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After years of happy hooning round on my Boardman cx team I have decided it's time to offload several bikes and get a gravel bike. I love my Ti road bike so I'd like a Ti gravel too. I haven't got silly money to spend so it's On One/PX for me.
There seems to be a lot of love for the Tempest, especially when it's on offer and it ticks all the boxes for me. And then I saw the Titus Goldrush. Well, I like the look of that too. Can't seem to find any reviews though.
This would be a big 'investment' for me so I need to get it right. As there is only one definitive way to settle any query I am asking on here. So, which one do I want?
The Goldrush has full outer external cables which for me for this type of bike would make me favour it over the Tempest all else being equal.
I like full internal cable routing on carbon road bikes but not so much on round tubed metal frames. And I really don't like a mix on the same bike. I realise this is hardly a sound basis for choosing a bike but it's rarely a purely logical purchase
If you can run full length outers that would be a good thing for me, but, as you will discover below, others may disagree (about many things), so it’s very much a case of YMMV.
I bought a used Charge Freezer Ti frame and forks for £300. None of those disc things, but it's a great ride. I'm thinking of a Lauf fork and front cable disc brake. It's currently running Gevenalle 1x9 and mavic ksyrium wheels but I'm upgrading the wheels. I also ride it on the road with a wheel swap.
Titanium is lovely. Just don't buy something too close to your road bike.
On one bikes in general but this one specifically have too short a head tube for me. 8cm saddle to top of bars is my sweet spot and with longish legs you just can't achieve that with their headtubes without a silly number of spacers.
It does look small in the pics but the stack height on the Tempest seems to measure up as normal. Has it long forks?
Bought a Tempest a couple of weeks ago and absolutely love riding it, the Whyte mtb has gone up in the loft till next spring now. For the riding I do, NY Moors XC it’s ideal for me, I found when I was on the mtb I had my suspension locked most of the time.
I did consider the external / internal cable routing choice and just decided on the Tempest in the end as I wanted to see less cables.
None of that probably helps but whichever you go for I don’t think you will be disappointed.
🙂 the Sonder ones are great expect the PX to ride just as good
What are you implying Rich?
I’d take the Tempest over the Goldrush for the Flat-mount brakes. Not sure how long road brakes with post-mount callipers will be around.
I went Tempest. Did the self build, paid in Euros, which brought the R8000 version in at about £1660 with 38mm tyres, wider bars (I have the physique of a gorilla) and a probably unnecessary stem change.
Nice balanced build on the bike. Could have slightly nicer wheels and tyres, but they’re very competent and perfectly acceptable. Rides nicely. All the mudguard and rear rack points is spot on (45mm Bluemels fit nicely) as it’ll commute with them on but they’ll come off/on in minutes once fitted the first time as there are a couple of fixed points on the frame.
The seatpost is terrible. A 31.6mm alloy lump is not a comfort inducing experience. I have the carbon one on order.
Finally pay for the head tube badge. It does nothing for the ride or the capability of the bike - but it looks good.
Thanks all for the responses. Has anyone seen a review of the Goldrush anywhere or ridden one themselves?
What does your road bike position look like? The geometry of the two are a little different. The Titus has a slightly slacker head angle and a much longer head tube. That means you’ll be able to get the bars higher easily, and up to and above the saddle. Getting them lower may be more challenging. The tempest has a shorter wheelbase, but still touring bike not cross/road bike.
I suppose it depends what you want from the bike and how much you want it to differ from your road bike - i would say lots, because a swap of wheels could make the bike road capable too. I’d probably go Titus just to be different. To your road bike. But don’t expect fast handling.
Thanks for that. Interesting. I've got/had a load of very different bikes to do different 'jobs' so I'm not really going to be making any comparison to road bike other than material.
I messaged Brant about this and he said they’d sold out of the Titus Goldrush but would would be getting some more in. Given that it’s a bit odd that there is absolutely nothing out on t‘interweb about the bike. I thought someone who had bought one would have written something about it. Weird.
Tell Brant to send me one and I'll write something about it 🙂
On one / px have stopped doing magazine reviews and launches and the expense it brings. Instead they seem to discount the frames on launch and sell cheap so that people who ride them talk about them on forums like this. See the many threads about scandals, big dogs, daves etc. I think the gold rush hasn't sold as many as the others so the customer reviews arent there.
