPU inner tubes! Rides like tubeless and easy as a normal tire setup.
@@coolhand1966 Plenty of fantastically well made carbon products coming out of China. I'm all for supporting good quality wherever it is made but I'm not down with idiotic pricing.
Hi GCN, What is the Maximum load for this bicycle ? ( Common scenario Rider + Couple of bottles + Saddle bag + Handle bar bag ) . Nice video & Thanks :)
Frames usually don't matter especially alloy it's the rim max recommend rider weight. Which fluctuates by manufacturer, material and wheelset. Seems a lot that aren't fully race focused are about 250lbs but always check
Not controversial to go sensibly for tubes in this situation. You can waste a lot of energy and stress mucking around with a sealant tubeless when things go wrong. Been there more once…
Firstly, titanium all the way. But I hate to say those "ti" saddle rails might have duped you. See the "ti 316"? It could very well be 316 stainless rails with a tiny percentage of titanium. A grade known everywhere else as "316 Ti". But it seems when it comes to saddles they deliberately obfuscate the material of manufacture: avoiding the standard naming painstakingly formalised in national and international engineering standards. Manganese rails? Nearly all steel contains manganese. Do they mean a Hadfield Steel? Then why not say so? Specify a grade. Titanium. Specify the grade like everyone does with the frame. Fizik's "Kium"?? I will simply not spend money on a rail if they're not going to tell me what it is!
