Lynskey Review Number Deux

I've had more time on the bike and thought I should post a follow up. I very much love the bike, and could really not be happier w/ it!

The only complaint I have with it, which I mentioned previously, is that while standing and climbing steep sections, I do have to shift my weight back just a bit so that the rear tire doesn't skip and bounce. I've replaced my rear tire to a new 2.25 Schwable RR, that I run at 20 psi tubeless and it still skips around when standing up.  But that is really the only complaint I have now.

I've also continued to experience one other problem, but I don't think it's the bike fault. I've replaced the old crank, a Shimano XT from circa 1200 BC, w/ a XT 770, but continue to have problems w/ dropping the chain and occasional chain suck.  Not sure why this happening, but hopefully it should not not be an issue soon as I am going single speed!

I just remembered another issue I had.  I broke my pricey Ritchey Superlogic post. The fairly new post snapped right at the post clamp.  Clean brake.  I should point out I only weight 145 lbs, and I know for a fact I did not have that clamp overtightened!  I was not happy.  Lesson learned though.  27.2 is a little too skinny to buy carbon.  I will be ordering a Thompson Masterpiece to replace it.

My likes of the bike in the previous review have been reinforced.   My two favorite thing about the bike is how comfortable the bike is.  And not just for a hard tail!   The ti is really comfortable and truly absorbs the harsh hit from the ground.  I almost always ride the fork locked out and am contemplating buying a rigid fork at some point for it. And that is for a guy who has ridden full susp. bikes all his life and has low tolerance for things that are not comfortable!  I have found no flex in the bike when pedaling and am glad I went w/ the Ridgeline as I think the Pro model for me would have been overkill since I cannot bend this frame.

The best feature though is how quick handling it is.  I know we are in era of slack head tubes for 29ers, but the Lynskey has what to me is the right HA at 70.5.  This really helps to get this bike around the corners quickly and with out issues.  Tight and twisty trails are a real pleasure and the bike flies through it!  I used to have a hard time keeping up w/ this very good rider I ride w/ (you know, one of those motorcycle guys who know how to push two wheels through a corner), especially on the Scott.  On the Lynskey though, I find I have to slow down to not run into him at the exit of the turns!  The bike is fast and maneuverable.

I have also gotten comfortable throwing the bike over stumps, around techy terrain, and off jumps.   Unlike my Scott 29er, this bike is really easy to get off the ground, both front and rear.  It kinda reminds of riding a 26er, but w/ the 29er and ti features: it's fast, throwable, but never squirrely  or unstable, and quite comfortable, w/out flexing.

The Titanium is nice beyond the ride characteristics.  I have crashed a couple of times, and it's nice not having to worry about any carbon cracking, meaning I get to try to save my body instead of the bike.  I used to have three carbon worries: 1) I might crash and the bike would go flying and land sideways on some sharp rock which would crack the frame.  2) I might drop off a rock which would catch the bb area and crack the frame.  3) I could pick up a stick w/ the rear wheel which would snap the derailleur hanger and swing the derailleur around to the seat stays, which would...  It's nice to not have any of those worries anymore. I think it does allow me to enter technical sections with more confidence and momentum. Another great thing about Ti is that it cleans up very quickly and easily, and once clean, the bike looks like it just role off the showroom floor!

My hope at this time is that I can get another.  One will be set up single speed, and the other for the days I need a couple of gears.

Lynskey Ridgeline 29er Impressions

I've had some more time on the Lynskey, and I can say that it's been very good. Of course it's never exactly perfect. And in this time of polarization, it's important to acknowledge that nothing is perfect!

So before getting to the good, lets get the couple of "not so good" out of the way. There are really two complaints I have with the frame, with a third that's more a component issue.  The first gripe is the tall head tube.  I have the stem all the way down and it's still a little tall.  I am playing w/ the idea of flipping the stem and run it w/ a neg rise. It not a huge issue though.

The second problem is the balance of the bike when out of the saddle.  When seated the bike is actually really well balanced.  It steers quickly and can be railed around tight corners w/ confidence.  It climbs well when seated and only needs minor weight adjustment when attacking real steeps.  Standing up however, tends to un-weight the rear wheel just a tad too much.  Climbing over choppy terrain then results in the rear loosing some traction and bouncing a little.  In all fairness to the bike, much of this has been emphasized by my rear tire having worn through the sidewalls and no longer being tubeless.  I am therefor running it w/ a tube at 30 psi vs my normal 22 (the sidewalls are actually so bad I have several patches of gorilla tape keeping the tube from bulging out.  Time perhaps for a new rear tire.)  My Scott Scale 29er is a slightly better climber as I can just mash when standing and it will climb w/out issues.  With the Scale I actually have to make sure I un-weight the rear!

