UKFan4Sure

My local LBS has a slightly used Ultegra 6800 built up R350 I am thinking about purchasing. I have been trying to educate myself on the brand and have been successful to some extent, but can find little about the R350 model's design intent (giving me geometry specs would not be helpful to me as I wouldn't be able to make heads or tails out of it).

Also, as a whole, any experience with the company (buying experience, warranty work, customer satisfaction) is something I'm looking for.

I've read reviews online from Awesome! to Sucks Big Time! Sooooo.....

I like the idea these are USA manufactured (meaning their employees pay into our broken Social Security and taxation systems), and it's a short drive from a Southeastern TN area near and dear to my heart.

Thanks for any replies in advance!

General Geoff

Ordered a 2018 Cooper CX from them during last year's winter sale. The sale was going to end at the end of January but I was waiting on my income tax return to help pay for it, so I called them up and spoke with Michael and Adam who helped me reserve an order at the sale price, which I was able to pay a couple weeks later. After payment, they had my frame fabricated and bike assembled/adjusted and ready to ship about two weeks later. Bike arrived in perfect condition, well-packaged, and all I had to do was slide the handlebar stem into the steerer tube and tighten the bolts, put the front wheel on, and I was ready to roll.
As it was with ~2 miles, fresh out of the shipping box.



The frame is very well-built, all the welds are perfect and the rear wheel aligns perfectly in the dropouts. The Pro-Gravel carbon fork is very sturdy and has survived a few moon crater sized potholes that caused pinch-flats but no damage to the wheel, fork or frame. I wouldn't say I'm hard on my bikes but I'm not super easy on them either. I hover around 200-210 lbs and have about 3,000 miles on the bike, and it's holding up just fine. Some scratches here and there but that's to be expected.

As it sits more or less today.



Very happy with it.

I don't have any experience with the R350, but I expect it is built very well.

UKFan4Sure

Thanks, Geoff. One for the positive column!

biketampa

I have a few friends who purchased their gravel bikes. Nobody has any complaints.

shelbyfv

I bought their least expensive road frame and fork a few years ago. At the time it was called Peloton. It was the model they recommended as having the smoothest ride. A friend bought the same frame and fork, then shortly after two other friends bought R something complete bikes. AFAIK all of us are pleased with the bikes and still ride them regularly. I appreciate their TN location/workforce and their vast experience working with Ti.

lostronin

I concur with shelbyfv. I bought a lightly used Peloton off of Craigslist and it rides like a dream. No regrets.

UKFan4Sure

Thanks to all for taking the time for feedback!

jpl500

Just built up a Peloton. The welds are outstanding and it rides great. No complaints.

pat

indyfabz

Slightly used? Is their warranty transferable?

Pridedog

The Lynskeys originally founded Litespeed and made titanium frames for many years under that brand name until they sold it. A few years back when their non compete clause expired they founded Lynskey bikes. They have been making bikes and dealing with customers for awhile. I originally bought a Litespeed Catalyst in 1994. Loved that bike and replaced it with a Lynskey Helix Sport two years ago. IMO their bikes ride great and the customer service both as Litespeed and Lynskey has been great.

lostronin

Ha! I wish. Their limited lifetime warranty only covers the original owner.

Paul Barnard

I have a Lynskey Backroad, Lynskey MT-29 and Litespeed T-6. Love the bikes. The Backroad is the best bike I have ever owned and if I could only have one bike, this would be it. Litespeed customer service was better. Lynskey's was okay.

UKFan4Sure

Now that there is interesting...

lostronin

I am undaunted by the legal limitations of second ownership and will ride this baby into my grave.

dscoduc

I don't know, but a Moots retailer told me that Lynskey and Litespeed bikes were CRAP! He showed me a broken weld on what he claimed was a Litespeedseat post to prove it... so it must be true, huh?

