Lynskey called and the parts came in. Hooray! Bike is built. Waiting on the wheels to arrive (today or tomorrow). Ordered the Stans 650b's. Should ship the bike tomorrow and be delivered Monday or Tuesday. Fingers crossed.
One very interesting thing about the Pro GR (i've been riding mine now for over a year) is how fast it is with 44mm Compass Snoqualmie Pass on the road. I live in MN and our road are very bad-the 44's seem to keep me pasted to the ground and my times are within a .5mph of my road bike for most rides. Also I use an Ergon CF3 seatpost and a shockstop stem and it is as much compliance as anyone would ever need for the Almanzo 100 or any other longer gravel race. The one one ding is the frame weight... hope you really enjoy your new rig!!
Thanks for the thoughts on the Pro GR. There's a lot of sand in my area, so I went with the 650b wheels. Wider is better for much of what I ride. I've got a Ritchey carbon seatpost ready for when it arrives. I've considered the shockstop stem, but I want to see how it rides first to see if I feel the need for it. My road bike is a Roubaix with the future shock stem, so I'm familiar with the concept.
A few more days, and I'll be able to see how all this theory actually plays out in practice.
chas wrote:Not sure why you want TI (there are lots of valid reasons) but I was fascinated to see that the old TI warbird was about 10% LESS compliant than the newer aluminum warbirds (and much less compliant than the carbon version).
Chas and others luv my Raleigh Roker to death but boy does the paint every chip easy on that carbon bike. Not sure if all carbons are like that but mine is.I like the durability of the ti for gravel riding. With that being said I still have thoughts of buying a suspension bike for my retirement bike. High on the list is the Niner Air RDO but not sure if I will like the flat bars. Sorry to hijack you post DarkBlue enjoy that Lynskey and post some pics here of that sweet bike and enjoy the ride.
I've seen several crashes on my weekly rides with a gravel group here (and we don't ride particularly hard). Typically it's been caused by hitting an unexpectedly sandy spot on a dirt road. No one has broken a carbon frame, but it sure seemed like it would be possible. One guy did break some ribs though (ouch). I know Ti can crack or get dented beyond repair, but it just seemed like it might take a beating better than carbon given what I've seen in my limited gravel experience.
I have thought about a hardtail mountain bike. My philosophy is that if a trail requires a full suspension bike, I don't want to be riding it at my age. 🙂 The Niner looks like a great bike.
I have a set of 650b x 45 and 700 x 40 for my GR270 and enjoy them both. The 650's are lots of fun on the more technical stuff and the 700's are better for pavement. One of the things I was looking forward to was my Ti seat post. I wish I would have just replaced their stock one with a good carbon one. You need a 2 x 4 and a mallet to break the seat free (their instructions) to adjust it and you need to put a cheater bar on the hex wrench to tighten the seat enough so it won't slip. My multi-tool does not include these things. It is nice looking but too hard to work with.
Mike, it is always preference. Personally it appears you ordered the Lynskey for a reason, will the Warbird fulfill the same needs? Personally, everyone has a Warbird or a Diverge, so having a different bike is kind of cool. Plus TI bikes are more durable and fun. If you want TI option, you can order up a Otso TI gravel as well. I recently went from a Warbird to SantaCruz Stigmata, they ride extremely similar, so I am not convinced the VR5 rear is a big plus as it use to be. I hope this helps, most likely raises more questions. -Dave
Yes, lots of people in our group have Salsas. We have a great local bike shop here that is a Salsa dealer. Frankly, if the LBS had inventory I probably just would have gotten that. Unfortunately, in this environment, they just can't predict when they'll get a bike in. Nevertheless, I did want to go with something that's a bit different. One guy does have a Lynskey GR Race, but I haven't seen him in a while.
I had never heard of the Otso Ti. It looks cool. They only list a 52 cm as a size that can be built so I suspect they have constraints in the current environment as well. I'll keep an eye out for one of those. I'd like to see it on a trail sometime.
Mike, another TI option that requires you to build it up is Twin Six Ti Rando. I have the Ti FSU. I lover that bike, I used to race BC Epic 1000 last summer. Again you are limited on tire size. Down side is it is a frame set. Sorry, I am just a guy for Ti bikes, but then again I just changed to a Stiggy. But I have broke 2 carbon frames, so it is not uncommon for carbon to break. Usually the OEM sells you a frame under a crash replacement plan. Ti is like a diamond, you buy it for life.
What about T-LABS out of Canada I see they have a sweet ti bike. JOM over at gravel cyclist did a report on one. One thing I kind of think I remembering seeing on the Lynskey was that the rear end of the bike was overbuilt some causing it to be heavier than most ti bikes. I have no clue what that means though.
Those T-Labs bikes look nice. I've never seen one.
The Lynskey is definitely on the heavy side for the frame weight (4.1 lbs for my size). I figure the final bike will probably be in the 21 lb range (maybe 22). The good news is that I've been riding gravel on my 30 year old Trek mountain bike that is 30+ lbs. I suspect the Lynskey will feel like a feather. It's all relative. 🙂
At my end I do like the ride of my Roker. It weighs in the 20-21 lb. range so I have a hard time shelling out money for a bike that weighs more than mine.
I just got the Pro GR with GRX 600 2x11. Quoted lead time 6 weeks, took 8 due to component shortages. For me the Lynskey is the forever bike. My opinion wait for the bike you want vs the bike that is available.
Bike came yesterday. Total time to receive the bike was about 9 weeks -- about 3 weeks past the projected date I was given when I ordered it.
Put it together and charged the battery. Was able to ride it around the block last night. If the weather holds, should be able to ride some gravel tomorrow night. I like the bike so far. I'm not a fan of the handlebars, but those are easy to replace eventually. The Di2 works well, although getting the battery cable connected fully was a bit fiddley. Replaced the seat and seat post immediately. I had ordered those parts in advance.
So far, so good.
Thanks for everyone's help and comments on this thread.
I too had to change out the saddle first thing. Looks nice but for me incredibly uncomfortable . Not a fan of the bars either but they'll do. On pavement I first noticed handling feels different from a road bike, not in a good way, but on gravel/dirt feels very good.
