but some of those Litespeeds used smaller diameter tubing that was double butted for lightness, and dbl butted tubesets (regardless of tube size) flex a bit more than straight butted tubesets, but most TI bikes are dble butted to save weight so it can sell better, because less weight sells and sells for more money.
Wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wut??????????????????
DOUBLE BUTTED Ti??????????????????????????
YOU LIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
J/K
Seriously. I never, ever heard of a frame with true DB Ti tubing. That's not to say some Roosian no-name outfit isn't rolling something that is sold as DB.
Most Ti is cheap ass'ed seam-welded rolled tubing with some mandrel and/or hydro-forming. Ti 'tubing, such as it is in the industry, is pre-destined to come unglued just by its method of manufacture. Talk about a heat affected zone...down the entire length of nearly every Ti tube going. And that's after stitch welding/tacking the rolled piece of sheet metal out and adding more stress to it. Brilliant!
Yeah, there's some externally 'butted' Ti. out there, but I'm not sure it does anything to thin the middle of the tube.
A lot of the shaped Ti is mandrel formed and the internal scratches, gouges and grooves made when the mandrell is sprung from the shaped tube leave nothing but a mess of stress risers.
Sure, uber massive tube sizes and strange shapes designed more to catch the eye of the buyer, but sold as 'dis here is fo' da extra sooper stiffness!' do little but add even more to the weight disparity between the now 600-gram carbon frames out there while doing nothing to add a competitive sales feature...like less weight might be. Duh!
Or maybe we could discuss the merits of drilling holes all over your Ti tubes for the latest fashion in geriatric bike ****...RIVETED ON TITANIUM manufacturer's name 'decals'! Holy mother of idiotic ideas, Batman! Where's my damned DeWalt drill? Let me at that thing! Ima gonna slap chrome-plated "CampyBob' logo's all over my new Ribble Rabble! **** yeah!
Worse, almost every Ti old man's dream frame is sold with...wait for it...your choice of CARBON FORK!!! You want a Lynskey fork...what the Hell is a Lynskey fork? Some cheap ass'ed, no name Chicom special? Or do you want a brand name Wound Up or Enve or whatever the carbon sales fluff du jour is with that 'forever and a day' lifetime 'investment' frame.
Amiright?
Of course I'm right!
So even the Koolaid drink anti-carbon crowd is riding a...<gasp> DEATH FORK!!!!!
And then they add carbon wheels to try and get their tanks back down to making weight. Or a carbon seatpost. Or complete carbon cockpit. Or a saddle with a carbon shell. or...<another crowd gasp inserted here!> CARBON shitmaNO pedals!!!!
So, in summary...CARBON! It's what's for dinner. And my next bike.