Litespeed Archon C Review

Litespeed Archon C3 Carbon Review by Clive de Sousa.

When Litespeed announced they were making carbon frames I had mixed feelings, I wanted them to keep pushing the envelope with titanium and not be distracted by the "black gold" of frame building. On the other hand I wondered if they could take what they had learned from the years as the titanium masters and build a fresh new all carbon frame.

Litespeed did not hand over the design of the Archon C to some carbon manufacturer and just slap their name on it, they kept it's design in-house and developed the frame from the ground up. Using customer feedback, test-riding the competitions bikes and dissecting them like you would a soggy sandwich. Litespeed have developed an aero race bike that is comfortable and can be ridden by everyone from the racer to the weekend warrior.

Litespeed have released three carbon road bikes, Archon C1, C2 and C3. All three have the same geometry and shape but are made of different grades of carbon. I tested the Litespeed Archon C3 Shimano Ultegra bike. The bike came pre-assembled from Litespeed and weighed in at 18lbs out the box. The build is a mix of Shimano Ultegra 6700 and FSA components.
Retails for $3000 which I thought was a very fair price given the technology of the frame and quality of the build kit.

Smoother than you would expect from an aero bike and faster than you would expect from a bike this comfortable. The Archon C geometry was perfectly balanced for me, it had fantastic handling on descents and it's short wheel base made it feel snappy out of the saddle. Three weeks into the test ride someone made a comment about the seat mast been stiff. No way it's not. Other bikes I had ridden with ISP's have been far stiffer with every bit of road vibration coming through the saddle, not the case with the Litespeed. I would put it down to the design. Well done to the guys at Litespeed.

The Archon C is visibly aero but exactly what that translates to in speed cannot be measured on a test ride. I can say it's faster than a traditional bike. Riding the Archon C in a few races I was aware how the bike held a straight line in the gutter and felt fast. Similar to the way good deep carbon wheels feel. The Archon C has a shrouded water bottle design, bow legged fork that "cleans" air turbulence from the front wheel, an aero seat mast and the rear wheel tucked behind the down tube. The aero advantage the Archon C offers is greater than the sum of it's parts and noticeable to the rider.


The build kit: Shimano Ultegra 6700 is great, smooth, light, precise, crisp and sleek looking. The FSA parts are not, the wheels are pigs and the Gossamer BB30 crank is flexy and not well finished. the chainring bolts protrude on the inside and will jail your chain if it comes off tearing up the frame and forcing you to stop and get your hands dirty. The FSA handlebar and stem combo are pretty average and nothing to write home about. The Prologo Choice Max saddle is more than cool looking, it's comfy and allows the legs to move freely without dragging on the sides of the saddle.


The integrated seat mast with FSA SLK head was easy to adjust, did not slip creek or move. It was a simple cut to get the mast to my saddle height, no more complicated or risky than cutting the fork steerer tube. Once cut the mast can be cut again for a shorter rider or raised another inch or more with the spacers provided and should facilitate resale for 90% of pre-owned buyers.

Aero bars on this baby would turn it into a great tri or time trial bike and the perfect bike for long distance solo rides. With the right wheels and a stiff alloy bar the Archon C would be a crit racing monster, perfect for the solo break and respectable in a field sprint.

If you look carefully at the finish of the Archon C3 frame you will notice Litespeed's focus was on the frame design and not as much on production. Our test bikes 3K weave was a little messy in some places and even patched over with visible layers of carbon fabric.
Many bikes in this price range are painted over for this very reason and few have as much nude carbon exposed as the C3 so this is understandable. Do not look to the C3 if you are after Italian style craftsmanship.

If Litespeed's focus was designing an better carbon frame they achieved it. 5 weeks of riding the C3 and I am very impressed with its overall ride quality and blown away by it's speed.


The spirit of Litespeed's titanium ancestors lives on in the Archon C. It will not disappoint.

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