If I was spending that kind of money I'd be going to the shop on a Saturday to sit on them, pick them up and pick the brains of the staff about them. I'd also be going to an alpkit/ribble shop to compare them. It's an expensive mistake to make and chances are you will keep a ti frame for a long time.
Andrew over at Stooge has some interesting gravel frames in ti flavour.
Damascus - fair point and I would if they actually had the Titus in.
Mariner - thanks but unlikely to be for PX money.
The Planet-x Tempest Rival 1 looks great value for money, very tempted.....
If it makes you feel any better mr sparkle, I’ve been lusting after the tempest 2x ultegra option I saw the other week. With some posh wheels it would be grand.👍
Two grand I reckon... ;0)
MrSparkle, how can you sparkle without another Ti bike? 🙂
Ha ha! True!
How does the Ribble gravel thing compare? If you visit on a Saturday you can talk to our eldest about it.
Thanks Mick. Their Ti version is just ‘that bit’ more expensive than PX, nice though it is.
Not bumped in to you in ages Mr S, what's going on !
there's no doubt that the PX Rival 1 headline price looks pretty unbeatable to me, but I definitely prefer the look of the Sonder Camino Ti. Not sure why. But apart from extra braze ons I can not see what justifies the extra cost.
In traditional STW swerve ball style I really like the steel cotic fortitude but that is steel so a no-no !
Have you looked at the Ti Singular Kite? Sam's doing small batch runs.
Very happy with my new Pegasus.
I want a chumba terlingua Ti but sadly we can't all have what we want ☹️
john_l
I haven’t got silly money to spend so it’s On One/PX for me.
Update: I got a Tempest Rival 1. Had it a fortnight and due to a variety of reasons I have only just found time to give it a whiz round the block. Which it managed very well... ;0)
I’ve got some xtr spd’s for it otherwise it is complete stock. Obviously I can leave it like that so who has upgraded what on theirs?
Mine has had a slightly shorter than stock stem and a Flite saddle. Also replaced the wheels with a set of Chris King/Stans I had spare along with an XTR cassette and some carbon cranks. Dropped about a kilo from the weight overall.
Mine has the same length stem just not cantered at 30 degrees like the on-one version 😉 I swapped the tyres for tubeless G1's for a tour last year and have to swap them back. Dumped the cast iron seat post and rather hard perch for something more compliant. Stuck a wider cassette on the back.
Then rode it loads. I really like it. I had a boardman CX before and this just seems better in every respect.
I have a CX Team 2014 which I got for a bargain at £400 new in 2015. It got me into CX racing and it's had a few changes but it's been a PITA to get things like decent BB's that fit the rather add BB shell. The only things left from the original bike are the frame, shifters and bars. It's been used for all sorts of riding but I've always struggled with it cornering on CX courses. Anyway I've nearly finished a the new build which as a Pickenflick. (Just waiting on the front wheel to arrive this week). I've built it up in parts to spread the cost a bit and whilst I'd like to have it ready for the last race of the season it might not be possible. It should be ready and tested for Monstercross in Feb.
Ultegra Tempest now £1760.
Fitted a Hope stem, got rid of the seatpost for a Hope carbon one, changed the saddle for my usual Charge spoon and I’ve got a pair of WTB resolutes to fit tubeless when I have time to do them. Oh and I’ve changed the bar tape to brown to match the saddle and tan wall tyres.
Really like riding it and it’s my go to bike now, been out on the road on it today in the frost and ice as I didn’t fancy skinny slicks.
Will be looking to upgrade the wheels to something lighter when finances allow.
I've fitted Ritchey WCS Evomax bars & Pavé tape, a 3T Arx II stem, Brooks Cambium saddle and some XTR pedals.
It feels much better with the wider, flared bars & the lower rise stem.
Next thing to go is the cheapo seat post, which will probably be replaced with the Selcof matt carbon one from Planet X
Managed to set the tyres up tubeless with no issues, even though the wheel jargon says they're only compatible with Schwalbe tubeless tyres & other makes are 'Not allowed'(?)
I think some Hunt wheels & better, wider tyres will happen somewhere down the road, but for now, as someone who hasn't had a drop-bar bike in 30 years, I'm thoroughly enjoying it!