A buddy of mine has a Ti Lightspeed frame. Loves it. Sits in his garage and collects dust while he rides his custom Guru tri bike. Some people have too much money. LOL.

Yeah, I'm dreaming of either a Seven Cycles Axiom SL or Spectrum Custom in Ti. Both run between $6-8K, so it's just a dream.

I did talk to someone who rides Ti (Litespeed) and he confirmed that only high end carbon rides like high end Ti. Of course he is <200lbs so he doesn't have to worry as much about strain on a carbon frame. I've seen alot of carbon frames with weight limits posted but most of the Ti bikes welcome Clydes to ride.

My husband races a Motobacane. I saw several out at Leadville actually.

I think it's this one:

http://www.motobecane.com/29/ft29ti.html

He replaced the brakes right away because he hates the avids.

Nice. I was looking at those yesterday. How does he like it?

He likes it a lot. The titanium and the 29 give it a little more flex than a hardtail aluminum 26er might. However he's got a bad back and he's 41 now so he's looking to get a full suspension racing bike next year, probably a carbon Scott Spark because that's what the shop he races for carries. He had to DNF on a race this year because of his back.

Yeah, I'm dreaming of either a Seven Cycles Axiom SL or Spectrum Custom in Ti. Both run between $6-8K, so it's just a dream.

I have a Spectrum Ti on order. Should have it by October. I'll let you know how it compares to my Trek Madone.

Remember that "Lifetime warranty" normally doesn't mean what you think it does.

Check this out: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-the-sad-reality-of-a-liftime-frame-warranty

This story has been repeated again and again with many different companies. It's not a reason to not buy a Ti frame it's just so you understand what you are really getting for you money in terms of warranty.

I have no doubt that the "quality" of customer service varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. I'm sure there are lots of companies that look for whatever ways they can to get out of warrantying out a new frame. But there are lots of stories that are just the opposite... about frames past their warranty period that have been replaced.

I've heard good things about lots of companies, I've heard bad things about lots of companies. IMO, it's as much or more about the company than it is about the warranty.

Customer service wasn't my point. It's that a life time warranty is not your life time. A lot of people seemed to have been caught out by this and particularity on Ti frames. It seems that the whole "bike for life" thing on Ti has really taken off. Ti will fatigue just like any other metal, although they tend to be well made and QA good as the volume is low.

Sure you might get a company replace something out of warranty. It happened for me with scram when the RCT3 unit on my forks disintegrated and it was out of warranty. They decided to give me good customer service and just replaced it as it was probably a manufacturing fault that just didn't present it's self for along time but there weren't obliged to. When you buy something with a warranty it's the obligation for them to sort it out that helps with the piece of mind. So of course is good reputation though like you said. You pay more for Hope gear but when it breaks they will generally just repair it and send it back to you however old it is.