# My new Litespeed



## sr20det510

2011 Litespeed Archon C1 Sram Force :thumbsup:
Ordered this on December 23rd from Realcyclist.com, and it finally arrived 2 days ago.

I've been riding a Gary Fisher 29er for the last 4 years so this is a major change.
I really like the bike, but I don't feel as confident on it as I do my mountain bike 
I just need to get use to the turning radius and figure out how fast I can turn corners and I will be set

I'm currently using crankbros pedals (which I took off my 29er a few years ago) and i'm wondering what you guys are using and recommend. 

Anyone have a pedal set they are willing to sell?


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## paule11

Beautiful bike you will get used to the difference between the 29er and a road bike.
I have thought of trying crank brother pedals on my road bike I would leave them on till your comfortable with your bikes handling.


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## sr20det510

paule11 said:


> Beautiful bike you will get used to the difference between the 29er and a road bike.
> I have thought of trying crank brother pedals on my road bike I would leave them on till your comfortable with your bikes handling.


Thanks! I really like the lines of the bike!
I think I might need a shorter stem, but will try adjusting the seat a bit forward first.

As for the pedals, I removed them from my mountain bike because I had trouble disconnecting. I think it might have been the shoes I had but had an easier time with the Shimano pedals.


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## sr20det510

BTW,
what is this part for?


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## twinkles

perty bike, make sure those handlebars aren't set up so they'll swing around and hit the top tube. You could ruin the frame in a very minor fall.


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## 06cvpi

Look like a jig to hold the seat mast so you can cut straight. My Fuji Track Pro came with one. 

Nice looking bike. 



sr20det510 said:


> BTW,
> what is this part for?


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## sr20det510

twinkles said:


> perty bike, make sure those handlebars aren't set up so they'll swing around and hit the top tube. You could ruin the frame in a very minor fall.


Thanks,
How do I take care of this?


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## lambdamaster

If you're interested, I can sell you a pair of white speedplay zero titanium pedals with new cleats. I am thinking about switching to black ones as they'd match my bike better. The white would go well with yours.


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## rudedog55

i use crank bros Quattro pedals, that way i can interchange between road, cross and MTB.

road Quattro
cross Candy 3
MTB acid 2's and egg beaters

great bike, i just paid for a C1R, waiting for it to arrive!!!

Best of luck with the bike!!


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## r_mutt

sr20det510 said:


> Thanks,
> How do I take care of this?



Don't fall.


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## sr20det510

lambdamaster said:


> If you're interested, I can sell you a pair of white speedplay zero titanium pedals with new cleats. I am thinking about switching to black ones as they'd match my bike better. The white would go well with yours.


I think the Speedplay titanium might be out of my budget : (
But pm a price and we'll see if that is the case.


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## sr20det510

rudedog55 said:


> i use crank bros Quattro pedals, that way i can interchange between road, cross and MTB.
> 
> road Quattro
> cross Candy 3
> MTB acid 2's and egg beaters
> 
> great bike, i just paid for a C1R, waiting for it to arrive!!!
> 
> Best of luck with the bike!!


Being able to ride one bike or the other w/o having to worry about shoes seems to make so much sense.

C1R is a bit lighter and stiffer than the c1, correct?
Is it a complete bike or frame?


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## rudedog55

sr20det510 said:


> Being able to ride one bike or the other w/o having to worry about shoes seems to make so much sense.
> 
> C1R is a bit lighter and stiffer than the c1, correct?
> Is it a complete bike or frame?


i bought it as a frame set, lightly used.

gonna use it as a crit bike this year, i have enough spares for 3 bikes, and i always end up stripping and customizing anyway. 

I think the weight is nominal 100-150g, as the C1 has internal cabling and a standard seat post and the C1R is external cables and ISP. They say it is stiffer, but i would venture that the average rider such as myself would not be able to tell if i was on both bikes blindfolded.


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## sr20det510

One more picture
Rode a bit today and I'm getting the hang of the shifters.


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## twinkles

Roll the bars back a bit? Switch to a deeper drop bar? Drop the stem? It's a tough situation if the bike is set up how you like it now. I love my FSA compact bars and would have a hard time getting rid of them. Sorry I don't have a perfect answer.


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## r_mutt

Don't listen to bad advice. Every bike has this "issue" of bars hitting the top tube if bent too far back. Just look at any picture of a proper bike and you will see that you are not alone. In reality, it almost never happens. In other words, it's a non-issue.


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## sr20det510

I'm getting use to the bike, so will leave it as is for the moment.
Want to get fitted in the next month or so, so i think they will adjust what is needed then.


