Gravel Special | SRAM AXS XPLR 1x

This is an unbeatable combination of price, performance, and quality. I have been shopping around for a new bike for 18 months, to replace a 20+ year old titanium road bike with rim brakes and wanting something worthy (and fun) to do more than just commute on year-round which is how I was using the old bike. NOTHING out there can beat this bike, especially at the sale price. I have a few hundred miles on this bike now, on road, gravel, dirt, single track, smooth and technical. It doesn’t suck on any surface and frankly is barely a compromise compared to my cyclocross and gravel race bike, and only a weight compromise compared to my road race bike. It’s super fun and capable on all surfaces I have ridden it. Put 28 or 30mm tires on it and I’d even consider a road race, this could truly be the only bike you need. The stock build is excellent, I have pretty much been riding it right out of the box, there is almost nothing I’d spec differently. I swapped the seat for the one from my old bike, but the stock Lynskey-branded seat is great and will probably go to my Zwift bike as an upgrade there. If I was going to be picky, I’d love the option to upgrade to the SRAM Rival crankset with the integrated power meter, which I bought aftermarket and swapped out, so now I have an unused left crankarm. I plan to run tubeless tires but the stock 40mm tubed tires are running great, so I haven’t bothered to swap. I highly recommend everyone consider the internal cable routing upgrade. With that, the 1X drivetrain, and the wireless shifting this bike is incredibly clean and simple, and just plain pretty. Lynskey provides a nice collection of custom rubber plugs for any internal routing holes you aren’t using. The stock fender mounts are great, I will fender this up for commuting through the wet Pacific Northwest winter but it still looks real clean in summer mode.. This bike is so much fun and fast it may be my default gravel/cyclocross bike for when I fly to events. I get nervous watching TSA unpack and re-pack my carbon bike, but I wouldn’t worry about the Ti frame and this bike is not much compromise for that peace of mind. The 1x12 gearing is not a limiter, the XPLR range is amazing, I can grind long hard 3mph climbs on the low end, and I spun out a road downhill at 48mph on the high end, so you are really not compromising anything there, and with the clean simplicity of a 1X it’s awesome. This is my first bike with electronic shifting…wow. SRAM has great guided setup online and once I got over the idea that I now must do firmware updates for my bike (!) I love it. Not sure I need to know how many shifts I do per ride or how many minutes/miles I spend in each gear, but there’s an app for that…and everything talks and integrates seamlessly to my Garmin head unit and Garmin Connect. Lynskey could have been a little more communicative on the timeline for my order, I waited about a month with no updates even when I messaged them. In fairness, it arrived about 10 to 12 business days after the predicted lead time for the frame that they had posted on the site, which is what they say to expect for a full build. I’m just used to being spoiled by online step by step tracking of everything nowadays, and I was pretty darn excited to get this bike!

LOVE the bike! The electronic shifting is flawless. It’s my favorite bike only rivaled by my Lynskey road bike. The titanium ride is very smooth yet remarkably light. It’s going to be fun riding the Big Bam on the Katy Trail with my riding buddy, Jack Russell Terrier,Ms Belle on the back. ?

I already have a hardtail Ridgeline MTB from Lynskey, which is fantastic, so when I decided to upgrade my 20yr old carbon road bike, I turned once again to Titanium and Lynskey was my first choice. I am absolutely delighted with my purchase - technology has moved a long way in the intervening years, so hydraulic brakes and wireless gearing changes where a bit hit ! If you couple that with a stiff, responsive Gravel specific frame, it is hands down the best bike I have owned so far. I have been having great training rides, mixing road, Gravel and pure off road with a absolutely no issues, apart from the grin on my face. Well Done Lynskey !!