Lynskey Cooper?
 

Right now my only bike is a Surly Cross-Check that I love, but built with touring and utility in mind. Consequently it weighs 32ish pounds which seems like a lot to me as I am only 140 myself. I want to buy a lighter bike for when I'm just riding to ride/for fitness. I'll be doing mostly 30 to 50 mile rides. I want a frame that will last years, and titanium seems to be the way to go. I don't distrust carbon by any means, but I am pretty hard on my Surly (luckily it seems to be bulletproof) and do occasionally fall over. My price range is going to be a little shy of 3000 and I'll have to wait until around Christmas. I was excited to read about the Lynskey Cooper, it looks like a really great deal. A Ti frame from a respected builder with a lifetime warranty for under 1600 with a quality fork. I would love to try the rival group out, and it looks like that can be done with reasonably high quality wheels and etc for under 3000. I won't get a chance to visit a Lynskey dealer until late August though. Anyone ridden one/ heard anything? I can't seem to find too much about the bike. Also any recommendations of other ti bikes to check out would be much appreciated. I wasn't as impressed with the Xicon as I am with the Cooper. Not too sure if I'd be willing to chance getting a used bike off of Ebay (I'm still figuring out how I like my bike fitted and having only owned one bike am afraid to try and size myself to a frame without even having it physically in front of me).

Thank you

You're already thinking more clearly about this purchase than most of your respondents will be. Just make sure you call the Lynskey dealer ahead of time and be clear about what you want before you go. That way there's a chance he might have something for you to test ride.

If you're excited about the Cooper at $1575 in the basic satin finish with an Alpha CS-10 fork, then you should be even more excited about the Lynskey R230 in the upper brushed finish with the same fork. This R230 combo normally goes for $2875, but is on a promo this week for only $1695. I love spending other people's money. :D

http://www.lynskeyperformance.com/a/...blend-r230.php

Going from a 32 pounder to something sub-20 - and at your weight - will be a huge difference in comfort and speed. Your body+bike now weigh around 180. A 12 lb reduction is around a 7% reduction in weight. That will feel incredible on hills and climbs. An Lynskeys are awesome, too. Buy it and go ride it and smile a lot :)

Responses
 

Half, Thank you, and good call. I am going to go ahead and email the Lynskey dealer.

Drag, I would jump on that deal, but the R230 lacks the awesome clover leaf drop outs... Honestly though, I only have 700 dollars saved for the bike at this point and I'll have to hope real hard for another promo when I have enough cash at hand to make use of it.

Mark, I haven't spent much time on sub-30 pound bikes, but I am really hoping it will make hills easier and let me go just a little faster.

Timely thread....I've been lusting after a Cooper also.

I've noticed that the head tube is a little long - 13cm on the small version I think. I don't want a necessarily "twitchy" ride, but I don't want something that handles so slow, or has me so upright that I'm not comfortable and isn't fun. I don't race, but I like "performance based" handling and like to cruise at (what I consider) fast tempos in a fairly aero position on the bike. Unfortunately there's no Lynskey dealer near me for a test ride.

I'd jump at the R230 also but I'm not ready to pull the trigger yet.

David