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## Steelguy

What a nice bike ! Hard to tell from you photo but the saddle appears to be pointing down. This might throw more weight on your arms and hands. You might be happier with the seat a bit lower and horizontal. Lots of people on this board ride Arione saddles, so ask some of them. On the other hand, you may be perfectly happy with the saddle set the way it is now. In that case, ride on.


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## sr20det510

r_mutt said:


> Don't listen to bad advice. Every bike has this "issue" of bars hitting the top tube if bent too far back. Just look at any picture of a proper bike and you will see that you are not alone. In reality, it almost never happens. In other words, it's a non-issue.


Thanks for the advice! 
I tried to move the bars all around to hit the frame and it is difficult because of the way the cables are routed so I should be good!


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## sr20det510

Steelguy said:


> What a nice bike ! Hard to tell from you photo but the saddle appears to be pointing down. This might throw more weight on your arms and hands. You might be happier with the seat a bit lower and horizontal. Lots of people on this board ride Arione saddles, so ask some of them. On the other hand, you may be perfectly happy with the saddle set the way it is now. In that case, ride on.


I think you might be right!
I actually lowed the seat post 5 mm and it feels better. I need to get a better torque wrench before I start messing with the bike more and more. 

I have a torque wrench from Harbor Freight but not sure how accurate it is. After buying it an older sales person there asked me about my buy and I told him what I bought and for what it would be used for and he said, "I wouldn't tighten it all the wat to 45 pounds with that! Set it at 25 and go with that. I'm not to sure if these torque wrenches are very accurate and I would be careful. You can practice tightening it and eventually you will learn to feel what the 45 pounds or 5nm feel like."

I will work on adjusting the seat next.


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## PoorCyclist

sr20det510 said:


> I think you might be right!
> I actually lowed the seat post 5 mm and it feels better. I need to get a better torque wrench before I start messing with the bike more and more.
> 
> I have a torque wrench from Harbor Freight but not sure how accurate it is. After buying it an older sales person there asked me about my buy and I told him what I bought and for what it would be used for and he said, "I wouldn't tighten it all the wat to 45 pounds with that! Set it at 25 and go with that. I'm not to sure if these torque wrenches are very accurate and I would be careful. You can practice tightening it and eventually you will learn to feel what the 45 pounds or 5nm feel like."
> 
> I will work on adjusting the seat next.


Just get a park beam style wrench that goes up to 8nm, you can get it from Amazon.


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## Jammerjam

Any advice on Litespeed Sewanee? I have been thinking about buying a 2012 but it's $4200 MSRP.


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## Jammerjam

Jammerjam said:


> Any advice on Litespeed Sewanee? I have been thinking about buying a 2012 but it's $4200 MSRP.
> 
> This is a replacement bike for my 1998 Owl Hollow Litespeed. The frame cracked for the third time and this time Litespeed won't honor their warranty. I guess it's just too old.


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## jaimemmm

no thanks.


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## sr20det510

Quick update:

Had the bike for 7-8 weeks and so far I am loving it!
No flats FTW!
Feels very solid.
Shifters loosing up and everything seems to be working ok!


My girlfriend got me some Speedplay Zero stainless after I mentioned that I was thinking of getting some. I had taken them off my list just cause I hate the fact that they never seem to be on sale.

Was planning on ordering some shimano ultegra pedals, but I guess I'll have to use the Speedplays instead


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## centsless302

hey, i am new to this site. I am currently in the process of getting the same bike. I am trying to use the fit calculator on competivecyclist.com but i am currently on a deployment and the connectivity isnt good at all. I am 5, 10" with about a 31.5 inseam, i am throwing the idea around of the 56, but currently i am ordering the 57 frame. I dont really have the recources out here to do correct measurment, but I am trying to have a bike waiting for me when i get back. I missed the giveaway they had a realcycles.com, but they are working with me, and i still got a good price. Nice pics by the way, thats a badass ride.


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## PoorCyclist

centsless302 said:


> hey, i am new to this site. I am currently in the process of getting the same bike. I am trying to use the fit calculator on competivecyclist.com but i am currently on a deployment and the connectivity isnt good at all. I am 5, 10" with about a 31.5 inseam, i am throwing the idea around of the 56, but currently i am ordering the 57 frame. I dont really have the recources out here to do correct measurment, but I am trying to have a bike waiting for me when i get back. I missed the giveaway they had a realcycles.com, but they are working with me, and i still got a good price. Nice pics by the way, thats a badass ride.


