Bike Radar reviews the Lynskey Sportive

A glowing review of the Lynskey Sportive by BikeRadar, which we have in stock (medium size, Apex build), which I will repost here:

After the sale of Litespeed, the company the Lynskey family nurtured to such great heights, they decided to get back into the bike business. Their newest addition to an already well-represented stable is the titanium Sportive.
With tube surfaces treated with what Lynskey call an industrial mill finish – a rough, wire-brushed effect that gives a subdued sheen – the Sportive strikes a handsome note and provides a solid and reliable platform for anything from a quick 45-minute training loop to an audax brevet.

Ride & handling: Immediately likeable; quick responses combined with comfort
We eagerly swung a leg over this great machine and found it to be immediately likeable, with a sweetness of ride quality and handling. Miles of groomed dirt towpath are a piece of cake – the bike soaks up pebble-induced vibrations with gusto.
Equally at home in a highly strung peloton as on a dusty towpath, it responds quickly to pedal and steering input. While trialling a local audax event, staying in a tightly knit bunch felt easy. When the pace started feeling a bit slow, the Sportive had the lightness and willingness to leapfrog to the next gruppetto in search of a more vigorous speed.
While the front end of the bike feels strong and torsionally rigid carving through high-speed corners, this has no noticeable effect on front end comfort. In contrast, a simple deflection test of the rear dropouts revealed a considerable springiness in the stays. Yet with the wheel clamped in and closing off the structure, the back end always keeps up with the front, while providing noticeable shock absorption.
With a longish head tube and shortish top tube forming part of a mildly sloping geometry, the Sportive will go a long way towards keeping you in a pleasant comfort zone, minimising the usual shoulder and neck aches and pains on those longer rides. Whether you use it for an easy stroll, screaming quarter-mile or the full 600 miles of an audax brevet, the Lynskey is always ready. Even when the going gets rough, the Sportive will do it in comfort and style.

Frame & equipment: Well thought out chassis plus robust yet light finishing kit
Made of cold-worked 3AL 2.5V titanium, the frame features a fine balance of sophisticated tube manipulation and more straightforward sections, with welded cable guides in all the right places and riveted bottle cage bosses. The rear triangle is comprised of gently curved, constant diameter round seatstays, below which lies a graceful set of oval-round chainstays.
Anchoring the rear wheel are some very thick and burly dropouts, decorated with a three-leaf clover cutaway design for a little aesthetic enhancement. A standard head tube with reinforced zones for traditional headset cups finishes off the front of the bike. Single eyelets on the rear allow you to join in with traditional audax crowds if required, with plenty of clearance for a decent-sized tyre and mudguard.
Complementing the well-proven Shimano Ultegra drivetrain on our test bike was a nicely homogenous finishing kit and wheels by Pro-Lite, which were robust yet light. 

They are completely correct, it is a sweet bike (like everything Lynskey makes).

www.lynskeyperformance.com

Black Friday silliness

Well, we planned a shop ride, and it went off without anybody from the shop.  Fortunately Danny showed up, just a little late, and managed to save face for us and reeled in the riders.  Normal north foothills loop, there was a handful of guys riding and fun was had by all.

Then leftovers, along with beer, tequila, and rum, was consumed in quantity:

We were smart enough to hang a hammock precariously high off the ground that day:

Nobody was having any fun:

We received a fantastic gift this week, a masturbating monkey necklace that Richaround acquired somewhere and new it belonged here:

The holidays are here. The shop is slow, the weather is cold, it's our season to goof off a bit. Getting very excited about a day of snow cat snowboarding in Monarch that we are beginning to plan.  Ohhh thats going to be good.

And lastly, something bike related. Just finished installing a bunch of XTR parts that were purchased on Pricepoint, and brought to me for installation, which as many people know, is quite a pet peeve for those of us at the local bike shop (as Rule #58 states: Never buy bikes, parts or accessories online.  Going into your local shop, asking myriad inane questions, tying up the staff’s time, then going online to buy is akin to sleeping with your best friend’s wife, then having a beer with him after. You may as well go into your local shop and spit in the owners face.  Online is evil and will be the death of the bike shop.  If you enter a shop with parts you have bought online and expect them to fit them, be prepared to be told to see your online seller for fitting and warranty help.)

