The best titanium road bikes combine a weight that's less than steel with strength that's greater than aluminium, making titanium one of the best – and most luxurious – frame materials.
While carbon fibre is clearly the material of choice for top racing frames, titanium is no slouch either when put to good use. Titanium might add some weight compared to the best carbon frames, but the ride quality is excellent, with a renowned smoothness over rough ground.
Beyond those enticing qualities, titanium also boasts excellent fatigue life, and thanks to its inherent corrosion resistance, can be left unpainted for a unique, elegant finish that will look as good in 25 years as it does now.
Titanium does have a reputation for being expensive, and that’s not undeserved, but if the prospect of a titanium frame is appealing, it’s worth taking into account the complete lifespan of a bike. If it lasts you the rest of your riding life, the value proposition starts to look a lot better for titanium.
We’ve rounded up the best titanium road bikes as reviewed by the BikeRadar team.
Check out what to look for when buying a titanium bike at the end of this article.
Best titanium road bikes
Kinesis GTD V2
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- £4,000 as tested
- Pros: Lovely frame with great kit; plenty of customisation options available
- Cons: Seatpost slippage
The Kinesis GTD V2 is an ultra-endurance, mile-munching machine, with rack and mudguard fittings and a third bottle cage mount.
Its disc-brake setup allows clearance for up to 34mm tyres, meaning you can comfortably fit big rubber, too. Cable ports let you run electronic or mechanical drivetrains.
Kinesis has tweaked the geometry of the V2 bike, making it sportier, but there's still a 71.5-degree head angle for stability on long rides. You can choose your own components, as the GTD V2 is a custom build.
- Read more: Kinesis GTD review
SQUIRREL_13121088Mason Bokeh Ti GRX Di2
- £6,195 as tested
- Pro: Lovely ride; great frame
- Cons: Slightly sluggish on the road; expensive
Technically a gravel bike rather than a road bike, the Mason Bokeh Ti mixes the capability for fast road riding with off-road competence. The frame tubes are shaped to perform different functions, rather than all being round, and there are 3D-printed titanium dropouts.
As with all Mason's bikes, there's a lot of choice of components, so you don't need to go with the 47mm 650b tyres fitted if you want a more road-going spec.
- Read more: Mason Bokeh Ti review
Reilly Gradient
- £3,249 as tested
- Pros: Awesome handling; beautiful frameset
- Cons: Gears needed adjusting
Built up with a selection of smart components, Reilly's Gradient is capable of tackling all kinds of on- and off-road adventures.
The frameset is the real star of the show though. As well as being stunning to look at, the Reilly Axis 'ultra-butted' tubing and frame angles imbue the bike with a lively ride that balances speed and comfort incredibly well.
As befits an adventure bike, it also has mounts for luggage, mudguards and a third bottle cage as standard. Reilly backs its workmanship with a lifetime warranty on the frame.
- Read more: Reilly Gradient review
Ribble Endurance Ti Disc
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- £3,299 as tested
- Pros: A well-mannered ride; great value for money
- Cons: Mudguards don't shield you from everything
Ribble’s Endurance Ti is built from top-grade, seamless double-butted titanium and its silhouette closely resembles its carbon sibling.
Although it has endurance geometry, it's skewed more towards the sportier side of the spectrum, coming up a little longer in reach and a little lower on the head tube. It is a titanium bike designed with wet weather in mind, with eyelets for mudguards included.
The Endurance Ti has an impressive ride quality. It glides over poor surfaces and it has lively handling.
- Read more: Ribble Endurance Ti Disc review
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Dolan ADX Titanium 105 Di2
- £3,100 as tested
- Pros: Agile handling; good spec; plush ride
- ≥
»»»»»˘≥Cons: Coarse bottle boss threads
The Dolan ADX Titanium 105 Di2 is a top-quality, four-season bike with a competitive spec for the money.
It's a smooth-riding endurance bike with mounts for a rack and mudguards, but retains deft handling.
The sole issue we found was that one bottle boss bolt had a coarse thread that was aligned incorrectly. This is unlikely to be the case on most production bikes though.
- Read more: Dolan ADX Titanium 105 Di2 review
Enigma Escape
- £3,888 as tested
- Pros: A versatile do-it-all machine; lots of mounting points
- Cons: Stock 31.6mm seatpost lacks give
Although technically a gravel bike, the Enigma Escape is a jack of all trades and can be used as a posh commuter bike or a long-distance tourer, no matter the terrain.
The frameset is packed with mounting points for mudguards or luggage. There is an optional C-Six ADV fork that contains triple mounts for further options.
