Titus Cycles Rockstar: On Test: by Guitar Ted
Twenty Nine Inches received an invitation from Titus Cycles recently: “We were wondering if you’d like to review a Rockstar.” Okay……. Guitar Ted reviewing a Rockstar? I can see the bad puns flowing already! Well, at the risk of being tempted into bad attempts at Rock and Roll humor, I said “yes” and now we have here a nice looking blue and white full suspension bike for test and review.
Look for an Out Of The Box post coming soon with all the technical features and specs on the frame. Titus doesn’t offer this as a built bike, (yet), but I’ll also go over some of the other components on the bike such as the Crank Brothers wheels and we’ll also get a double dose on the Rubena Scylla tires since the Rockstar came with those as well.
no bashguard? not very rocknroll-ish. Those wheels look so good. Every time I see crank brothers wheels i feel like I’m missing out on something super fundamentally awesome. Then again I’ve crashed my traditional 3 cross wheels plenty o times and they are still sittin pretty.
I would have a hard time recommending the Crank Brothers wheels to anybody. Proprietary rims, proprietary spokes, and proprietary hubs. All great for the first year or two, but are spares going to be available further down the road? Now, if you turn your bike over every year…no problem. But if I was investing that kind of money in a wheelset I’d get something that I was confident would still be repairable long-term. I am, of course, a grumpy curmudgeon that rides a rigid bike…
Do you ride Crank Brothers Wheels? I do. Did today. 3rd season on my Iodine Wheelset and guess what? I can still get spokes for them. Although, I haven’t broken one yet. From trail riding to racing the Trestle All Mtn Enduro. The wheels are stiff, reliable and tubeless off the shelf. I recommend the CB wheels and do it with conviction. If your a grumpy curmudgeon, my suggestion is leave your unwanted comments in your mind. These wheels are the some stiffest alumium wheels I riden, so I can see a great fit on the 29. Excellent choice. Nice rig.
That new Rockstar is definitely not as sexy as the old one. It’s lost its curvaceousness.
Is the frame still made in the USA or did they offshore it once they lost their US production facility?
@TheNormsk: This frame was made in the U.S.A. at SAPA in Portland, OR.
@TheNormsk, not only are the new frames made by SAPA in Portland, they use exactly the same tubes as the V.1 Rockstar. The exception being the seat tube which now has a curve near the rocker pivot. The bike on test is a large, which combined with the camera angle, may be the difference you see.
I’m very disappointed with myself that I’m too tall for this bike. Since I won’t be shrinking, I can only hope Titus will make in size XL. I do wonder what this frame would look like in larger size due to how low the shock mounts.
I’m curios to know how this US Made frame is $1000 less than competition (Mach 429, Tallboy, etc.)
@Martin: You are not the only one a bit disappointed! Our own Grannygear, who would also need an XL in this model, was a bit bummed about the sizing as well. Hopefully that is something Titus is looking at for the future of this model.
Terrific! This must be the first review of their new frame to date.
Im very interested in the frame’s suspension performance, in particular now that Titus is using RockShox to suspend the rear end.
Interested in feel, compliance, responsiveness and whether that small increase on BB height and shortening of the TT has made any or all the difference.
The marketing model that On-One uses makes for a very affordable frame for the design, weight and material specced. Thich machine is very attractive on paper, hope the performance is right up there with the best.
When Titus first came out with the Rockstar, I thought the bike looked awesome but had heard it was a bit flexy in the rearend. From what I am hearing now that is not the case and they have addressed issues that plagued the earlier version. Hopefully the flex in the rear has gone away.
Kudos for Titus/On One for pricing they way they do. Pretty much all of thier frames are very competively priced. Looking forward to the review.
@Martin, the 429 is overpriced and so probably a poor comparison, alloy Tallboy and Jet9/Rip9 are $1800-1900 framesets, this Rockstar frame is $1300. Typical retail markup on bike stuff is 40-60%, with frames at the lower end of that range. Titus/On-One focuses on direct sales, which obviously don’t have that dealer markup.
$1,300 + 40% Retail Markup = $1820, which is right in the ballpark with the other major brands. So basically what Titus/On-One are doing is selling their frames direct to consumers at something analogous to “Dealer Cost”.
Not much to be curious about, other than how to otherwise support your local bike shop if you order this frameset online.
Samuel – Good explanation and I agree that On One direct sales is a big factor in reducing cost – and it would be great for me as I like to build my bikes myself – plus I live in Europe now and obviously purchasing from here is easy with On One. But I still think there is more to it than that, although I’m really just interested in the review and if the Rockstar will be available in XL. The frames you mention (Tallboy, Jet9) and others are made overseas where cost is less. And the Rockstar has a carbon rear triangle which has cost of tooling to amortize.
Motivated, at least in the case of the Niner there is much more tooling to amortize than in the case of the Rockstar. They hydroform every tube except the seat stays and there are a whole bunch of forgings. I believe the Rockstar main triangle is cold formed, which is significantly easier/cheaper. Also, the cost savings of going overseas disappear when your volume is low, which I am sure Titus’s are right now. You can point fingers at any detail like this you want and be correct about things on different bikes being more or less expensive to manufacture, but what it boils down to is — the Rockstar is cheaper because it is being sold direct, and it is cheaper by roughly what the retail margin would be.
Will you let us know how the finish on the bike holds up? If the paint seems like high quality stuff, or if it chips easily?