Titus El Guapo

“Now remember Guapito, if we blow this landing and eat rock, people will call you El Feo, The Ugly One.” This was overheard as Competitive Cyclist staffer, E2, was poised at the takeoff above his latest huckspot. The resulting maneuver was of course, smooth and flawless. We just thought it was funny that he was talking to his bike in the first place, and secondly, that he assumed we would call his bike ugly. His Titus El Guapo is TALAS Blue, a powdery beautiful color. We affectionately call his bike Precious. At the end of the day, Precious held her own, and both the bike and rider remained unfazed and ungouged by the hazards of the mountain.

El Guapo is a new offering from Titus this year. It fills a gap between the 7” travel Super Moto and the 5” travel Moto Lite, two mainstays in the Titus lineup. El Guapo is poised to fill that niche with a sturdy, hydroformed front triangle mated to Titus’ proven box section rear section. All the tidy bits you’d expect from Titus are there -- stiff and durable, bushed Horst link pivots, a sealed cartridge bearing-supported main pivot, and a beautiful new link for the shock. All of the fabrication is top notch. The welds are consistent and smooth, the machine work on the shock linkage is equally impressive, and all of the suspension pivot machining is dead on. The result is a beautiful bike with rear suspension that moves smoothly through its stroke. The headtube is the eye-catcher -- the wall thickness at the top and bottom bearing interface suggests supreme durability. This, we find reassuring when we attempt to keep up with E2 and Precious, on the descents or off who-knows-what.

We have Los Guapos in our demo fleet, and have had plenty of opportunity to check them out in between shipments to demo customers. Initially, we thought the bike was going to feel a little bouncy, but skepticism about the pedaling efficiency was erased after the first ride. We rode straight off the loading dock to check the preload, then out through our parking lot. Even with the low speed compression damping turned out on the RockShox Pearl rear shock, the El Guapo did not exhibit drastic, negative feedback from pedaling. Of course, as a new shock, there was surely some stiction in the Pearl that helped keep the rear end stable as we pedaled. Out of the saddle sprints elicited some suspension movement, however it was less than expected from a bike with 6” of rear suspension. This proved to be rewarding when we hit the more level trails.

After our Titus El Guapo received some serious saddle time here, and out in the harsh world on a couple of demos, we found that the shock did break in some and the rear suspension had become more supple. While there has been some backlash about the Pearl Shock as a stock spec on El Guapo (and we offer a Fox DHX Air as an upgrade) the Pearl is not evil. As is the case with all shocks and forks, it does require some tuning to optimize it to each rider's style and preferences. We found that the shock can feel a bit harsh at times. This was evident off the loading dock to a flat landing, or whenever we dropped onto anything less than a well developed transition. Of course the air spring in the shock provides a progressive rate, so it felt like it ramped up quickly as it moved through its stroke. One great thing about the Pearl shock is that the Motion Control damper offers a wide range of adjustment for both the low speed compression and the rebound. As riders, we appreciated the external adjustability to fine tune the bike for different terrain.

Titus has had a longtime hit with their Moto Lite -- its adjustable 4” to 5” suspension has provided many folks a Swiss army, do-it-all bike. It lacks some stability when the going gets steep and rough, so that’s where El Guapo comes to play. If the Motolite has screwdrivers, blades, and a toothpick, then the El Guapo has all that plus a saw and a corkscrew. It’s strange and cool how well it pedals, yet it handles loads of abuse over boulders and burly drops. The rear end feels quick -- like it has short chainstays -- but it doesn’t. Yet, it wheelies and manuals with ease. The Titus El Guapo likes to get pumped into corners, and the rear suspension plants the tire for consistent rail-like efficiency. The bottom bracket sits at 13.85” and sometime feels low. Flying through fast, twisty corners, El Guapo is stable, perhaps due to the low center of gravity. Hucking drops or pedaling through intensely technical sections of trail, it feels a bit low and we sometimes dropped a pedal. It was no big deal, and we’re sure that a reasonable balance has been found for the bike’s intended purpose.

We’re big fans of bike designs that are well thought out and aren’t limiting in ways of usage. A few things standout for the Titus El Guapo -- 1/ We love the uninterrupted seat tube. This is a must for a bike that is intended to be pedaled up the hill and through the woods, then rock-and-roll back down, with an option for a few log rides and nice drops too. We like that adjustability in saddle height. 2/ The head and seat angles are slack, but not to the extreme. This bike steers nicely. Granted it doesn’t feel like a cross country racer, but it's no tractor either. It provides stability for the front end of the bike at speed, and as the front fork compresses over bumps. 3/ The new shock linkage -- it's more massive than the usual Titus offerings, and we have been impressed with the stiffness. So far we can’t report any issues with unwanted flex in the frame or suspension.

All in all, we love the bike but have a few questions for the guys at Titus. First, and this is certainly from a shop perspective, we would like to see the main pivot bolt enter the swingarm from the non-drive side of the bike. This might simplify maintenance. Granted, it is the rare day when we see a loose pivot bolt, but it does happen no matter the brand or model. With our demo fleet, we like to check the pivot bolts before we ship bikes out to customers, so this would certainly be handy for us if it that were the case. Second, the cable routing on the side of the top tube was a bit of a knee-knocker for some riders. Not all of us had the problem, but be sure that the victims are passionate about this being an issue. It is our understanding that the folks at Titus are listening to customers about preferences for this cable and hose routing issue. That’s what we love about them.

The Titus El Guapo is great bike -- one destined to have a following. It is surprisingly well-mannered when pedaling up hills. Its full length seat tube allows the rider to achieve a proper saddle height for pedaling efficiency, then drop the saddle all the way down to create room for aggressive technical riding. The frame tips our scales at about 7 lbs, so it wouldn’t be unheard of to have a complete bike around 30 lbs. That would make for a nimble, yet mega capable trail machine.