My wife did have an LHT but as she's petit and the LHT weighs about the same as a boat anchor I had a habanero custom made for her. It's only 2/3 the weight of the LHT and handles everyday use with panniers no problem. It's got a Tubus titanium Fly rear pannier rack.
A 48-32 at the front with a 11-42 at the back will get you up any hill

I am very happy with my Lynskey Backroad.

But, I will be the first to admit that a Titanium loaded touring bike makes little sense and is not very cost effective. Having a Titanium frame knocks maybe two pounds off the weight of the frame, but it still is a bike designed to carry a load. For example, my Backroad frame (not counting the fork) weighs less than the rear wheel with a tire on it because it still needs a set of wheels that are robust enough to handle a touring load. Once loaded down with camping gear, cutting a couple pounds off the frame weight is not really that noticeable.

I am glad I built it up, but I got a fantastic price on the frame. I would not have bought the frame at the manufacturer price.

Looks way too small for you. Maybe just the picture I guess. Cool bike nonetheless.

Where I see the most possibilities for Ti is in racks, but aside from some BG custom ones (drool), I haven't ever seen any.

Based on top tube length, fit is perfect. It is their size large.

I dislike the approach that some take, such as Jan Hiney, who proclaim to know it all, but offer nothing more than their personal opinions. Reading the comments and responses, I get a sense the guy is more interested in winning an argument than actually listening to others who have equally valid opinions. There is no correct opinion.

I always liked the Backroad.

My Carver is OEM'd by Lynskey based on the GR250 but with slider dropouts...yea I didn't "need to" put as much money into it as I did. But it puts a dumb grin on my face whether riding loaded or unloaded or just plain commuting. And with Ti I don't have to worry about rust or paint nicks (good for our rural MMR/gravel roads out here):

http://i.imgur.com/sBXu9Ljh.jpg

rack attachment....What do I need
 

I have a Motobecane Century Pro Ti and am putting on my old Blackburn rack. I have it on but need the attachment to the frame under the seat. You have yours fixed to the fender mount; right? Anyone know of the attachments that go to the other two frame mounts....thanks
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xIkSaDNwSlzj0opC2

I have a Motobecane Century Pro Ti and am putting on my old Blackburn rack. I have it on but need the attachment to the frame under the seat. You have yours fixed to the fender mount; right? Anyone know of the attachments that go to the other two frame mounts....thanks

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hiT9jTBMLd9AtDT13

Your best bet with that old Blackburn rack is to contact Blackburn as ask them WTF you're supposed to do to attach it. You're missing parts. I suspect you need a similar style of arms as my front rack. Blackburn did something whacky non-standard and inconvenient.

something doesn't look quite right.....there should be some sort of mounting
point on the rack for the bars or sliders or whatever was used.

also......the arms at the top of the strut nearest the frame are close together,
while the center strut arms are even with the sides of the platform/top.

i'm thinking normally....struts are at the outer edges of the rack platform
except for the end struts away from the bike frame. not sure if that is
functional or just aesthetics.

and where is the lip/bend upwards that blackburn usually puts on the end
of the rack nearest the frame?

can you provide a photo of the other end of the rack?

sure looks like you might have a front rack mounted backwards.:foo:

I've seriously considered a Habanero, costs more than ordering direct from China but price seems pretty fair considering they take care of a lot of the design etc problems. I'm avg height but light body weight so my Trucker is sturdier & heavier than I need. I like that Habanero offers S&S coupler option.

Not very cost effective but OTOH trad tourers don't have many options to cut weight, apart from spartan UL packing. A good Ti frame can last for decades, right? So over time it might be worth it. & a lot of folks say that with the camping luggage, extra weight of Trucker or other heavy steel frames is only a small proportion. But when I'm climbing on loaded bike is when any weight saving could really help.

[MENTION=388729]Marcus_Ti[/MENTION]
What is the rear rack on this? Thanks

Tubus Cosmo, in stainless steel

A friend of mine is quite happy with his Habenaro. Not a very good photo, but I did post a photo of it on page one of this thread in post number 9 back when this thread started two years ago.

A year ago we did Florida Big Cyprus, Everglades and Florida Keys (pre-Irma). The first photo attached is of his Habenaro on that trip. I do not know where he got a Carbon fork that has the mid fork rack mounts, but he got it and it works for him. My fork on my Backroad (above) is steel.

On the Habenaro, with no front panniers he had his rear panniers as far forward as he can get them and still have heel clearance, when he had more heel clearance, he had some shimmy and poor handling. That is why the photo below has front panniers but the photo I posted two years ago did not. After that first long trip with it he decided he needed to spread the weight across the bike better.

I do not know what the deal is with Lynskey, but they occasionally post bike frames on Ebay that are new at a substantial discount. They also carry full warranty. That is where I got my Backroad frame. If you are very patient and know what model and size you would want, it might become available. Or it might not, but there is no way to predict. But if you are patient and interested in a Lynskey, figure out what model(s) you are interested in and the size. Then keep an eye on Ebay.

