This opening inventory contains five companies, not an exhaustive list of every titanium builder. Company founding, first titanium work and the date of a particular road model are kept distinct; ownership and production changes should be recorded rather than assumed away.
Chattanooga · Titanium since 1986
Litespeed
Litespeed's company story dates its handcrafted titanium-bike production in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to 1986 (Litespeed: Our Story). That source establishes the material and company timeline here without assigning an unsupported first model name (Litespeed: Our Story).
Collecting notes: Capture the complete model name, serial, size, finish, decals and any original order paperwork. Research the specific production period before attaching a corporate-era or builder attribution.
Steamboat Springs · Founded 1981
Moots
Moots began in Steamboat Springs in 1981 with a custom steel road frame, started working with titanium in 1987 and displayed its first titanium bike at Interbike in 1991 (Moots: company timeline). The distinction matters: the company's founding is not the date every Moots frame became titanium (Moots: company timeline).
Collecting notes: Record whether the actual bicycle is steel or titanium, and identify road, cyclocross, gravel or mountain purpose separately. Request model-year evidence before assigning a frame to the earliest titanium period.
Titanium & mixed-material custom lineage
Seven Cycles
Seven began building bicycles in January 1997; its milestone page connects the founding team to earlier Merlin work and identifies the 1997 Odonata as a titanium-carbon road frame (Seven Cycles: historical milestones). The Odonata demonstrates why “titanium” does not always mean an all-titanium frame (Seven Cycles: historical milestones).
Collecting notes: Retain original geometry drawings and build sheets where available. Separate custom fit, model identity, material combination and later component changes in the record.
Family manufacturing lineage · Brand since 2006
Lynskey
Cyclist's factory history traces the family's early bicycle work through Litespeed in 1986 and dates Lynskey-branded titanium production to 2006 (Cyclist: Lynskey factory history). The family connection is part of the history, not a reason to label a Litespeed as a Lynskey-branded model (Cyclist: Lynskey factory history).
Collecting notes: Identify the actual headbadge and documented brand, then establish model and production era. Do not merge two related company histories into one serial-number system.
Cambridge origins · Founded 1986
Merlin Metalworks
The secondary historical overview dates Merlin to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1986, naming Gwyn Jones, Gary Helfrich and Mike Augspurger; it connects road development with Tom Kellogg and later Extralight history (Merlin: secondary historical overview). This is a starting reference, not an independently verified factory production registry (Merlin: secondary historical overview).
Collecting notes: Preserve the exact maker branding, model, serial and purchase records across ownership eras. Seek original catalogs or factory correspondence before assigning a frame to an early Cambridge production claim.