My Review

The 19"Titan III I have is a second generation of the very popular Trad Tech Titan 17" model I reviewed previously with upgrades that greatly improve the shooting quality of an already very good ILF riser. I have had this riser for a couple months now and have shot it with quite a few different limbs. This new model is silent and dead in the hand with every limb I have used on it from the economical Black Max Glass recurves to the BF Extremes , including the Trad Tech Wood glass and Carbon Master longbow limbs. I have tried short, medium and longs on it with the same great feel from all of them.

TitanIII above Original Titan Below

Every set of limbs I have tried shoot very well from this riser . The Titan III seems to perform well and make the best of any limb I choose to shoot. In short I like the TitanIII very much.

Some of the changes to the new Titan II and III are the Arrow head cutout's in the riser, a second plunger/ rest mounting hole, and the enclosed limb pockets which give a much cleaner look to the bow. The new Titans have more mass weight and as a result are even more stable to shoot. Grip styles are changeable from a low, medium or high grip in minutes to suit our personal taste. I prefer the low grip on the Titan III just like I have on my Titan original.

The New Titans also have the option for added weights to be installed under the limb in the riser pockets to customize the balance, or just to add mass . I do not have the Trad Tech weights, however a stack of washers can be screwed in place at little cost, allowing for a truly custom balance. An excellent feature on the Titan II and Titan III is the extended limb bolt bushing that prevents the limb from being over tightened , creating excessive preload, and difficulty installing the limbs. I hope the new style bushings become standard on all Trad Tech risers. Many e-mails I receive are from shooters complaining their ILF limbs will not slip in or out. The reason is usually the owner has cranked down the limb bolt to tight. These bushings prevent this from happening. The maximum number of turns from bottomed out on the Titan II and Titan III is 3 turns.{The original Titan requires the bolts be set from a minimum of 2 turns to a maximum of 5 turns.}

note weight pocket between bolt and dovetail

I have chosen to shoot the Titan III off the shelf, rather than use the elevated rests many prefer. To shoot off the shelf requires a slight hump to be built up on the shelf and side plate. This can be done with a simple piece of leather, Velcro and a formed aluminum plate. I found an extra piece of sticky back Velcro worked just fine. There are plans for an added "shoot off the shelf kit" to be offered utilizing the plunger holes in the near future. Those of us that do not like elevated rests will welcome this attachment if and when it becomes available.

Those with longer draw length's will appreciate the 19" version of the Titans, as will many shooters that prefer a longer length bow and do not want to go to the Olympic style risers. The Titan III is well suited to hunting, 3D or target archery; however its roots are firmly from the hunting /3D style of traditional archery. For myself I have decided to match up a set of 45# BF Extreme limbs on the TitanIII for serious 3D and a set of short 50# Black Max Glass limbs for hunting.

The Riser without weights weighs in at 3.1 pounds, with the Medium BF Ext limbs, the bare riser without weights weighs 2.38 pounds. Those that like the original Titan will like the new version even more. I have not shot the new Titan II 17" riser , but judging from the 19" TitanIII I expect it to be a better version of the very good original Titan.

The TitanIII is good. No doubt about this. The only changes I wish were made to the new Titans would be a radiused shelf and side plate, with a low plunger hole that would allow the plunger to be used shooting off the shelf. Hopefully the proposed removable shelf insert will be soon available.

Pete ward

"Welcome to my outdoor world"