I just picked up a Litespeed Siena at the El Tour de Tucson for a song from Litespeed. They were demo bikes for the Litespeed traveling circus. It is in really nice shape with full warranty etc but it has a few odd parts I think.

It is the Ultegra build and component wise it seems to jibe with the 2006 Spec on the Litespeed website but it has the Real Design Ultrasphere vs. the listed Supersphere. These seem to be very light wheels and weigh in around 2100gr with conti attack/force, tubes, Ultegra cassette and ti skewers, which seems light.

I found that Ligero built these for them and they have sapim spokes but I am hesitant to ride them as I am ~200lbs and I have recently had a catastrophic wheel failure on my bike (29er mountain bike too light wheelset) so that explains the apprehension.

I am thinking of getting the campy conversion part and gifting them to my wife..

If any of you have any advice, yay or nay, let me know.

Oh, and what is the best cleaning product to keep Ti clean, never had a road bike that wasn't painted and steel. Thanks

db

If Troy built the wheels call or email him. He would be the best person to ask.

Water works well and many use Lemon Pledge for the finish on a titanium bike. I use the latter.

ah pledge that makes sense. I was trying to get the Interbike Dirt Demo dust and grime off and I just couldn't get the bike to look as sharp as it should. Thanks.

I have a 2005 model Tuscany which came with Real-Design Ultrafly wheels which I think were renamed Supersphere. If I recall the base aluminum box rim was the same for all the Real-Design wheels and then carbon moldings were added to make the Supersphere 40 and Supersphere 60 deep section wheels.

Anyway -- my Real-Design wheels were quite beautiful and super light. I am heavier than you and I was pretty skeptical though, the selling shop said that they should be no problem for me. However, about 100 miles of riding proved that wrong (they went well out of true), and the shop swapped them out for a set of Easton Circuits (which have held up great). In retrospect, the shop made no fuss when I returned the wheels and I didn't have to request or argue for the Circuits, which makes me wonder if they expected the wheel failure or if upon their inspection the wheels were more gravely faulty than what I could see.

At any rate, they were really nice looking and light, but they didn't hold up for me. If you need an excuse for a new wheelset, I just provided one, haha. You may have better luck with something more robust. Seems like there is a thread in this Litespeed forum that has some other examples of Real Design wheelset issues. I contacted Real-Design (ABG) at the time and they claimed no rider weight limit, but I am not sure if they would say that now. I believe some smaller riders have had good luck on the wheels (I recalls some posts either here or on bikeforums.net).

Incidentally, my Real Design fork and seat post have worked great so far (knock on wood).

Good Luck and Good Riding!

I weigh in at around 195lbs and the Superspheres came standard on my 2006 Merlin. The rear wheel lasted for less than 500km before the spokes started breaking. The bike shop where I purchased the Merlin gave me good credit on a trade-in for some Mavic Ksyriums and they have lasted for nearly 7000km with no problems.

I am 6'2" and 210-lbs. You can see my Siena here in this old thread (http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=105957).

I bought some custom made DT Swiss wheels with their 240 hubs, revolution 15/17 butted spokes and their rims, front with 28 spokes, and rear with 32 spokes and double eyelets; no radial spoking. They are very nice riding wheels on poor roads, but they are not stiff laterally like the Ksyrium wheels if that is your desire. My riding style is a daily fitness ride of 24-miles, and longer rides when plans permit. I've got about 2k miles now on these wheels -- still love 'em.

I clean my oily parts with automotive Brake Parts Aerosol Cleaner from WalMart; warning -- carburetor cleaner is too strong for bicycle parts.. Kitchen spray such as 401 in a rag to clean the rest.

I just picked up a Litespeed Siena at the El Tour de Tucson for a song from Litespeed. They were demo bikes for the Litespeed traveling circus. It is in really nice shape with full warranty etc but it has a few odd parts I think.

It is the Ultegra build and component wise it seems to jibe with the 2006 Spec on the Litespeed website but it has the Real Design Ultrasphere vs. the listed Supersphere. These seem to be very light wheels and weigh in around 2100gr with conti attack/force, tubes, Ultegra cassette and ti skewers, which seems light.

I found that Ligero built these for them and they have sapim spokes but I am hesitant to ride them as I am ~200lbs and I have recently had a catastrophic wheel failure on my bike (29er mountain bike too light wheelset) so that explains the apprehension.

I am thinking of getting the campy conversion part and gifting them to my wife..

If any of you have any advice, yay or nay, let me know.

Oh, and what is the best cleaning product to keep Ti clean, never had a road bike that wasn't painted and steel. Thanks

db


Congrats on the bike, fwiw the wheels on those bikes get swapped around quite a bit so it is possible the wheels that came on the bike got moved around to another bike at somepoint.