I was looking at Pricepoint with a customer, who was using the website to shop for stuff and then come in here to buy from me, which is awesome.  I noticed the headset he was referring to was listed with a
$90 suggested retail: Iodine C headset at Pricepoint, and is on sale for $70 at 22% off (such a deal).
Then I got onto QBP's website, the biggest bike parts distributor in the US, and found that same headset with a suggested retail of $70. ZING! Pricepoint is here to make money too, and they aren't your friend! $70 is what every LBS should sell this for, at most.

So, there's that.
I'm done now, typing one handed totally sucks.

Friday plans

So,
top of montgomery, 9am at Embudito trailhead. Danny and Tony will be riding. I (Lucero) gave myself a boo boo

We will be opening at noon on Friday.   We will be eating leftovers, drinking our keg of Marble Imperial Red, and watching bike related movies.

In other news, do you like shoes? Because Tony's shoes are awesomer than yours:

Yeah, you cant compete with that.

We have been building some cool bikes lately:

And also my baby is super cute. 

Well,  typing with a cast is totally lame, so I'm out!

Maze Race and Magicshine Recall

Firstly, a new fun event is happening Saturday. I know, this is last minute notice, but don't pretend like you are so organized that you already knew what you where doing Saturday anyway.

We don't know exactly how it's going to be run, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be fun.

Secondly, many of you have heard by now, but there is a recall of the infamous Magicshine light battery, check out details here:

Magicshine Recall Link, Apparently they were too good to be true after all.

I find this kind of satisfying, as the Magicshine has irritated me since the day I heard about them. Blatant rip-off of the Lupine Tesla light, the Magicshine promised unbelievable lumen output for hundreds less than their competitors.
At 24 Hours of Old Pueblo last year, I started hearing rumors of the chargers and batteries not being UL rated, and of things catching on fire while charging. This all came from a sales rep for another light company, so I didn't think too much of it, but found the info entertaining.
Well, 8 months later, I guess some other people have had similar problems:

What should I do with my battery now?
We recommend that you store them outside in a safe, protected place. Your recall notice will give more information.

Outside in a safe, protected place?  Are things exploding? Spontaneous combustion?
The thing that bothered me most about the Magicshine was their astronomically false claims about lumen output.  Our un-scientific tests comparing the Magicshine to similarly rated lights from Lupine and Light and Motion, in the shop bathroom, led us to believe that outputs were exaggerated by at least double, if not triple the actual amount.

So, while your Magicshine battery sits in your back yard, in a cement bunker, come on by and check out some of the lights we have from Light n Motion.  Made in the good ol' USA, passing all sorts of pesky safety regulations, subject to irritating EPA regulations, these things are extremely reliable, have extremely bright output, and are a good value to boot.
How about 25% off any Light and Motion light if you trade in your Magicshine. We'll take all the batteries, pile them in one place, and see if anything burns down or explodes.

That's all, I'm done gloating about the Magicshine. 

Lastly, we're working on a regular night ride again, now that it's getting properly cold. Tuesday night seems to be the best night for many.  We leave from the shop as early as possible, usually that means at the trailhead by 6:45 or so.  Hopefully we will be out this coming Tuesday, probably north foothills from Ebudito trailhead, so keep it in mind, and I'll let you all know if we're gonna make it or not soon.

Awesome, thanks for reading, and thanks for coming into our shop and buying stuff and letting us fix your bikes and allowing us to live the dream and play with bikes for a living.

SMOOCH!

Bikeworks Black Friday Non-Sale Event!

We've never been open on Black Friday before (the Friday after Thanksgiving), but we've got plans for this year!

So, meet up in the foothills, top of Montgomery Embudito,  for a morning group mtb ride, 9am.  We'll do a mellow turkey burner ride.

Then, back to the shop to open at noon.  Everybody come on by, bring leftovers, a chair, and of course the beverage of your choice (as long as it's not Fat Tire, Blue Moon or Corona, yeah we're picky bastards).  We are going to have a leftover potluck, watch bike movies of all sorts, drink plenty of beer, and generally try to work as little as possible. 

That's our idea.  So while everybody else is battling to the death for $12 laptops and $18 washing machines, come hide out with us, eat, drink, watch movies, and talk some trash. 

Awesome, hope to see you all here!