Titus Racer X 29er

Here’s my new bike, the one which I’ve been hinting at for a while now, a Titus Racer X 29er. This is a discontinued model that I was able to get at a fairly reasonable price because it’s replacement is considerably higher end (and also titanium alloy or carbon fiber only). I’ve had the bike for roughly a month and have been taking my time getting it set up as I want, with an appropriate saddle, pedals, brakes, and other such bits.

Now that it’s essentially complete I wanted to take it out for a test ride. With the recent lack of snow, reasonably warm weather without much risk of mud (due to cold ground), and heavy precipitation forecasted for the next few days, today was the day. The result was a basic 21.1 mile ride over the course of 1:37:28, for an average of 12.9 MPH. Everything on the bike performed wonderfully and as expected, although I did realize that I need to move the saddle forward a bit and adjust the suspension a bit. The seatpost may also have slipped down a few millimeters, but that’s probably because I didn’t have the seatpost clamp particularly tight.

Thus far I’m really happy with the bike. I’m still waiting on the arrival of Carnegie’s Bar from Ragley, but that should be here any day now. It was ordered from Chain Reaction Cycles in the UK (Ragley does not yet have US distribution for their stuff), and postage from the UK always seems to take a while. I look forward to trying this bar because it looks like it’ll be comfortable, but if not I’ll probably be able to sell it for close to its cost.

If you’d like to see the full geeky list of parts currently on the bike, take the link below and look inside.

The parts:

Frame: Titus Racer X 29er, Black Anodized, Medium
Suspension Fork: Fox Racing Shox 32 F29 RLC (100mm)
Rear Shock: Fox Racing Shox RP23 (80mm)
Wheels: DT Swiss X470 Rims, X370 Hubs
Crankset: FSA V-Drive (22T / 32T / 44T)
Pedals: CrankBrothers Eggbeater SL (Red)
Front Derailleur: Shimano LX FD-M580A
Rear Derailleur: SRAM X.7
Shifters: SRAM X.7
Cassette: SRAM PG-990 (Red)
Chain: Shimano Deore CN-HG53 w/ SRAM PowerLink
Brake Levers: Avid Speed Dial 7
Brake Calipers: Avid BB7
Brake Rotors: Avid Clean Sweep G2 (185mm Front, 160mm Rear)
Cables: Avid Flak Jacket
Headset: FSA Orbit X
Handlebar: Titus AL5
Stem: Thomson Elite X4 (90mm x 10°)
Grips: Ergon GP1 (Large)
Tires: Kenda Nevegal (Front), Small Block Eight (Rear)
Saddle: WTB Laser V
Seatpost: Maxm AM 39
Seatpost Collar: Generic Non-QR
Computer: NiteRider Rebel 1.0

These parts aren’t all stock, as I replaced the brakes, rear cassette, cables and housings, seat, stem, and rear tire. As of this morning, using the old technique of weighing myself, then myself holding the bike, I found that it weights 29.8 pounds. To me this seems pretty reasonable for a 29er full suspension, mostly aluminum bike. There’s also AMF Threadworks Moose Mitts on the bars to keep my hands warm. They are very nice, as they allow for cold weather riding with summer-weight gloves, so shifting and such feels normal and not like doing dental work while wearing oven mitts.