Traditionally hailed as one of the leading manufactures of titanium bicycle frames, Litespeed has unveiled the Archon Carbon.

It’s been two years in development, says Litespeed. “After 2 solid years of design, development, and the same rigorous testing and product evaluation we invest in our titanium bikes, we’re thrilled to introduce a line of carbon bikes that truly lives up to the Litespeed name and our long legacy of design innovation,” says Peter Hurley, CEO of American Bicycle Group.

The distinctive look bikes are a result in what Litespeed calls ‘AreoLogic’, which is their attempt a road bike that is as aerodynamic as possible. We’re seeing more and more companies bring time trial aero principles to road bikes and Litespeed’s interpretation of the concept includes a downtube shaped to shroud the water bottle and decrease air become turbulent as it passes over the water bottle.

“Our design objective with the C-Series line was simple,” Hurley added, “produce a bike that utilized the unique material advantages of carbon to offer genuine and distinct aerodynamic innovations and performance at an industry competitive price. The result has been a palpable sense of excitement from our team, for sure, but also a whole new way of looking at integrated aero features that our designers eventually dubbed ‘AeroLogic.’”

The entire frame has been extensively shaped to slip through the wind. The large section downtube flows into a massive headtube junction with a taper top tube. The slim seat tube curves around the rear wheel and there’s an integrated seatmast to further cut down on drag. The rear triangle is a collection of slim tubes designed to reduce drag.

Along with attempting to a high performing aerodynamic frameset, Litespeed has used its many years of developing finely balanced titanium frames to build its first carbon bike to offer a riding experience that will impress.

The Archon carbon line will be officially launched at Eurobike in September 2009. Three build kits will be available. Litespeed C1 frameset: £2,199; Litespeed C2 DuraAce: £3,599 and C3 Ultegra: £,2599.

Prices to be confirmed.

More at www.paligapltd.co.uk and wwww.litespeed.com.