Litespeed

Quad Cycles is a dealer of Litespeed frames and complete bikes in Arlington, in the Boston, Massachusetts area, selling Litespeed's titanium and carbon models.

Litespeed was founded by the Lynskey siblings, Mark, Chris, Tim, David, and Teresa, in 1986. The brothers were machinists, trained by their father Bill. When titanium was seeing increased military and aerospace use in the '80s, fueled largely by Cold War defense projects, no one in the bike industry had seriously considered titanium as a potential frame material. But David's chronic knee injuries from running led him to cycling, and after a series of disappointing steel and aluminum frames, a leftover set of tubes from a chemical job became his - and the world's - first titanium bicycle frame. The results showed promise from the beginning; the titanium tubes were lighter than steel, more comfortable than aluminum, and stronger than both. The Lynskeys sensed that they'd made something revolutionary; larger and larger runs of their frames would sell out, until Litespeed grew to the point where they were buying more titanium than McDonnell-Douglas.

It wasn't just consumers who noticed how good the bikes were. Other companies wanted to make titanium bikes for their customers and sponsored racers, but hadn't perfected the techniques of titanium frame construction (not that you can blame them; even now, nearly 30 years after the Lynskeys started, titanium is still the toughest frame material to work with). When pros sponsored by Trek, Bianchi, Eddy Merckx, and a wide range of other bicycle companies wanted the lightest, best performance bikes in the mid- to late '90s, they were often riding Litespeeds, albeit hidden by the sponsors' paint schemes.

If you've paid any attention to the cycling world since 2000, you know that most brands' top-end bikes are now carbon fiber, not titanium. Carbon's got a lot of potential as a frame material, and it's not as hard to work with. But as the rest of the cycling world discovered the potential of carbon fiber, so did Litespeed. Working with high-modulus carbon fiber and the lessons of 30 years of bicycle construction, Litespeed has supplemented its titanium lines with carbon fiber bikes as well: the L series, their all-around race bikes; the M series, a more affordable but still high-performance line; and the C series, their aero road bike. However, for riders looking for the best performance on Boston's rough city streets, or tempted by any of the numerous Gran Fondo rides in Massachusetts and throughout New England, the titanium bike below is one of the best in the world.

Featured Bike: Litespeed T5 GRAVEL

For riders looking for a road bike capable of taking on any road, paved or unpaved, the T5G is the pinnacle of cycling design. With tire clearance of up to 40 mm in some brands, electronic or mechanical shifting options, and thru-axle fork and rear dropouts, the T5G is a flawless bike for any rider hoping to take a road bike where others fear to tread. And best of all, it's handmade in the USA.