Litespeed Firenze

Price Paid:  $0.00 at Bicycle Link (no lon

Favorite Ride:
Greenville Watershed

Bike Setup:
FSA Wing Pro bar, full Ultegra with Ultegra SL compact crank, Easton Circuits wheels w/Michelins tires, Koobi AU Enduro saddle (the saddle is awesome!!)

Summary:
I left my intital review way back in May or June of '06. Back then I was a happy camper with my then brand new 2006 (the last year they made the Firenze) model Litespeed. It's been a wonderful bike. I've upgraded twice, Easton Circuit wheels with Michelin Krylion Carbons (Dec 2008)+ swapped the FSA Gossamer crank for the Ultegra SL compact last April and both upgrades have only made it a sweeter ride. It's fairly light, really responsive and I love the ride that the ti frame (which is also so easy to maintain) provides. It's a keeper!!

Strengths:
Ride quality, responsive, the Ti frame is super easy to keep clean and will likley last longer than I will!

Weaknesses:
A little pricey but worth every penny.

Similar Products Used:
'05 model Trek 1500, Cannondale six-13 - both great bikes

Price Paid:  $1995.00 at Village Peddler, Lar

Model Year:
2005

Favorite Ride:
The long way up Mt. Tam via Fairfax

Bike Setup:
Ultegra. Replacement Titanium rail MTB mountain bike racing saddle for comfort.

Summary:
i checked off that I am a recreational rider, because i don't race, but I ride 2000 miles a year, mostly on the Firenze. What a great frame and great design! My longest rides are 75 miles,but a few times a year i do more than 3000 feet of vertical ascention on a 50-60 mile ride around Marin County. The bike is plenty light for that, and so comfortable. The handling is so good, i feel very safe on the descents.

Mostly, I love how supple and shock-absorbing, but accurate feeling the Titanium frame is. Kind of like steel, but at half the weight. I wore out a Carbon Bike (20,000 miles), and while I know they have improved, they always seem to lack the true road feel and liveliness that this particular Titanium frame has. Just love it.

Strengths:
Fantastically smooth, supple, comfortable and safe ride. Great handling. Terrific brakes. Very comfortable geometry for long fun rides. Practically a touring bike in the traditional Italian sense.

Weaknesses:
Well, Carbon bikes can be lighter than this, but I don't care. The road feel is so much more supple with Titanium.

Similar Products Used:
Cadex Carbon Fiber by Giant was my previous bike. No comparison though. Tried a variety of mid-priced Carbon bikes before I bought this.

Price Paid:  $1995.00 at Bike store,in CT

Model Year:
2005

Favorite Ride:
20 mile loop, lots of hills

Bike Setup:
full Ultegra 6500 FSA wheel set.

Summary:
I love this bike, put in around 6000 mile. The cosmos wheels are a little heavy, I only use them for fall and early spring training. I bought a new set of FSA that are great and were cheap,also updated to a Sram 11/23. I have a full Ultegra 9 speed and it's great, the bottom bracket was hard to remove the first time I tried, use a good tool to remove it not the junky park,the head set will need replacing this summer ,this is my fourth year with this bike and it's normal wear, the Cane Creek last pretty good.

Strengths:
strong, light and sturdy.Great bike for the money.Would buy one again.Easy to adjust.

Weaknesses:
the cosmos wheels were making a lot of noise when new, they needed adjustments often.I took me a while to figure that the noise came from the spokes, titanium exemplify noise and make it hard to diagnose.

Price Paid:  $1600.00 at Pacific Bikes

Model Year:
2005

Favorite Ride:
Sugar Bottom loop

Summary:
I rode several bikes, determined not to be "seduced" by titanium. However, after aluminum, carbon fiber, and steel, I couldn't shake the instant confidence that the titanium Litespeed gave me. I was lucky enough to find a '05 leftover equipped completely with Ultegra at Pacific Bikes in San Francisco (thanks Joe!). I swapped out the FSA-80s for a pair of Ultegra hubbed open Pros (I'm 6'2"- 190lbs.), the seatpost for a Thomson, and the seat for a Fizik Bobi. The bike has been so much fun for about 1,000 miles now, and I'm confident that it will be a trusty steed for many years to come.

Strengths:
Comfortable, quick, and suprisingly simple to keep clean (no paint - just naked titanium) Seems to be less noisy than the clicking, clunking carbon fiber bikes when we jump a hill on our group rides. Great brakes! The carbon fork also seems to be nicely done. It soaks up a lot of the little "jolts". The Rubino Slicks are wonderful tires, but started wearing thin at 800 miles. Replaced with Michelin Pro 2s.

Weaknesses:
I haven't really found any yet. Even though I'm riding a 61 cm frame and I'm pretty strong, the frame flex is a a minimum. I think the handlebars could be a little wider for a frame of this size. Stock wheels (FSA 80s) immediately went out of true and I had to buy a tool from FSA since the nipples are sunk into the aero rims. I'll save them for cheap racing wheels. Stock seat is junk.

Similar Products Used:
Late 80s Trek 1200 which was raced heavily.

Price Paid:  $963.00 at eBay

Model Year:
2005

Favorite Ride:
Pinellas Trail Florida

Bike Setup:
Shimano 105 and Ultegra front derailleur. FSA hollow aluminum crank set. Thomson elite seat post. fi-z:k Wing Flex saddle
FSA wheels with bladed spokes. Vittoria Rubino Pro Slick tires 700 x 23C Kevlar bead

Summary:
A titanium ride is like none other. It is very smooth even over mildly rippled pavement. Very good feel of the road, bike to rider. Ideal for long distance rides where you can arrive relaxed at your destination.
Its factory running gear configuration is ideal for sport riding, climbing trail bridges and speed on the open trail. It moves quickly with only modest pedal effort. Cruising at 18 mph on open stretches is relatively easy for me as a senior citizen (age 67) sport rider.
Superb braking power with Shimano’s newest design of 105 brakes.
Compared with my new 2007 Schwinn Peloton Pro, this bike is easier to handle and only slighty rougher ride over brick streets or rippled pavement. Much better road feel which I like at age 67.

Strengths:
Very stable. Bike gives the rider complete confidence in turns and quick changes in speed, direction or quick stops. Long distance rides with superb comfort & handling.

Weaknesses:
Relative high cost of titanium frames.

Similar Products Used:
LeMond steel road bike with Sora components. 2007 Schwinn Peloton Pro (reviewed also at this site.)