Litespeed Firenze - Has anyone tried? - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

02-20-2004, 11:23 AM

I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's
the first sub $2000 titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone
tried one out? Any thoughts?

02-20-2004, 11:32 AM

Mike <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
: I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's
: the first sub $2000 titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone
: tried one out? Any thoughts?

mark .. any thoughts?

habcycles.com
--
david reuteler
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

02-20-2004, 11:32 AM

Mike <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
: I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's
: the first sub $2000 titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone
: tried one out? Any thoughts?

mark .. any thoughts?

habcycles.com
--
david reuteler
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

02-20-2004, 11:51 AM

Mike wrote:
> I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's
> the first sub $2000 titanium bike.

My friend's riding a 2003 Lemond titanium (full Ultegra) that went for
$1999, and was recently marked down to ~ 1699 (or maybe even less; didn't
look that closely).

Do you mean it's the first sub 2K /LITESPEED/ titanium bike?!?

Bill "almost bought the Lemond myself but opted for a Klein Q-carbon Team
for $400 less" S.

02-20-2004, 11:51 AM

Mike wrote:
> I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's
> the first sub $2000 titanium bike.

My friend's riding a 2003 Lemond titanium (full Ultegra) that went for
$1999, and was recently marked down to ~ 1699 (or maybe even less; didn't
look that closely).

Do you mean it's the first sub 2K /LITESPEED/ titanium bike?!?

Bill "almost bought the Lemond myself but opted for a Klein Q-carbon Team
for $400 less" S.

02-20-2004, 11:58 AM

David Reuteler <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

>Mike <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>: I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's
>: the first sub $2000 titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone
>: tried one out? Any thoughts?
>
>mark .. any thoughts?
>
>habcycles.com

I'm just shocked that I apparently haven't ever sold a sub-$2000 ti
bike. I guess a lot of my previous customers owe me a lot of money!!!

Coooooool.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
Home of the $695 ti frame

02-20-2004, 11:58 AM

David Reuteler <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

>Mike <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>: I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's
>: the first sub $2000 titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone
>: tried one out? Any thoughts?
>
>mark .. any thoughts?
>
>habcycles.com

I'm just shocked that I apparently haven't ever sold a sub-$2000 ti
bike. I guess a lot of my previous customers owe me a lot of money!!!

Coooooool.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
Home of the $695 ti frame

02-20-2004, 01:49 PM

> I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's
> the first sub $2000 titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone
> tried one out? Any thoughts?

Litespeed obviously doesn't have much in the way of late-40s employees. The
name "Firenze" was given to the junkiest of all junk 10-speeds, a "free"
bike given away by Matthew's TV & Stereo (Top of the Hill, Daly City) near
San Francisco. There were also some places in the midwest doing the same or
similar promotion. You purchased a $100 car stereo etc., and you got a free
bike.

These bikes were worse than bad. Various components carried the brand name
"DNB" which we all understood to mean Damn Nasty Bastard. Nothing was
straight, the brakes didn't work, the tires blew off the rim at low
pressures... what more could you ask for?

The Firenze definitely set back the Taiwan bike industry a good many years.
We associated anything coming out of Taiwan as absolute junk, and the
earliest KHS bikes tended to confirm this (KHS was one of the first
manufacturers to push Taiwanese-made bikes into the US market, first through
the low-end Miyatas, called Mikados I think). A whole lot better than the
Firenze, but nowhere near the quality of what was coming out of Japan at the
time (from Shogun, Panasonic, etc).

Things have most certainly changed since then; Taiwan is now seen as an
indication of quality manufacturing, trying to stay as far ahead of mainland
China as they can. It's difficult though, as Taiwan production is
considerably more expensive than the mainland, and the quality gap is
narrowing.

But getting back to the thread, no way could I ever associate a bike with
the name "Firenze" as being anything I'd want to own. Or... maybe it would
be a cool joke, like the people who would put Schwinn Varsity decals on
their lugless Jack Taylors!

--Mike--
Chain Reaction Bicycles
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

02-20-2004, 01:49 PM

> I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's
> the first sub $2000 titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone
> tried one out? Any thoughts?

Litespeed obviously doesn't have much in the way of late-40s employees. The
name "Firenze" was given to the junkiest of all junk 10-speeds, a "free"
bike given away by Matthew's TV & Stereo (Top of the Hill, Daly City) near
San Francisco. There were also some places in the midwest doing the same or
similar promotion. You purchased a $100 car stereo etc., and you got a free
bike.

These bikes were worse than bad. Various components carried the brand name
"DNB" which we all understood to mean Damn Nasty Bastard. Nothing was
straight, the brakes didn't work, the tires blew off the rim at low
pressures... what more could you ask for?

The Firenze definitely set back the Taiwan bike industry a good many years.
We associated anything coming out of Taiwan as absolute junk, and the
earliest KHS bikes tended to confirm this (KHS was one of the first
manufacturers to push Taiwanese-made bikes into the US market, first through
the low-end Miyatas, called Mikados I think). A whole lot better than the
Firenze, but nowhere near the quality of what was coming out of Japan at the
time (from Shogun, Panasonic, etc).

Things have most certainly changed since then; Taiwan is now seen as an
indication of quality manufacturing, trying to stay as far ahead of mainland
China as they can. It's difficult though, as Taiwan production is
considerably more expensive than the mainland, and the quality gap is
narrowing.

But getting back to the thread, no way could I ever associate a bike with
the name "Firenze" as being anything I'd want to own. Or... maybe it would
be a cool joke, like the people who would put Schwinn Varsity decals on
their lugless Jack Taylors!

--Mike--
Chain Reaction Bicycles
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

02-20-2004, 01:53 PM

In article <HhvZb.560$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].prodigy.com>,
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...
> > I was reading the review of the Litespeed Firenze in the March - it's
> > the first sub $2000 titanium bike. Sounds intriguing..... Has anyone
> > tried one out? Any thoughts?
>
> Litespeed obviously doesn't have much in the way of late-40s employees. The
> name "Firenze" was given to the junkiest of all junk 10-speeds, a "free"
> bike given away by Matthew's TV & Stereo (Top of the Hill, Daly City) near
> San Francisco. There were also some places in the midwest doing the same or
> similar promotion. You purchased a $100 car stereo etc., and you got a free
> bike.
>
> These bikes were worse than bad. Various components carried the brand name
> "DNB" which we all understood to mean Damn Nasty Bastard. Nothing was

How about Damn Near Broken, or Do Not Bicycle <GGG>?

--
Dave Kerber
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