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On test: Litespeed Icon, February 28, 2008
Litespeed puts titanium into the ring with carbon fiber
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Is carbon fiber the only choice in high-performance road machines these days? Mat Brett finds there's plenty of life in titanium aboard Litespeed's appropriately-named scorcher.
The frame
Carbon fiber bikes may be all the rage these days but Litespeed has continued to champion titanium as its material of choice. We've always liked titanium frames ourselves, but not because of the material's strange, almost mystical qualities that we hear bandied about. Modern titanium frames are nearly as light as top carbon models, typically far tougher (especially in impact) and also tend to deliver a livelier ride.
Be that as it may, carbon frames have still ruled the stiffness-to-weight battle but Litespeed is narrowing that gap with increasingly aggressive tube shaping as found on its new Icon. The 3Al/2.5V titanium tubes have been radically manipulated with the aim of adding strength, stiffness and compliance where required. The top tube alters from diamond section up front to ovalised at the seat tube; the biaxial and custom-butted down tube wraps around the bottom bracket slightly to increase the weld area; the driveside chainstay is a totally different shape from the opposite one to take account of the different forces… You get the idea. There's a lot of engineering going on here.
But even with all the metalwork going on the Icon doesn't look fussy or overdone. It's a stunner by all accounts and the sparsely applied gloss white paint and matching carbon fork only make it more so. Considering titanium's inherent resistance to corrosion along with the mostly brushed finish means it'll stay that way, too.
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Our large-sized Icon hit the scales at just 7.2kg (16lb), equipped with a Shimano Dura-Ace gruppo, an assortment of Ritchey and Easton bits and a fi'zi:k Arione saddle. While already admirably light, particularly for a bike of this size, the production version of our Euro-spec model will actually be 130g lighter when the proper carbon-spoked Mavic R-SYS wheels are fitted.
The ride
Simply put, the Icon combines super-fast performance with a smooth, comfy feel. Although it's perfectly able to tear it up when required, it's also happy to take things steady on an all-day ride without leaving you feeling battered and torn. Climb aboard, spin the cranks and it immediately flies like grit off a shovel. You find yourself flicking effortlessly up through the gears ridiculously fast, and if you're coming from a bike a few pounds heavier, you'll be stunned by the Icon's acceleration.
Once up to cruising speed, you can sit back and enjoy the comfortable ride. The frame geometry is pretty standard road bike fare with 73° angles and an 18cm head tube, and we liked the ride position it offered straight out of the box. If you want to go lower, the appropriately short head tube gives you ample scope to tweak it.
The semi-compact design leaves a lot of seatpost showing and this, combined with the frame's fairly compliant character and the soft-but-not-too-squidgy Arione saddle, helps keep you riding ache-free (that is, as long as the Arione's shape suits you). And if you spot road irregularities too late to avoid them, you end up bracing yourself for jolts that never actually arrive - it's very forgiving.
Downhill and through the bends, the Icon's frame tracking is superb without any hint of fore-to-aft flex, aided by the full carbon Easton EC90 SL fork which is noticeably more rigid than its lighter SLX cousin.
The best bit, though, is when the road heads up - the Icon is a fabulous climbing companion. You find yourself either halfway up steep hills barely realising you've started or you stay seated on a climb that usually has you out of the saddle and cursing everything that's sacred. The Icon won't make the grade any shallower but it put a grin on our face regardless.
Parts is parts
Litespeed offers the Icon as a frame-only or complete bike pre-configured with a number of different build kits from Shimano, SRAM, and Campagnolo. As we've come to expect, our top-end Dura-Ace set-up performed superbly with powerful, well regulated braking and ultra-slick gear changes; it's virtually instant. The 53/39-tooth crankset and 12-25T cassette gave us enough low gears for climbing and sufficient high ones for powering down the other side, but if you want to go down the compact route, there are a number of compact options to choose from.
The Ritchey WCS bar, stem and seatpost combine their neat looks with a strong and lightweight performance while the long, narrow-nosed fi'zi:k Arione saddle allows you plenty of scope for shifting position.
Litespeed has played with integrated headsets in the past but the Icon, like the rest of the current range, comes with a conventional external headset that allows for a slimmer, lighter head tube and, according to Litespeed, improved strength. It looks a little retro when nearly everyone else is hiding all the gubbins inside, but the Icon can carry it off and you can't fault the performance of the Chris King unit. If past experience is anything to go by, it'll outlive the lot of us.
Although our Icon was fitted with Mavic Ksyrium SLs, the production version in this build will use Mavic R-SYS wheels. We've been running these on another bike, and with stiff carbon fibre spokes that are clamped at both ends, they're noticeably stiffer than aluminum-spoked Ksyriums, considerably lighter (1355g per pair) and we've not yet managed to knock ours out of true despite months of use and abuse.
However, the chunky cylindrical cross section of those carbon spokes doesn't strike us as being as aerodynamic as the bladed aluminum or stainless steel spokes of other Ksyrium models, although we've heard surprising test data to the contrary (from a company other than Mavic) so we won't draw any firm conclusions. Regardless, they are still extremely fast rolling and Mavic doesn't seem to have compromised its renowned durability.
Still the magic metal?
The Icon is well into 'you could buy a car for that' territory, but is it worthy of its monster price? A ton of work goes into every Litespeed frame and chances are it'll last an age but, let's be honest, if you want a bargain you need to look elsewhere. What the Icon does offer is one helluva sweet ride that provides speed without rattling your fillings.
Price: UKP4299.00
Weight: 7.2kg (16lb), without pedals, size L frame
Pros: Light, super-smooth ride, clean lines
Cons: A long, long way from cheap
Cyclingnews rating: 
More info: www.litespeed.com
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Robert Smith/www.robertsmithphotography.co.uk
- Litespeed's new Icon proves that titanium can still hold its own against carbon.
- The Icon offers a smooth and comfy ride yet still likes to go plenty fast.
- The Ritchey WCS bar, stem and carbon post all delivered admirable performance throughout testing.
- Litespeed has played with integrated headsets in the past but has reverted back to the conventional set-ups in its current range.
- Our tester came with well-proven Mavic Ksyrium SL clinchers but Euro-spec production versions will come with carbon-spoked R-SYS hoops.
- The fi'zi:k Arione saddle has quickly become a staple in the peloton for its comfortable-for-most shape and wide range of positioning options.
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Frame: Titanium Icon titanium |
Shift levers: Shimano Dura-Ace STI Dual Control ST-7800 |