The geometry difference between the bikes is interesting here.  I often see posted online that the numbers do NOT tell the story but they do here.  The wheelbase for both bikes is the exact same length.  However the chainstays of the Scott are just slightly shorter (440mm for the Scott vs 445mm for the Lynskey). The seat tube for both is slightly different as well (73 for the Lynskey vs 72.5 for the Scott), and the BB of the Lynskey is .5 inches higher (51mm drop vs 60mm on  the Scott). And then there is the head angle: 69.5 vs 70.5 (w/ a 100 mm fork - I have mine set up to 80 mm so it's even a little steeper than that). The differences aren't huge, are fairly self explanatory, but can be felt: the BB of the Lynskey is slightly more forwards and higher, which becomes apparent when standing up by unweighting the rear wheel a bit; but the slacker seat angle means that when seated the weight of the rider is moved backwards again. The loss of traction when standing is not huge though and a rare issue that happens only if I am not paying attention. Honestly I prefer having a bike that is faster handling (70.5 degree head angle for the Lynskey vs 69.5 for the Scott), but that I have to manage a little more closely when I climb steep choppy terrain.  In twisty New England singletrack, I steer way more than I climb really steep hills. More on this below.

I need to verify these figures!

The third issue is that I have been experiencing chain suck.  I know this is not a frame issue but rather due to me being a cheap bastard and running, for now, a XT square tapered crank from the 90ies! Hey, it looked like it was in good condition! (follow up on this:  I have a new XT crank and have no chainsuck issues at all anymore)

Onto the goodness: I can confirm that the bike is a lot less harsh than my Scott Scale, which is really saying a lot, since the Scale had supposedly 5mm of travel build into the carbon seat stays.   Having gone from a full squish Specialized Sworks Epic to a hardtail, I never was really able to appreciate that 5mm of "travel".  But coming from the Scale to the Lynskey, I do greatly appreciate the Ti "absorbency" as a lot of the harsh impact of the trail are noticeably softened (and the Stan's Crest wheels also add to this).  Even jumps/drops of a foot or two are softened by the Titanium frame.

What saves my ass and back too is that 27.2 post.  Even w/ a Race Face Aluminium post, it still has enough give to let me keep my butt on saddle over rough trail chatter (there is a Ritchey Superlogic in there).  My back would not tolerate that on the Scott (see my race report on landmine linked below).  I really don't get that 34.9 post size on the Scott.  On full squish bikes maybe, but not on a hardtail (unless you're a pro pushing 600 watts)!  Had I been able to race this bike at my last mtb race at Landmine, I think it would have not been such a disaster from getting so beat up on the course.  So I can't wait to race it next year!

Yes, that is an original rug from the 50ies!

Since I am on a race note, I did get to race the Lynskey at the Providence Cx Fest Race last Sunday (don't own a cx bike), and it was a lot of fun.  The bike really corners so well, and I was able to pass a huge amount of competitors in the tight twisty turns (started in 78th position to finish 19th out of 78).

And that is where I appreciate this bike. I don't know what the trails in Tennessee are like, but it handles New England terrain really well!  As mentioned, it turns really well and without needing dramatic input to do so.  Unlike the Scott, the front end does not push out during the corners.  Turn the bars, or lean the bike, and it just turns.  I've actually eaten dirt a couple of times because the bike has caught me off guard by turning too tightly.

This bike is really nimble and that translate into it being really good in technical terrain.  It's stable over loose and bumpy terrain (for a hardtail!) and also really easy to manoeuvre over larger obstacles.  The front end comes up easily and the rear follows w/ out too much input.  It's easy to hop and jump over fallen trees or large rocks, and will go up large obstacles w/ finesse instead of brute force.  I took the bike out on a fairly technical ride several weeks back and was really surprised by how much I was actually clearing, and would have most likely not made w/ the Scott.

Well, just in case it wasn't obvious, I can say that so far I am really happy w/ the Lynskey!

I have a long term review the Lynskey review here!