I think it will be a bit too large.. I am 5'9" and I ride a M, 2 size smaller than you are considering.


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## Nicole Hamilton

PoorCyclist said:


> I think it will be a bit too large.. I am 5'9" and I ride a M, 2 size smaller than you are considering.


I'm 5'9 also and from looking over the Litespeed Archon geometry, it sounds a bit too big to me as well.

The conventional wisdom used to be (undoubtedly, others can jump in to comment if it's still the conventional wisdom) that if you're torn between two frame sizes, you should pick the smaller one. It'll be few grams lighter and probably more comfortable. On a frame that's too big, I always feel too stretched out and a little bit as if I'm straddling a fence. It's harder to control the bike. So it's probably worth getting a buddy to measure you carefully.

But I truly understand the anxiety. I'm waiting for a new Pinarello Paris (in 51.5) to arrive. I'm pretty sure I got the sizing right. I paid for a professional sizing, road last year's model in the same size I'm buying and I compared all the frame measurements against my current bike to be sure I understood what would change.

But I'm still nervous as a cat. What if I screwed this up? I really don't want to have to deal with trying to return it or put up with the wrong size. So at least once a day I've been nervously double-checking all the numbers. I'm totally expecting that when the bike arrives (hopefully, next week), I'll get on it and immediately be satisfied, yup, got it right. But until then ...


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## PoorCyclist

I look at the top tube length and second the headtube length. Sometimes the smaller bike is too low in the front and and you can't add too many spacers (more than 3cm not recommended). The Archon C series has a race inspired geometry which means low headtube. You will see "gran" "roubaix" or "fondo" kind of bike have higher headtube.

For centsless302 he has picked size L, with headtube at 18.5cm, his seatpost will likely need to be inserted very low as well. probably not a good fit.

The deals will come along from time to time, so don't get bad sizing just because it's a deal!


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## jne3

centsless302 said:


> hey, i am new to this site. I am currently in the process of getting the same bike. I am trying to use the fit calculator on competivecyclist.com but i am currently on a deployment and the connectivity isnt good at all. I am 5, 10" with about a 31.5 inseam, i am throwing the idea around of the 56, but currently i am ordering the 57 frame. I dont really have the recources out here to do correct measurment, but I am trying to have a bike waiting for me when i get back. I missed the giveaway they had a realcycles.com, but they are working with me, and i still got a good price. Nice pics by the way, thats a badass ride.


I'm your size and I have a M/L or 56. Fits me well. I would also think the L would be a little big.


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## centsless302

Thanks for the help, i havent been on a road bike in forever, my last one was a 58 i believe, but the frame geometry was all dorked up, i just emailed the company and got a 56 on order, now i just have to get back to the states so i can ride it, haha.


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## IHTabata

Nice. My LS is shredded and I put stickers on it. But I love it and best of all it's still not stolen! (in the stolen capital of USA, tucson AZ).

Not sure if i missed it, but how many grams?


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## sr20det510

centsless302 said:


> hey, i am new to this site. I am currently in the process of getting the same bike. I am trying to use the fit calculator on competivecyclist.com but i am currently on a deployment and the connectivity isnt good at all. I am 5, 10" with about a 31.5 inseam, i am throwing the idea around of the 56, but currently i am ordering the 57 frame. I dont really have the recources out here to do correct measurment, but I am trying to have a bike waiting for me when i get back. I missed the giveaway they had a realcycles.com, but they are working with me, and i still got a good price. Nice pics by the way, thats a badass ride.


I'm 6'1 with a 31.5" inseam and the large fits me well.
I would imagine the L would be ok for you, but you would need a shorter stem.


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## sr20det510

IHTabata said:


> Nice. My LS is shredded and I put stickers on it. But I love it and best of all it's still not stolen! (in the stolen capital of USA, tucson AZ).
> 
> Not sure if i missed it, but how many grams?


Not sure on weight of the bike, I'm thinking 16.5 pounds as is, but it might be more.


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## bearryworld

Thanks.


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## Tommy72

Jammerjam said:


> Any advice on Litespeed Sewanee? I have been thinking about buying a 2012 but it's $4200 MSRP.


Hi your sewanee is for sale? [email protected] Thanks


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## rdtindsm

As long as people are helping you set up your bike, the bars are generally set anywhere from flat to 5 or 10 degrees down. Saddle any where from flat to slightly down.

Your not going to die; neither looks too bad.


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## rockycollector

Great bike and great pedals, once adjusted the plates are comfortable


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