Litespeed Firenze - Has anyone tried?

[Mike]

I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's the first sub $2000 titanium
bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone tried one out? Any thoughts?

 

[David Reuteler]

Mike <[email protected]> wrote:
: I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's the first sub $2000 titanium
: bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone tried one out? Any thoughts?

mark .. any thoughts?

habcycles.com
--
david reuteler [email protected]

 

[Mark Hickey]

David Reuteler <[email protected]> wrote:

>Mike <[email protected]> wrote:
>: I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's the first sub $2000
>: titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone tried one out? Any thoughts?
>
>mark .. any thoughts?
>
>habcycles.com

I'm just shocked that I apparently haven't ever sold a sub-$2000 ti bike. I guess a lot of my
previous customers owe me a lot of money!!!

Coooooool.

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame

 

[Mike Jacoubowsk]

> I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's the first sub $2000 titanium
> bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone tried one out? Any thoughts?

Litespeed obviously doesn't have much in the way of late-40s employees. The name "Firenze" was given
to the junkiest of all junk 10-speeds, a "free" bike given away by Matthew's TV & Stereo (Top of the
Hill, Daly City) near San Francisco. There were also some places in the midwest doing the same or
similar promotion. You purchased a $100 car stereo etc., and you got a free bike.

These bikes were worse than bad. Various components carried the brand name "DNB" which we all
understood to mean Damn Nasty *******. Nothing was straight, the brakes didn't work, the tires blew
off the rim at low pressures... what more could you ask for?

The Firenze definitely set back the Taiwan bike industry a good many years. We associated anything
coming out of Taiwan as absolute junk, and the earliest KHS bikes tended to confirm this (KHS was
one of the first manufacturers to push Taiwanese-made bikes into the US market, first through the
low-end Miyatas, called Mikados I think). A whole lot better than the Firenze, but nowhere near the
quality of what was coming out of Japan at the time (from Shogun, Panasonic, etc).

Things have most certainly changed since then; Taiwan is now seen as an indication of quality
manufacturing, trying to stay as far ahead of mainland China as they can. It's difficult though, as
Taiwan production is considerably more expensive than the mainland, and the quality gap is
narrowing.

But getting back to the thread, no way could I ever associate a bike with the name "Firenze" as
being anything I'd want to own. Or... maybe it would be a cool joke, like the people who would put
Schwinn Varsity decals on their lugless Jack Taylors!

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReaction.com

 

[David Kerber]

In article <HhvZb.560$kb3.376@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com>, [email protected] says...
> > I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's the first sub $2000
> > titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone tried one out? Any thoughts?
>
> Litespeed obviously doesn't have much in the way of late-40s employees. The name "Firenze" was
> given to the junkiest of all junk 10-speeds, a "free" bike given away by Matthew's TV & Stereo
> (Top of the Hill, Daly City) near San Francisco. There were also some places in the midwest doing
> the same or similar promotion. You purchased a $100 car stereo etc., and you got a free bike.
>
> These bikes were worse than bad. Various components carried the brand name "DNB" which we all
> understood to mean Damn Nasty *******. Nothing was

How about Damn Near Broken, or Do Not Bicycle <GGG>?

--
Dave Kerber Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

 

[Paul Southworth]

In article <[email protected]>,
Mike <[email protected]> wrote:
>I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's the first sub $2000 titanium
>bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone tried one out? Any thoughts?

First sub-$2000 ti bike... this sounds like the kind of erroneous hype only found in bicycle
magazines. There are several sub-$2000 ti bike options out there, and have been for years.

But it looks like an OK bike, could be improved with some normal wheels.

Mike J.'s point about the Firenze name is well taken but when Trek comes out with a Roadmaster model
I'll buy it.

--Paul

 

[Ken]

"Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles" <[email protected]> wrote
in news:[email protected]:
> Litespeed obviously doesn't have much in the way of late-40s employees. The name "Firenze" was
> given to the junkiest of all junk 10-speeds, a "free" bike given away by Matthew's TV & Stereo

On the other hand, Firenze (aka Florence, Italy) is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I
think most people will think of the city before they think of some freebie bike that noone has seen
in 20 years.

My LBS has one of these on the shelf. It looked decent. Unfortuantely, it wasn't my size so I
couldn't test ride it. That's definately a nice price for a US-made Ti bike that is sold through
bike shops.

 

[Philip Williams]

"Ken" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles" <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
> > Litespeed obviously doesn't have much in the way of late-40s employees. The name "Firenze" was
> > given to the junkiest of all junk 10-speeds, a "free" bike given away by Matthew's TV & Stereo
>
> On the other hand, Firenze (aka Florence, Italy) is one of the most
beautiful
> cities in the world. I think most people will think of the city before
they
> think of some freebie bike that noone has seen in 20 years.

My first thought was "is this a joke?!" Could you _have_ a worse name? Litespeed "Huffy"
maybe? There are a LOT of people in the Bay Area who heard those commercials and saw those
horrendous bikes.

Philip

 

[Mike Jacoubowsk]

> Mike J.'s point about the Firenze name is well taken but
> when Trek comes out with a Roadmaster model I'll buy it.

Hey, don't go dissin Roadmaster! remember this line-

"Gentlemen, mount your Roadmaster bicycles!"

No, that wasn't from American Flyers. It was in Breaking Away, the greatest US cycling movie ever
(ok, you're right, not a whole lot to choose from. But still a great movie!)

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles www.ChainReaction.com

 

[S O R N I]

Mike wrote:
> I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's the first sub $2000
> titanium bike.

My friend's riding a 2003 Lemond titanium (full Ultegra) that went for $1999, and was recently
marked down to ~ 1699 (or maybe even less; didn't look that closely).

Do you mean it's the first sub 2K /LITESPEED/ titanium bike?!?