Its geometry is reminiscent of an endurance road bike and is not particularly radical, and the ride feel is pleasantly damped, although the rear end is more firm with a fatter 31.6mm seatpost.
- Read more: Enigma Escape review
J.Laverack R J.ACK Disc Race II
- £7,795 as tested
- Pros: Well-considered geometry; road-smoothing performance; custom spec
- Cons: The price
J.Laverack’s R J.ACK Disc Race II is a titanium race bike that balances sharp handling with the smooth ride quality of the metal.
Our tester found the bike doesn’t suffer from its increased weight, when compared to aluminium race bikes. It’s also a capable descender and feels fast on the flat, although the 65mm-deep wheels will contribute to that sensation.
J.Laverack lets you specify the parts on your bike – and even the frame’s finish and geometry, if you desire.
The price tag is high but it reflects a customisable, premium product which certainly strays into ‘dream bike’ territory.
- Read more: J.Laverack R J.ACK Disc Race II review
Ribble CGR Ti Enthusiast
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- £4,489 / $4,804 / €4,489 / AU$7,695 as tested
- Pros: Great for rough roads; supreme comfort; versatile
- Cons: Weightier than comparable options
The Ribble CGR Ti is a supremely comfortable and versatile bike, which should come as little surprise considering its name stands for ‘cyclocross, gravel, road’.
With room for 32mm tyres, it does a great job smoothing out rough roads while its long wheelbase and slack head angle make it stable.
Mounts for mudguards and a rack also open up year-round riding and even commuting duties.
Ribble has specced the bike with Shimano 105 Di2, Zipp wheels and Continental tyres. This makes the bike good value at just under £4,500 and helps create an inspiring ride.
It might not be for more race-minded riders, but if you want to tackle a range of surfaces and a bike that can be used for different purposes, then there is a lot to like about the Ribble CGR.
- Read more: Ribble CGR Ti Enthusiast review
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What to look for when buying a titanium bike
Frame geometry
Like any kind of bike, geometry plays a massive part in the way a titanium bike rides and handles, so you should ensure the bike you purchase matches the type of riding you intend to do on it.
Titanium bikes tend to be designed for long-distance riding, so the geometry will often be relatively relaxed, with a taller head tube, slacker angles and a longer wheelbase.
The slacker steerer angles and longer wheelbase aid stability and give a slightly slower, more deliberate response to steering compared to a twitchy race bike.
It also puts you in a more upright position, with less weight on your hands and less strain on your neck, shoulder and back muscles. You might have to sacrifice a little in aerodynamics, but over the course of a long ride across rough terrain the gains in comfort could pay dividends.
If you want to race or have a more aggressive position on the bike, you’ll be looking for a frame with a shorter head tube, steeper angles and shorter chainstays.
Versatility
The advent of disc brakes for road bikes has not only been great for slowing you down, but has opened up the possibility for manufacturers to build in much greater tyre clearance to bikes. Subsequently, many titanium road bikes now have clearance for up to 35mm road tyres.
This not only brings benefits in terms of comfort and potentially reduced rolling resistance, but it also has the potential to massively increase a bike's versatility, moving firmly into gravel bike territory.
This is ideal if, for example, you live in a country (such as the United Kingdom, where BikeRadar is based) where the road quality generally varies from bad to appalling.
Even if you prefer rim brakes, many modern rim brake calipers can accommodate up to 28mm tyres on wide rims, so it’s worth checking the frame and fork can handle that as well.
Longevity
A titanium bike is likely to cost a fair amount more than an equivalent carbon one, or the best aluminium or steel bikes, simply because the nature of the material makes it more difficult to construct frames and parts from.
Without going into too much detail, the machining, welding and finishing of titanium bikes are more labour-intensive processes that require specialist skills and equipment, compared to other frame-building materials. All of this increases production costs and, inevitably, these costs are passed on to the consumer.
However, where a titanium bike makes up for its initial cost is in longevity. It's an extremely resilient frame material, meaning titanium bikes can take a lot of knocks and punishment without trouble.
With that in mind, many manufacturers will offer a lifetime warranty on titanium frames to the original owner, giving you peace of mind that should you run into any production issues further down the line they’ll have you covered.
What about titanium gravel bikes?
Titanium's properties make it an excellent material for gravel bikes: it's more robust than carbon, lighter than steel with a similar ride feel and stronger than aluminium.
The cost of titanium does make the best titanium gravel bikes pretty expensive.
But since titanium doesn't corrode, manufacturers can leave the frames unpainted. The brushed-finish can look wonderful on a rugged gravel rig.
