CURTAIN CALL: THE FINAL LITESPEED GHISALLO TAKES A BOW
This will be the last Ghisallo. 19 Ghisallos have found their forever homes, and now, only one remains to be built. This is the bike that will bring an end to the Ghisallo legacy.
The original Ghisallo was introduced in 2002. It was the lightest production titanium road frame in the world, with frames coming in under 900 grams. The tubeset was ultra-light, cold-worked, and thin-walled, pushing titanium bike engineering to its limits. The Ghisallo was legendary, and last year, Litespeed revived it for a limited edition run of bikes. Now, it's time to say our last goodbye.
Remembering The Way Things Were
The internet was a different place 20 years ago. I had to fight for time on the family computer, and when it was my turn to surf, I’d head straight to message boards to talk with strangers about my nerdiest hobbies. I frequented a site you might be familiar with: WeightWeenies. This is where my obsession with bikes first blossomed. It’s also where, at the impressionable age of 16, I first learned about the Litespeed Ghisallo.
Early in the summer of 2005, a user posted a rumor they’d heard about a new and updated Litespeed Ghisallo being developed. This was met with both intrigue and skepticism, and only a few posts later, another user added fuel to the fire:
“…this frame is for real, due out in September and being made in limited numbers… 3-piece bottom bracket shell! Surely this is a tour climbing bike only? That's lighter than my cereal in the morning…”
I was young and absorbing knowledge like a sponge. I immediately felt the hype. Titanium was the end-all, be-all of bike frame materials, and Litespeed was the master of titanium. That meant, as a burgeoning weight weenie, the titanium Ghisallo was the bike I had to have after I struck it rich (though that never happened).
I’ve gone on to own lots of titanium bikes in the two decades since. I went down the weight weenie route with a few of them. But never a Ghisallo. In all that time, the Ghisallo existed in the back of my mind like a spectre. I had never seen one in person, let alone touched or held one.
The Legend is Reborn
That all changed 15 months ago, when I was introduced to the brand new Ghisallo frame. I got to meet the engineer behind one of my earliest dream bikes, Brad DeVaney, who decided to show me the frame after a tour of the Litespeed factory.
Tragically, I was here for my new gravel bike, so I wasn’t in a position to just add a Ghisallo to my order. But holding this frame in my hands reignited the weight-weenie dreams that had been smoldering inside me for the last two decades. The Ghisallo spectre in my head was suddenly real and tangible. It was in my hands. The weight felt unreal, and I couldn’t hide my smile.
This new Ghisallo was developed alongside the Coll dels Reis. The frame I held during my tour was a prototype for a limited-run Ghisallo re-release. It was built using the updated Superform FW titanium tubeset, the lightest titanium tubeset Litespeed has produced. The tubes were cold-worked into amazingly exaggerated 3D shapes designed to enhance the stiffness and ride quality of the frame. Over 20 years of knowledge and experience were applied to make the Ghisallo (and Coll dels Reis) the lightest, yet best-riding titanium bike possible.
For the purists, the Ghisallo kept its old-school logos (now anodized) and rim brakes. For the historians, it was built on the very same ultralight 3-piece BSA bottom bracket shells as its forefather. For the collectors, only a small number of these original bottom brackets remained to be built into new Ghisallo frames, limiting this 871-gram masterpiece to a production run of only 20.
The Orchestra at Work
After seeing the Ghisallo frame in person, I stood on a mezzanine overlooking the Litespeed factory, contemplating everything I had seen and learned that day. Below, the Litespeed framebuilding team was busy at work. They always build frames together as a team, and I could tell that each builder was a master of their craft.
I began to see them as an orchestra. They would look at their notes, pick up their tools like instruments, and play out a symphony. Their music was made from the sounds of tube forming, mitering, welding, and machining. On stage above them, the curtains would pull back, and a completed Ghisallo would emerge, the star of the performance.
I loved watching the Litespeed builders painstakingly shape and miter each tube so the joints could be watertight without welds. I was mesmerized watching them place every weld with precision and care. I was stunned at the size and complexity of the machine used to bring each frame into perfect alignment.
The Ghisallo, along with every Litespeed frame, represents an obsessive pursuit of perfection. The frame is beautiful. There’s no question about that. But a ballet is nothing without an orchestra. Ultimately, I believe the true beauty of the Ghisallo lies in the people behind it. These builders are the embodiment of the Litespeed hype I felt reading message boards back when I was 16. They, I realized, are why Litespeed is the master of titanium.
The Final Performance
As I write this, the final Ghisallo 3-piece bottom bracket is in the factory, awaiting an order. If and when this order arrives, this bottom bracket will be built up into a Ghisallo frame for one very lucky owner. This frame will be numbered 20 of 20—the last one.
Perhaps it’s sad that there is only one Ghisallo left to be built. After this Ghisallo finds its forever home, the Litespeed team won’t get to build another. But that doesn’t mean the music has to end. They’ll simply focus their talents on creating their next masterpiece.
We are fortunate to have seen the Ghisallo legend reborn for this brief and brilliant moment. Now, it’s time for this bike to step on stage for its curtain call and take a bow.
Bravo, and farewell.