Bill "almost bought the Lemond myself but opted for a Klein Q-carbon Team for $400 less" S.

 

[David Reuteler]

Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction Bicycles <[email protected]> wrote:
: No, that wasn't from American Flyers. It was in Breaking Away, the greatest US cycling movie ever
: (ok, you're right, not a whole lot to choose from. But still a great movie!)

it's true, American Flyers really was that bad.
--
david reuteler [email protected]

 

[Ken]

"S o r n i" <[email protected]> wrote in news:qztZb.6737$_g.4706
@twister.socal.rr.com:
> My friend's riding a 2003 Lemond titanium (full Ultegra) that went for $1999, and was recently
> marked down to ~ 1699 (or maybe even less; didn't look that closely).

Is that list price or a closeout price? I thought the cheapest LeMond Ti bike was over $2500.

 

[Luigi De Guzman]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 21:49:27 GMT, "Mike Jacoubowsky/Chain Reaction
Bicycles" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>But getting back to the thread, no way could I ever associate a bike with the name "Firenze" as
>being anything I'd want to own. Or... maybe it would be a cool joke, like the people who would put
>Schwinn Varsity decals on their lugless Jack Taylors!

Or Eddy Merckx sticking Windsor decals on his Colnago

-Luigi

 

[David L. Johnso]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 11:23:44 -0800, Mike wrote:

> I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's the first sub $2000 titanium
> bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone tried one out? Any thoughts?

Just than the fact that it's insulting to Mark Hickey, who has been selling fine titanium frames for
$695 for several years now. There are others as well, but since I bought a bike from Mark, it irks a
bit. The real story is that Buycycling has not a clue about what is really available, except from
companies that have more marketing budget than engineering.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you're _`\(,_ | still a rat. --Lilly
Tomlin (_)/ (_) |

 

[S O R N I]

Ken wrote:
> "S o r n i" <[email protected]> wrote in news:qztZb.6737$_g.4706 @twister.socal.rr.com:
>> My friend's riding a 2003 Lemond titanium (full Ultegra) that went for $1999, and was recently
>> marked down to ~ 1699 (or maybe even less; didn't look that closely).
>
> Is that list price or a closeout price? I thought the cheapest LeMond Ti bike was over $2500.

I think it (the $1999) was a special running last summer. Not sure model name (Arrive'? Tourmalet?)
It's the pretty yellow/red/black one... Probable full list is closer to $2500 (billed as "entry
level ti")...

Trek Store had it clearance priced at ~1699; add a nice set of wheels and it's a pretty damned sweet
ride for the money!

Bill "stock aluminum bum" S.

 

[Mike Jacoubowsk]

> Just than the fact that it's insulting to Mark Hickey, who has been selling fine titanium frames
> for $695 for several years now. There are others as well, but since I bought a bike from Mark, it
> irks a bit. The real story is that Buycycling has not a clue about what is really available,
> except from companies that have more marketing budget than engineering.

David: If this is actually a domestic Ti bike, it's a significant milestone. It's not easy producing
a high-quality Ti frame at a reasonable price in the US. It doesn't make it any less significant
that Mark has been selling high-quality Ti frames at low prices for a number of years, but it could
be (if it's domestic) an interesting, if temporary, reversal of the trend of producing lower-priced
goods overseas.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

"David L. Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 11:23:44 -0800, Mike wrote:
>
> > I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's the first sub $2000
> > titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone tried one out? Any thoughts?
>
> Just than the fact that it's insulting to Mark Hickey, who has been selling fine titanium frames
> for $695 for several years now. There are others as well, but since I bought a bike from Mark, it
> irks a bit. The real story is that Buycycling has not a clue about what is really available,
> except from companies that have more marketing budget than engineering.
>
> --
>
> David L. Johnson
>
> __o | The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you're _`\(,_ | still a rat. --
> Lilly Tomlin (_)/ (_) |

 

[Paul Southworth]

In article <[email protected]>,
Mike Jacoubowsky <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>David: If this is actually a domestic Ti bike, it's a significant milestone. It's not easy
>producing a high-quality Ti frame at a reasonable price in the US.

Titanium Sports makes Ti frames in Washington you can buy for $630 factory direct. Those are
rebranded and sold as Mongoose, or Colorado Cyclist, etc. They have sold quite a lot of them and
they have been out there for years. It would be interesting to compare to the cheap Litespeed.

 

[Frank Knox]

"David Reuteler" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Mike <[email protected]> wrote:
> : I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's the first sub $2000
> : titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone tried one out? Any thoughts?
>
> mark .. any thoughts?
>
> habcycles.com
> --
> david reuteler [email protected]

I suspect the OP meant sub $2000 titanium made in the *U.S.* bike. This site has some info on this
topic: http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/archive/report00/huffybikesdoc.shtml

 

[Stp]

"Mike" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's the first sub $2000 titanium
> bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone tried one out? Any thoughts?

I was intrigued by this bike too but haven't seen one. Here's a link to the pic and specs on
Litespeed website http://www.litespeed.com/bikes/firenze.aspx

Another new model this year is the Solano which also looks intriguing but again, I haven't seen
except on the web. http://www.litespeed.com/bikes/solano.aspx

STP

 

[Ken]

"Frank Knox" <[email protected]> wrote in news:Y9JZb.13435
[email protected]:
> I suspect the OP meant sub $2000 titanium made in the *U.S.* bike. This site has some info on this
> topic: http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/archive/report00/huffybikesdoc.shtml

There are other US-made Ti bikes for under $2000 (complete with Ultegra), such as TST, Zion, etc.
These are sold mostly via mail order, though. The Litespeed Firenze is the only one I know of that
is widely available in bike shops.

Airborne, Habanero, and some others are made in Communist China.