New Ride: Lynskey Ridgeline 29er

So I finally got my Lynskey.  I ordered it back in January and it arrived at the end of July.  Took me a while to build it up, but I have a couple of rides on it now.  Some of these pics were from before the bike was actually rideable.

I ordered the frame, the fork (a SID XX), and XT brakes from Bob at bikerbob.com.  His service was really fantastic and his prices were completely unbeatable anywhere else.  He is great to communicate w/ through email and will find you anything you need at the best online prices anywhere.  Send him an email. You wont' regret it!

The rest of parts were things I had lying around. An old old XT square taper crank and bb that still work great, XTR 970 shifters and rr derailleur from my 09 Specialized Sworks, Stans Crest wheels (I had ordered from Bob a while ago), an old WTB Rocket V ti railed saddle, a Race Face post I took off of my son's bike (I haven't told him yet; he now has the very short Titec one seen in one of the pics), Syntace F109 stem from the Sworks, and I have to finish adding the Easton Ec70 bars to it.   I will also be adding a white carbon water bottle cage from Blackburn, white Esi Chunky grips, a Ritchey WCS carbon post, and finally replacing the saddle w/ my white Specialized seat.  I haven't weight it yet since I am not done with it.  For the coming year, I am not quite sure what I am going to do w/ the drive train yet.  I might go w/ XO, possibly the new XX1 if it's not a bank breaker (yeah right!), or just go w/ a used 970 tripple xtr crank to complete what I have now.

If I have learned anything from my transition from my 26' Specialized Swork Epic to the 29' Scott Scale, is to not be quick to judge a bike, and to let myself settle into the bike before I form any lasting opinions.

I did have some first impressions though.  Three things were apparent right away with the bike.  The steeper head angle meant the bike steered significantly faster, and the front end was also easier to lift over obstacles.  The bottom bracket was higher (12.5 vs what I think is 11 on the Scale), evidence by not hitting as many rocks w/ my pedals anymore!  But w/ the higher bb, I did not feel like I was perched too high on the bike.  I could however tell that it would be much easier to go OTB w/ the Lynskey compared to my Scale.  I thankfully have not yet tested this. Another impression I had riding the bike was that it seemed heavier to launch and get up to speed or up the hills than the Scott was.  I know the bike was heavier but probably not by a huge amount (maybe two lbs).  It didn't seem like it was the weight itself that made it feel "heavy" but rather the frame angles and perhaps the material (my first time w/ Ti).  I felt like I needed to ride one gear higher than the Scott.  I'll keep on monitoring this as I get the bike fully changed to it's new parts, which should bring closer to the weight of my Scale (@22lbs).  A good call on the the bike design is the 27.2 post.  Even though I had an aluminum post in there (a set back post), I could feel it flex a bit to absorb the hits the bike was taking through rocks gardens.  This really made the bike much more comfortable when keeping my butt planted on the seat when I was getting tired (which happens way too fast lately).

On a component note, the hype around the Shimano XT brakes is well deserved!  Great one finger action brakes with lots of stopping power and not a squeak.  I was also nicely impressed w/ the Rockshox SID XX.  It's lockout is much more "serious" than that of the Reba.  It actually fully locks out the fork, unlike the Reba which always has about an inch of movement in it when locked out.  I have to experiment w/ the blow off valve more as it is a little too harsh for me right now fully locked out (I always ride my Reba locked out).  The SID is also soo much smother in it's travel than the Reba is. Last component note: I had forgotten how comfortable those damn Wtb saddles were!

The tell tale sign of any "racer bike" of course is how fast it goes around the woods.  I happen to be in area that hosts a great weekly low key mountain bike time trial.  It's a really a good course w/ a nice mixture of terrain, starting out w/ some fun swoopy and tight turns through loamy single track, then transitioning into more technical terrain with some good rock gardens.    I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to pit the Lynskey against the Scott.  I races the Lynskey two weeks ago which was my first official mountain bike ride on on it, and raced the Scott the following week.   The times were very very close.  The Scott ended up being 20 seconds faster (41 min 15 secs vs. 40 min 55 secs)  Now I know a number of things other than the bike can explain that 20 seconds. The course conditions were very similar.  For example, as I mentioned, it was the first time I ever really rode the bike on dirt (I had a short ride on the road the day before to make sure everything worked).  Also obviously, the legs will perform sightly differently from week to week.   I'll keep on alternating between the bikes and see if a trend develops though.

Follow up post on the Lynskey is here.