The 2006 New bikes from all the main companies are slowly hitting the shops. Litespeed have been pretty busy over the last year and their latest range has reverted to what they know best – the purest form of titanium-only frames. No carbon rear ends and no aluminium. The only variation on the titanium theme is their latest carbon complete bike the Pavia
and a women’s specific bike called the Bella
which looks quite tasty.

We met up with Litespeed last week and took a couple of their 2006 bikes for a spin, very nice it was too. The two bikes we rode were the Teramo and Tuscany. New improvements include a standard headset over an Integrated one across the range. But above all their is increased value for the complete bike options with some very attractive looking specs. Alhough the general theme appears to be simplified (which I think is a good thing) there is a lot more manipulation of the tubes and profiles. The Tuscany is almost totally re-designed and looks superb. Initial impressions are very good and they certainly seem to have managed to hit very competitive price points. A full test early next year…

Teramo

This has been the team bike of Recycling.co.uk for this year, yes that’s right the Downing brothers et al all hacked around the Tour of Britain and the Premier calendar on one of these. The simple lines and complete package alternative offers great value. Aimed straight at the Etape and Fondo fraternity and with Dura Ace shifting and a FSA Compact crank.

The Teramo is available as a complete bike at £2,299 or as frameset/fork for £1,500.

The complete bike (medium) weighed in at an impressive 17 1/2 lbs.  There’s more info on the Litespeed website: Teramo

Teramo complete bike spec.
Headset: Cane Creek S-3
Handlebar/Stem: ITM Forged Lite 31.8mm
Grips / Bar Tape: Cork Black
Saddle: fi’zi:k Aliante Sport Ti
Seat Post: Thomson Aluminum
Front Derailleur: Dura Ace 7800
Rear Derailleur: Dura Ace 7800
Shifters: Dura Ace 7800
Cranks: FSA Energy MegaExo Compact
Bottom Bracket:    MegaExo
Cassette: Ultegra 6600
Chain: Ultegra 6600
Brakes:    Shimano 105 Black
Wheelset:    Real Design SuperSphere
Tyres:    Vittoria Rubino Pro

Teramo’s headbadge	Many FSA parts	including a Aheadset
BIG graphics	all over the place	Tidy bike

Tuscany

The Tuscany is available as a complete bike at £2,599 with a full Ultegra build or as frameset/fork for £1,799 Weight was 17 1/4 lbs. The Dura Ace build is about 16 1/2 lbs in weight.

This has changed considerably since the last Tuscany we rode a few years back. It’s a good race/Etape style frame with a extended headtube to get the bars up a bit and more relaxed than the Teramo. Certainly a bike for the Etape rider and racer who wants a bike to ride all year round.

We will have this bike for a full test very soon. A full spec. and details here:
Tuscany

Tuscany complete bike spec.
Headset: Cane Creek S-3
Handlebar/Stem: ITM Mantis 31.8
Grips / Bar Tape: Cork Black
Saddle: fi’zi:k Aliante Sport Ti
Seat Post: Thomson Aluminum
Front Derailleur: Ultegra 6600
Rear Derailleur: Ultegra 6600
Shifters: Ultegra 6600
Cranks: Ultegra 6600
Bottom Bracket: Ultegra 6600
Cassette: Ultegra 6600
Chain: Ultegra 6600
Brakes: Ultegra 6600
Wheelset: Real Design SuperSphere
Tyres: Vittoria Rubino Pro

New Real fork	complex tube forming	seat tube
Tuscany	swaged down tube	Full Ultegra