I was not watching to buy a Backroad when suddenly one showed up in my size on Ebay. I bid higher than other bidders but still got a great price. I think my total cost (which includes new SP dynohub and new Luxos U for light and charging) was less than the manufacturer price for just the frame. Some of teh parts I put on it were over 10 years old and used on a different bike, some parts I bought used (1990s vintage rear XT derailleur), but a lot of the parts were new. And I did almost all the work, the only labor charge was to install the headset at a bike shop.

Some Titanium frames have thick chainstays that can interfere with a triple. If you want a triple, consider that. The second photo below is of my Backroad. The drive side chainstay was designed so that there was plenty of room for a triple on the Backroad, but that is not common to all Lynskeys.

Another afordable option is Carver: Carver Bikes - It's the Ride.

Although his stocks frame sets really don't have the low BB serious tourists want...so a custom job might be needed. My Gravel Grinder frame is one of his, with the slider dropouts set to 44.5mm


ATM there are 3 aftermarket carbon forks with engineered rack points...with discs:

Niner's which is what I use: NINER RDO GRAVEL FORK

Fyxation: https://www.fyxation.com/products/ca...adventure-fork

Rodeo Labs: Rodeo Spork Bicycle Fork. A carbon fiber adventure bike fork.Rodeo Adventure Labs, LLC

AFAIK only the Rodeo and Niner are engineered to CX conditions (rated for 6" drops). Specialized has a carbon fork for their Diverge line with rack points, but AFAIK it isn't available retail separately. OFC the catch with CX/MTBN rated carbon forks is they aren't that light--like 600 grams.

With the Niner, the caveat is you need a 3rd part bolt-head thru-axle as the stock maxle doesn't work with pannier racks.

What fork are you using?

Whom are you asking?

That was intended for you. I'm thinking of getting a
Backroad and I'm not sure what fork to buy. Thanks.

When I bought my Backroad frame, Lynskey wanted over $300 for their fork that was fitted for disc brakes. I had an old LHT fork in the basement for rim brakes. The axle to crown length and the fork rake (or offset) was close to the same, so I decided to use the LHT fork. Handles well. I painted the fork black after stripping off the decals.

I also tried a Soma fork (also rim brake), and it worked fine too. I could not tell the difference between the Soma fork and the LHT fork. This is the fork I tried.
https://www.treefortbikes.com/Soma-F...oss-Fork-Canti

The Soma fork had low rider rack mounts on the outside of the fork blades, but not on the inside. For most things that is not a problem but if you wanted to use a rack like a Tubus Duo, the Soma fork would not work.

All of the photos above were with the LHT fork. The LHT forks have changed over the years, mine was a 2004 vintage.

The chain looks to me to be a little on the short side.

That's exactly how chain should look when it's "cross-chained" on big ring + big cog. Also, you quoted a >2-year-old post and 2Piece has not been here for six months.

The post-2011 forks have rack bosses on the sides of fork crown, visible in image below - I think that's the only change/difference from yours.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6897710a76.jpg

Nice pics! Can you describe your component and wheels selection? What kind of crankset is that? Thanks.

For a touring bike I want robust stuff that is reliable,easy to replace and repair. Thus, I wanted stuff that most bike shops can work on and already have spares on the shelf that can be fitted to it if something goes bad.

Square taper crank (Campy Race Triple, changed two chainrings so it is 46/42/24) set up for half step plus granny gearing, bottom bracket is an Origin8 that has the Campy taper but Shimano tools work on it, quarter inch steel ball bearings in the rear hub (XT M756A), an older XT rear derailler that has worked well even thought it is from the 90s (M739), Sram 11/32 eight speed cassette, KMC eight speed chain, bar end shifters, don't recall what the front derailleur is, Dyad rims front and back (36 spoke rear, 32 front), Wheelsmith DB14 spokes and Sapim nipples, SP PV8 front hub with Luxos U headlamp and USB charger, Planet Bike 45mm wide fenders, for touring a Tara front rack and RackTime AddIt rear rack, 35 or 37 mm tires (Schwalbe or Hutchinson). Front fork is a 2004 LHT 700c with V brakes on it. Pedals, A530 that take SPD cleats on one side, platform on the other.

The Lynskey is the only bike I have with a disc brake, only the rear is disc, it is a TRP Spyre 160mm. Uses a commonly available Shimano pad.

Some of the above parts are up to 20 years old, but if it is as good as the new stuff, I see no reason to avoid the old stuff.

Originally I had a Brooks Pro saddle with suspension seatpost but now have a Brooks Conquest with generic seatpost, I wanted to put the Pro on a different bike and bought a new Conquest for the Lynskey.

For simplicity most of my bikes use an eight speed chain with the same quick links and most of my derailleur bikes use the same Sram 11/32 cassette. Makes it a lot easier when you have lots of bikes to try to standardize on expendable supplies.

I leave town Monday for several weeks, so if any other questions are asked they might not get answered promptly. Will not have any cell or wifi access.

Thanks for the thorough description!

We had a guy tour across Canada on Ti. He loved it and I was jealous. Stupid light and I was on a 520. No comparison. If I could start all over, I'd buy his bike!