Competitive Cyclist

TITUS X CARBON

Carbon has become ever present in the bicycle industry, but has been slow to find its way to mountain frames. But, as the industry has mastered its carbon processes, Scott, Trek, Orbea and Specialized have all introduced carbon mountain bike frames with success over the past couple years. The progressive Titus is no different. For 2009, Titus improves upon their carbon artistry with the Titus X Carbon, shaving another 75 grams from the already lightweight front triangle.

We can almost hear the skeptism eminating from you,"Why is a carbon mountain bike necessary?" The answer is simple: for the exact same reasons you'd build a road frame from carbon. It's lightweight -- making it ideal for endurance riding as you've now got a sub-5 pound option for a 4" travel bike. And, it's incredibly stiff, making for quick accelerations in the technical and steep sections. But what about durability? We knew you'd ask that too. Titus has been product testing this through many generations of prototypes until they found the right balance of lightweight and durable. And, Titus has reinforced the area that consistently took the most abuse during testing -- the underside of the downtube nearest the bottom bracket. For this, they developed a protective anodized silver aluminum plate, affectionately dubbed R.U.B., Reinforced Under Belly. Titus is so convinced of durability of the Racer X Carbon that it receives the same warranty coverage as the .

We evaluate cross-country bikes using two metrics: Pedal efficiency and frame weight. The Racer X Carbon excels in both categories. From an efficiency standpoint it sings thanks to its "fully active" Horst link suspension design. A critical distinction with the Racer X family is the fact that Titus forgoes the all-too-common rocker approach to the Horst design. Many companies use a rocker to mate the rear triangle to the seat tube. Titus instead uses a strut-style Horst link design, replacing the traditional rockers with an ultralight three-piece carbon fiber X-Link. Since it uses the shock as part of the frame, this is perhaps the simplest "fully active" suspension design available. And the absence of rockers reduces the overall weight of the frame. Titus uses clevis-style dropouts with bushings at the Horst link to keep tolerances high and maintain stiffness in the rear. The union of a carbon front triangle, flex-free design, the fully active Horst Link, and a custom-valved Fox Float RP23 shock (View our set-up video) yields a frame that carves singletrack with a noticeable absence of the dreaded pedal-induced bob.

The X Carbon differs from the its predecessor, the Racer X Carbon, in four critical ways. 1/ Increased travel -- By tweaking pivot locations and utilizing the new Light Rail System swingarm, Titus increased travel to 105mm, ensuring a full four inches is achieved. 2/ Integrated Carbon Head Tube -- This creates a much smoother transition to the fork, and sheds a precious few grams. 3/ Carbon Main Pivot/Bottom Bracket -- Stiffer and lighter. Isn't that the point? 4/ Yep. Lighter -- All these changes knocked some 75 grams out of the front triangle, and they made it better in the process.

The carbon X-Link provides additional stiffness to the rear of the X Carbon. Its Light Rail System swingarm features asymetrical hydroformed chainstays and one-piece carbon seatstays. And Titus maximizes lateral stiffness thanks to their use of four oversized cartridge bearings stacked at the main pivot and a monocoque front triangle. As a bottom line, the uber-responsive, 4.8 pound Titus X Carbon must be considered in your search for the ultimate XC or Endurance race bike.

Titus recommends the use of a 100mm front suspension fork with the Titus X Carbon. It's available Small, Medium or Large exclusively in a Nude Carbon finish. It is disc specific with a replaceable derailleur hanger. The Racer X Carbon requires a 31.6 mm seatpost and a 34.9mm top-swing, dual-pull front derailleur.

2009 Titus X Carbon Pricing