kanonengedonner

So I am pulling the trigger on a Titanium gravel (5k max) and I narrowed it down to Ribble and Lynskey. I am open for different configurations and I am not even sure I need Di2. But in any case, this would be my fun bike/gravel bike/social riding bike where I'll have 2 wheel sets for heavy road or heavy gravel.

I am hesitating a lot:
-The Ribble in its rendered pictures looks way better, sexier and cuter than the Lynskey. It has nice welds, the finish looks better and it has rubber grommets for the cable entry and exits. I can't find other good pictures online. AND I know nothing about Ribble. Shipping is just before Christmas.
-The Lynskey looks kinda rougher, it has internal welded tubes to guide cables, it is slightly more expensive. I can't find good pictures with their 4 finish variations, but the biggest plus is that they have lifetime frame warranty, and their lead-out is 6 weeks only..

The dimensions are not much different other than the dropped seat stays for the Ribble. The weight is similar.

What do you guys think ?

mstateglfr 

I'll add that ribble is a well established retailer. As a brand, it was a handbuilt frame and bike shop for decades(hundred years?) and has been a mail order/online retailer for decades too.

Its a legit brand with actual people working for the brand.

Just mentioning this in case it legitimized the brand for you and takes some of the unknown away.

bOsscO

Two friends of mine ride Lynskeys and they both love them.
Another friend rides a Naked Ti road bike; handmade on Quadra Island (Canada) but probably not what you're looking for.
ANOTHER friend is getting a brand new No.22; https://22bicycles.com/pages/multi-surface-and-gravel
Don't want to sway your thoughts but damn the No.22 look sexy.

gus6464

Just know that if you go with the lynskey when you receive the frame you need to inspect it with a fine tooth comb. They make nice stuff but their QC is atrocious.

kanonengedonner

thx for the suggestions .... those bikes are beauties. i'd love to get my hand on one of them, but my budget is 4-5k max. The no22 which is a gem runs 8K

mstateglfr 

Apparently the initial post is deleted?...odd.

kanonengedonner

not sure what happened either...but I was asking about ti Lynskey vs ti Ribbbel

Edit: It is back.

Chi_Z

the main benefit of heavy alloy frame is custom geometry, if you are just gonna buy a stock frame then carbon is lighter and cheaper

kanonengedonner

You are not wrong. It is true that carbon is lighter and cheaper. But I want a durable sturdy bike that is fairly fast on gravel and road that I can also take on a Sunday coffeeshop stroll if i wanted to or on a chill midweek social ride... I don't see myself hammering gravel rides like i do with road rides.

So 4 pounds extra weight isn't a major issue.

Gconan

I have a Lynskey road bike that I am quite pleased with. So I am sure I would love their gravel bikes. But the Ribble bikes look like really good value and quality. Win win either way.

Chi_Z

steel would be the best material for you, it is much harder to screw up a steel weld compared to titanium, you'll be surprised at the amount of titanium weld failures. If the builder got the temperature wrong a little bit, your frame is toast

chas58

That must be why I keep hearing about the Lynskey frames cracking.

Wilbur76

Looks like the 20% off at Lynskey is over for now but they’ll bring it back in a couple weeks. I used it in June and the discount came and went twice since then. Ribble was my first choice but in the end I went with American-built. The 0% financing for 12 months didn’t hurt either. Ribble doesn’t offer financing for the states.

softreset

I was in the identical position (considering a Lynskey and CGR Ti). I ultimately went with a GR300 (internal cable) build with GRX 2x Di2. With the promo pricing it came to $5220 and that involved me upgrading to Stans 32-spoke MKIIIs, Industrial mill finish, etched graphics and their carbon/adventure fork.

It's scheduled to arrive on Tuesday. Happy to take photos to show how they do their Di2, I would imagine it's pretty similar between the GR300 & Pro GR. I was between a Pro GR with mechnical 2x GRX and a GR300 with Di2. I took the financing option and it worked out to be ~$14/month (more) to go with GR300 + Di2.

The last time I bought a complete bike from the UK (Condor Fratello) it was shipped DHL and when it arrived I had import duty of 10.3% which was higher than expected. Assuming I'd get a similar surcharge upon arrival the Ribble would work out to be about the same as the bike for bike pricing ($4840). Plus, I've been very happy dealing with Lynksey, so if I encounter issue the logistics of repair/replacement will be easier (no US to UK shipping).

Good luck with your decision!

kanonengedonner

You touched on the same points I ran in my mind. One little additional "major" issue that Lynskey has that bugs me: the absence of rubber grommets for cable entry and exit to and from the frame. I don't get it. The wholes are completely exposed. Ribble seems to have pristine finish (including better pictures - not sure if in actuality their quality is as good as the pictures) . The TI looks good and in addition wheel options, handlebars and stems seem better... Lynskey's different Ti finishes are a misery in comparaison.

And then you calculate duties which is hit or miss and the fact that Lynskey is US based makes Lynskey more appealing ...

To mess things up (unrelated to my post), Ribble's carbon gravel with di2 and integrated cockpit is 1.5k cheaper ... It is a beauty

I appreciate a picture of your new rig when you can btw. How long did you wait?

Rides4Beer

And you can get custom paint. I went back and forth for a while on the CGR Ti and SL, but decided to go with another Revolt from my LBS. But the SL with custom paint and integrated cockpit looks like a great option.

Mmassey338

I have a Lynskey gr260 and after 13 months the frame cracked. No crash, in fact at that point I had only ridden it on very smooth pavement.
They repaired it at no charge, but I did have the cost of tear down/rebuild and shipping one way. I was without a bike for about a month and a half.
My bike now has a weld all the way around the seat tube a couple of inches below the seat tube/top tube joint. I told them I was not pleased with the extra joint on my bike but all they would do was sell me another frame at the crash replacement price.
Bike was purchased in about December 2018.

kanonengedonner

that's very worrisome

tdilf

Agreed!!!

Mmassey338

Crack from seat tube across weld into top tube


Repair. Weld quality looks good, but who wants an extra weld in such a visible place.

tdilf

Woah, that's a huge crack. I would have really wanted a new frame from them.

Mmassey338

I did, and they refused.
I asked why it cracked, and they couldn’t or wouldn’t give me an answer, which is also troubling because what keeps it from happening again.

Chi_Z

the crack was clearly due to poor welding technique, so now you have a 2 piece seattube, how does that affect the riding quality?

Mmassey338

I haven’t noticed a difference in the ride, but wouldn’t expect to. Butt joints are strong.
Why do you say it was poor welding, wouldn’t it have cracked along the joint instead of across it?

Chi_Z

the weld itself should be strong, but with poor technique, the welder can change the properties of the areas surrounding the weld make them more brittle which lead to cracks. So they replaced the top section of the seattube but what about the toptube? did they just replace the entire toptube?