Bizman

I have the R340 (17 lbs) and it has been great, I got my wife the Sportive (25 lbs with fenders, dyno front/rear lights and rear rack) she loves it! The finish is easy to take care of and they ride very smooth.

UKFan4Sure

Well, He's selling Moots, so the point is Moot, right?

veganbikes

I will say Titanium is an excellent frame material and I highly recommend it, I have two titanium bikes and have plans to get two more in the future (and potentially many others but 2 that I actually have a build sheet for). If it were me and I had the money to swing it right now, I would go Moots for sure on a more production bike, if money was even less of an object, I would go Firefly right away no questions asked. However looking at Lynskey they make what seems to be a decent enough product. Though I always worry when a bike company always puts stuff on sale or you see their stuff on sale often. Usually a sign of a possible lower quality product or a highly inflated MSRP. Not in every case, granted but it just gives me a less than fun feeling.

Independent Fabrications, Seven, Zinn Cycles (he literally wrote the book on bike maintenance) and TiCycles are some other U.S. brands worth taking a peak at and there is also a whole host of other custom builders as well. I have a friend with an older Tom Kellog designed Merlin which he loves, a lot. I would love to say Dean as an option but I hear mixed things at least with customer service. Having dealt with Moots, TiCycles, Firefly, Zinn and Indy Fab, they are quite nice and great to deal with. Granted I don't have any of their bikes yet but I have TiCycles stem and seatpost on order and have been talking with Zinn about a custom e-bike project.

As far as warranties, they are most of the time for the original owner and don't transfer over and they don't cover misuse. You need to take care of your bike abusing it constantly doesn't qualify for warranty even if it is a brand spankin' new bike. I am a warranty manager for a bike shop and see a lot of stuff and cover a lot of stuff but pure neglect is not part of it. Also good tip, be nice to your local shop and especially when it comes to warranty, it doesn't happen right away and demanding things doesn't really help.

jadocs

Interesting, I'd like to hear more about this.

Litespeed has been very good to me and I highly recommend them, but it seems like current opinion is the other way around. I've always wondered why.

dscoduc

Does anyone know about the quality of the titanium Motobecane bikes? I’m assuming cheap Chinese made but you never really know the level of quality coming out of the Chinese/Tiawan factories.

Paul Barnard

There's not a lot of info out there on them. I can't recall reading anything negative.

Paul Barnard

Below is what I posted about Lynskey at the time of my order. They still haven't cleared up their website on what type of brake mounts the frame takes. I called Litespeed twice and got quick complete answers.

During the exploratory phase and after the purchase I used the "Contact Us" feature on their website. In both cases I got an email back saying they had received my request for info. It is auto generated I am guessing. They never responded to my request for information. The Backroad page on their website is missing or unclear on some of the details someone will need to build a bike. I called them to get answers. One time I spoke with Adam who said he'd have Alex call me. Alex never did. Another time I left a message on Alex's voice mail and he never called me back. On my third call I was able to talk to Alex directly. He was VERY good to deal with. They are a small company, so I understand some delays in getting back with a potential customer. The 4 non-responses was a bit of a disappointment. I can't help but wonder if they don't lose business because of that. I know the frame is going to be fantastic. If everything shows up as I ordered it I'll give Lynskey a passing grade. I really wanted them to be an A+ company.

veganbikes

Cheaper frames with the badge of a company that doesn't exist and has nothing to do with the bike. However on a positive note I haven't heard stories about them falling apart which if it was welded poorly would happen a lot. That all being said you wouldn't have the support of your local shop and not really sure if BikesDirect is going to give much warranty support because they can easily claim the bike was put together wrong by you and step away. Plus the pricing on BD is designed to fool you, nobody else sells their crap but they say normally $4000 now $299 to trick you into thinking it is some mega deal on their site.

bblair

I have a Lynskey R230 and love it. They change model names fairly often, so I am not sure what a similar current model is. And, they are always having a sale. I bought it because the owner of my LBS rides one.