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 Litespeed Niota Ti Frame
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Litespeed Niota Ti Frame
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Average Rating: 4 out of 5
No. of Reviews: 1
RRP: £2,850
Year: 2005

Description: Titanium swing links are feather light and unbelievably strong.

 REVIEWS
 
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Guy Woodhouse 
Posted: 18/07/08
'NEVER GOING TO JUSTIFY THE PRICE'
Strengths:
Well where to start,
The choice of tubing shape and ti alloy makes this frame stiff in all the areas you'd like and flexi in the others. The frame does not feel squidy or flexi when trying to accelerate because of the significantly sixed and shaped 6/4 downtube.

The choice of 4 or 5 inches of travel make this handy for most conditions you could ever encounter in the UK and the 4-6 inch fork compatability combines to leave you spoilt for choice in setting the bike up.

The suspension action balances plushness with pedalling efficency. It doesn't feel bottomless plush as the 'constant leverage' thing means you don't blow through the mid-travel and you only get maximum travel when you actually need it. This suspension doesn't wallow and with the RP3 shock it really eggs you on to go faster and faster.

The titanium swingarm/linkage is a work of art, absolutely beautiful, and the craftmanship over the whole frame is exquist.

This frame climbs fast, accelerates very well and descends very nicely thank you very much.
Weaknesses:
Well obviously the near £3000 price tag is something of a shock to the bank balance and I only bought this as a very big reward to myself. I've tried to justify it as the last full sus frame I'll ever need to buy as this should last me my life time.

As discussed the benefits of the suspension action, if you like your suspension super plush I'm not sure you'll be able to set this frame up that way. I had an azonic propulsion and it was super plush and felt bottomless with just 3 1/2 inches of travel, but boy did it bob around and without lots of shock platform applied it couldn't climb for toffee.

Then there is the geometry of the thing. I'm 5'10" and from looking at the sizing I needed a medium to get the right effective toptube. But either I have abnormally short legs or this thing has a rather large standover height. I think it is a bit of both. The BB is 13" above the ground and the toptube gives 30.6"ish standover. I'm kind of touching cloth with the old toptube/genitals if that paints the picture for you. But once on it the geometry is perfect and the sag of the shock drops the BB height a little.

Oh and its worth mentioning again £3000!!!
Overall:
Well I love this bike, I love the craftsmanship of the build, I love the slender tubing and the feel of the suspension. It has great tyre clearance, great versatility for front and rear travel and with a lifetime warranty it should out last me. I sometimes keep it in my lounge when I'm not riding it so I can look at it as a piece of art work, that doesn't make me popular :-).
If you can afford it you'll not be disappointed by it, it is just a bike so don't expect miricles from it just because its £3000 though.
 
Performance
 
100%
Reliability
 
100%
Value
 
60%
Overall Rating
 
87%
 
 MY REVIEW
 
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