Great bike to ride until the frame cracked at the down tube and head tube juncture. This happened within 2 years of riding. Litespeed repaired it and the frame cracked in the same place again. The Lite speed warranty committee refused to honor the warranty. The claim "the frame has lived it's life".
What happened to the "Lifetime warranty"?
Very upset with this company.
This will be the first of many letters around the web.
Strengths: Dont have to worry about the paint, strong, fairly light, and good looks.
Weaknesses: Wobble at high speeds, Costumer Service stinks, Lite speed refuses to correct the problems.
Bottom Line:
I love this bike. I got it on sale over the net from a great store. However, I have experienced the famous wobble at high speeds with or without Aero-Wheels. I have not even tried to contact costumer service because of the experience that my friend Gonzalo had with his Tuscany where they are very rude and willing to honor the lifetime warranty(his downtube cracked). By the way, I bought the Vortex on his advice. Based on reviews here, I see that a lot of people have experienced the wobble and bad costumer service. I will never buy a Litespeed again.
Bike Setup: Dura Ace 10 spd,Mavic Kysirium and Cosmic
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Richard Pynn
a Recreational Rider
from
Date Reviewed: December 27, 2009
Strengths: Good fast bike. Durable..until. Excellent climbing bike. Bladed seatstays are a mixed blessing - they add some flex that adds power since they are flat - but I can flex the rear wheel into the brakes sometimes. I loved the bike - hate the company.
Weaknesses: Pricey. Especially considering the customer service & warranty issues above. Uncalled for. A Mercedes price means Mercedes service if anything ever - ever - goes wrong. Walmart warrants their bikes better, really !
Bottom Line:
Great bike....until. With 35,000 miles on it, we found a huge crack in the downtube that went through the weld and into the head tube, 40 miles into a 42 mile ride. Downtube crack was 2/3 of the way around. I bought a lottery ticket that night because the thing was seconds away from splitting in half with me on it at speed. I was very lucky that day even though I did not win the lottery. I see on here a lot of complaints about customer service & warranty repairs at Litespeed- that's why I am writing. It will take 3 months to get my bike back, they want to charge me $200 for replacing the stickers, with fright & all I'm out $400, for a clear mfg defect. Should not have cost me a dime. The bike has never been wrecked or even fallen over. Customer service is rude and arrogant (Todd - that's you). They don't care. I don't think they even ride bikes. The happy ending is that I got a loaner frame from a great bike shop (JTRG above) a Cannondale SuperSix and the Litespeed will be on EBay if I ever get it back from the Wall Street Bankers at LiteSpeed. I'm falling more in love with the Cannondale by the day.
Strengths: magic ride especially on centuries, good looking, reasonably light
Weaknesses: wobble and warranty
Bottom Line:
This was my first Ti road bike and after riding every other frame material I really am a believer is this magic material. After reading many reviews I am suprised that many things that I thought were unique to me have happened to others with the Vortex. The speed wobble has about made me crap myself but has only happened on rare occasions. I have had many 45+mph descents with no problem but 4 months to repair (I have suggested replacement since this is the 2nd time and I really don't want to be without my bike 4 months out of each year). I could pay more money for a newer model but am torn since other than my rare issue of speeed wobble I absolutely love the bike. My rating does not include customer service issues.
Strengths: Great all around bike. Too bad they don't make this frameset any longer. Not to mention it is a piece of art. The Tube shapes, aero seat stays though not as teardrop pronounced as on some of the '06 bikes i.e. Tuscany, are gorgeous. Form really follows function here. The top and down tube are balanced and compliment the overall design. The Cornerstone of this framset has to be the Head tube. It's an integrated head tube and it's bullit proof. Round on the top and bottom yet aero in the center. Do you know how much leverage is required to cold work this tube into shape? Simply amazing artwork! All those who own the '05 frameset count your blessings. As Keith Bontrager, one very astute bicycle design Guru (who has no allegience to Litespeed) said to me "don't ever sell that bike, you'll be sorry". The internal Cups are massive. They're simply over designed and that's a good thing when it comes to head bearing races. Frame is stiff where it needs to be, yet compliant for my 230 lb. frame. (Thor Hushvold is tiny next to me...) All I can say is it rolls baby, and it rolls fast.
Weaknesses: I can't say this is a weakness so much as a characteristic. The steering geometry is very quick and thus the Vortex can seem a little nervous. You better be paying attention at all times or it will go left and you will go right. Be very careful if you decide on sitting up to grab something from a pocket and you let go of the bars with your hands. It's stable enough to ride and peddle with no hands but is very susceptible to weight transfers. Those who get to know this bike will love it, those who instantly compare it to another or previous bike without getting to know it will be better suited to a Buick than a Porsche or Ferrari.
Bottom Line:
I'm 6'2 and weigh 230 lbs. Pretty fit, ex racer. I'm baffled when I hear of others experiencing any kind of head shakes or wobbles? I wonder if this is happening with other '05's or if this other years?
On Paceline...
Tracks true and solid, holds a very solid line despite it's "ability to turn so sharp a doctor could use it to carve out your Kidney" geometry, delivers the goods up the River, on the flats, on the sprints and if Robo was riding it on the climbs, he'd be G-O-N-E like a goat!
On Climbing...
It climbs better that me, for sure. It tranfers power so efficiently that when I stomp on the peddles the nose of the seat tries to get intimate with me. Bottom bracket takes all my sprinters short lived yet considerable power and transfers it to the rear wheel. How can these lighter guys be having problems??? I wonder if it's the model year?
On Descending...
My '05 Vortex is drop dead solid. On descents such as from Glendora Mtn. Road at full tilt boogie through corners it has never given me anything but pure confidence inspiring feedback. What ever the road ahead can through at us, it will handle without as much as a yawn. Never a waver, and once in the corner it tracks like a MotoGP Ducati. The '05 frameset with the 10 sided seat tube, Curved Seatstay and the piece of art Head Tube offers a very compliant ride over the bumps but tells me when I'm on less that smooth pavement.
General Miles...
I've done sprints to Centurys and longer on this bike and it keeps on delivering. I have almost 10,000 miles on it in two years time and it perfoms flawlessly time and time again. It looks as good as it did the day I bought it and upkeep is SIMPLE! Scratch, what scratch? Hand me the ScotchBrite!
Like one reviwer said it looks fast just siting in the garage, he was right. Two years of ownership and I sit in my garage just starring at the Vortex with my back to the $17,000 Italian motorcycle that it shares space with...it moves me in more ways than one.
