Tisport Titanium Road Bikes
by Rick Schultz
posted 2006-03-25

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TiSport has been building frames since 1989. TiSport has fabricated road, mountain, cyclocross, triathlon and recumbent bike frames for a number of foreign and domestic customers such as Bacchetta, Bontrager, Colorado Cyclist, Dean, Diamondback, Fuji, Gary Fisher, GT, Ibis, Kona, Marin, Mongoose Pro, Sampson and Yeti. They also produce Titanium Golf Club Shafts and Titanium Wheelchairs. Basically, they know how to fabricate titanium.

Bicycle Frames - All Tisport frames are made in Kennewick, Washington, U.S.A., using cold relieved Ti-3%Al-2.5%V seamless tubing, the same tubing used in aerospace high pressure hydraulic systems. Ti-3%Al-2.5%V is also known as "3-2.5" or "half 6-4".

In this article we test TiSports Mongoose Titanium frame, their Dean Titanium frame and their own frame called the "Stealth". To keep things fair and consistant, each of the frames were built-up using the same gruppo and wheels.

General Observations - Since Titanium is a "springy" material, any ride on a titanium frame is very forgiving, compliant and comfortable. A titanium frame will absorb quite a bit of the road shock, but, to make things even better, add over-sized multi-shaped tubes, reduce wall thickness and you have an even lighter and more responsive frame than you could ever imagine. This is exactly what TiSport has done.

Since the Mongoose and Dean utilize 1" head tubes, I will compare these more to each other than with the Stealth - which utilizes a 1-1/8" head tube. Bicycle manufacturers started going to 1-1/8" a few years ago as a way to stiffen up the front end. But, stiffness comes with a price...a weight disadvantage. The head tube itself, due to its increased diameter, will be slightly heavier. A 1-1/8" fork can weigh 45 grams more than its 1" equivalent. For example, the Reynolds Ouzo Pro 700c Carbon fork weighs 375 grams in 1". The 1-1/8" equivalent weighs 420 grams. The positive side is that there is more carbon in a 1-1/8" fork, so you feel more secure in the fact that the 1-1/8" fork is less likely to break. Regarding performance: I cannot really say that you will feel a much stiffer ride with the 1-1/8" Stealth over the 1" Dean, but, this is not really an issue since most of the top-end frames are now 1-1/8".

TiSport built the Mongoose and Dean to each of the manufactures specifications, and each one of these frames offer a great ride. The Mongoose's tubes are a little smaller in diameter than compared to the Dean, and after riding each bike, I could feel a difference. The Dean is stiffer and more responsive, especially when you are out of the saddle or climbing. Don't get me wrong, the Mongoose provides a great ride, but the Dean's ride is that much better. The Dean does not use ovalized tubing, instead, they include a "monster-monostay" that is used to stiffen up the rear triangle. A typical monostay design offers a stiffer rear triangle because they have 2 tubes starting at the top of the seat post, working their way down to the rear dropouts. Dean elected to use one tube that was welded to the top of the seat post and then splits into two at the rear brake. This effectively shortens the rear triangle which increases the stiffness. The Dean also has a larger top tube and seat tube than the Mongoose which stiffens the front triangle.

The Stealth takes the best from the Mongoose and the best from the Dean, incorporating it all into one "compact" package. This frame utilizes oversized tubing, but takes the ovalization one step further by morphing the oval tubes into aerodynamically shaped tear-drop tubes. For those that aren't familiar with tear-drop shaped tubing, the cross-section looks like an exaggerated tear that gives higher strength in all directions compared to that of an oval tube. TiSport went one step further and created their 1st compact frame. The handling of this new frame style worked well and the handling was crisp and smooth. It is quick up the hills and there is very little, if any, flexing at the bottom bracket. The frame was easy to build and the only frame prep work that was needed was to tap the bottom bracket shell threads and adjust the rear derailleur hanger...things that need to be prepped on any new frame.

All 3 of these frames include a chainstay bridge which is an extra large titanium tube welded in between the chainstays (directly behind the bottom bracket shell). This also adds to stiffeness to the rear triangle. I used to own and ride an Aluminum frame and have noticed that very few, if any aluminum frames utilize this chain stay bridge stiffener. While riding an aluminum frame, I had noticed that without the stiffener, when hammering on the pedals, I could look down and see the the bottom bracket swaying heavily from side to side. You will never see that happening with any of these titanium frames. All of these frames are rock-solid...stiff, yet they absorb much of the road shock. I understand that absorbing road shock is also a function of the wheels and fork, but the frame has a lot to do with this as well.

Ovalized and oversized tubing, monostays, chain stay bridge stiffeners, light weight, responsiveness, stiffness...these are all terrific qualities to have in a frame. And these qualities can be found in all three of these frames. With the right set of racing wheels, you will feel the bike surging forward with each pedal stroke. On a long flat road, any one of these bikes would literally "fly"!

One point that really impressed me was the quality fabrication, especially the welds. One look at the welds and you can really see a level of quality and craftsmanship that is rarely seen in titanium fabrication. Each weld is absolutely beautiful. Each TiSport welder is required to pass college courses and attend rigorous in-house training and tests before being allowed to weld on any product. Root passes are done on every weld before the final pass and as many as three weld passes are used on critical joints. All tubes are mitered prior to welding so precise that no visible gap is present before welding. The attention to detail during TiSport's welding process ensures the highest-quality welds and more importantly, the best possible ride.

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