The 132 rod is a rod I might consider a low rider set up. Its long enough. If the rods are short , you cannot really place the gathering guide where it should be in a low rider setup unless the rod is super fast action. Any bend down low and a guide pushed out to 43 (low rider type location) and you can start to worry about touching and the ultimate disaster , crossing the nuetral axis of the blank.
Now a 1209 with low riders makes no sense to me at all. A 1209 is for casting 4 to 6 and sometimes to 8. For long casting that kind of weight , you must have a shock leader (not just a fishing leader although a shock leader can be a fishing leader but not nescessarily vicse versa). A shock leader for say 6 ounces must be about a 60 LB mono or Flouro. That leader should come all the way down the rod and around the spool. That means that the leader knot must go through the guides so IMO the low rider small guides near the tip are out. This is the type of rod along with most short rods and any moderately slow to slow action blank where the low rider concept is misapplied.
As far as spending $90 on a titanium guide well if I ever do that I hope my fishing biddies will have me committed to an asylum because Thats NUTS!!
The general statement about the properties of the Titanium in the guides being stronger than stainless may or may not be true. It depends on the chemical composition of the Titanium and stainless and the processing history of both. However , I do not believe that the titanium frame makes a SiC ring any less likely to crack if bashed against a rock. In fact the modulus of elasticity is lower for titanium so any given load or shock impulse causing deformation of the metal guide frame will cause more deformation of the titanium ring and thus more chance for the ceramic insert to break. Strength has nothing to do with how much the ring will deform do to a shock or impact . Strength will determine whether is springs back to its original shape after the event but has nothing at all to do with how much it will bend do to a given load on the initial deformation.
Lastly , the rod with the concept build and the smaller gathering guide at 36 inches simply is not a concept build. It s aconventional build using concept guides. The plan to move it out to 40 inches is a move in the right direction but I think it needs to be even further out. A small guide too close to the reel will cause problems. That's why in a conventional build we use bigger guides and why in a concept build the small guide is pushed so far out.