Would you like to read a bunch of nerdy stuff about how I've been tinkering with my bicycles? Of course you would.
I have two bicycles (not counting the cheapo mountain bike gathering dust in the shed). Both are titanium framed bikes from Lynskey, a boutique manufacturer in Tennessee (a state which apparently exports high end bicycles in addition to country music, hydropower, and yokels).
In 2015 I was first getting back into cycling, and I discovered that choosing a bike had become very complicated, in that since the last time I had paid attention there had developed many specialized types of bikes from which to choose - racing, touring, cyclocross, gravel, adventure, etc. I didn't know what to buy. I reached out to my friend Cyndi, who I know from the kayak world, but who is also bike obsessed. She advised me to just buy something, anything, since - as with kayaks - the only way to figure out what really suits you is to get out there and get experience. She pointed out that we'd each been through many kayaks (at least eight over the years in my case), and that I'd likewise probably buy and sell a bunch of bikes before I figured out what was right for me. So I went on Craigslist and got what turned out to be an excellent deal on a five year old Cyclocross (CX) bike - good for general riding and commuting. I later added the other bike, which is more designed for comfortable distance road riding.
Well, the CX bike is now sixteen years old and the road bike is eight years old. They've both been ridden a lot. I had the opportunity to get a free bike fitting, which is where an expert on bike fit adjusts your seat position, etc., and recommends tweaks - different length cranks, handlebar height, etc. - to fit the bike perfectly to you. The reason I got a free fit was that it was from bike mechanic friend who had just trained in bike fitting - it was like getting a free checkup at the dental school, with less risk of disaster. Anyway, the bike fitter gave my CX bike a once over and said everything was worn out on it: it needed a new chain, chainrings (the front gears), cassette (the rear gears), and wheels. We hatched a plan to combine parts from both bikes to rejuvenate the original cyclocross bike, and that I'd then sell the carcass of the distance riding bike (titanium frames have resale value).
The CX bike got the handlebars and derailleurs from the road bike, plus a new cassette and chainrings, upgrading it from a 20 speed (2x10) to 22 speed (2x11) along the way. I bought new cranks better matched to my leg length (per the bike fitting), and the bike also got some deferred maintenance done including all new cables, brake pads, and bar tape. Oh, and I also put on a more padded seat.
The CX bike also got the wheels from the road bike, but that didn't last long. I decided I wanted outfit it with wide tires (that's the trend these days) and so bought new tires and entirely new wheels to go with them, since the existing wheel rims would have been too narrow for the new extra wide tires.
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| New wheels: If you look closely, the little nipples where the spokes attach to the rim are red, matching the black and red theme of the bike. Even the valve stem cap is red. |
The new wheels, being black with red accents, look totally cool on the already black and red-themed bike. I mounted the wide 40mm tires, put them on the bike, and adjusted the brakes for the wider rims. The frame is not really designed for tires that big, and so making it all work involved one little hack, using some thin bungie cord to hold the rear brake cable out of the way to keep it from rubbing against the tire. Bike complete, and awesome!
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| The orange bungies hold the brake cable up off the wheel. Cheesy, but effective. |
But once you start tinkering, it's hard to stop. Now, having ridden the upgraded bike for a bit, I think I'm going to hit a little bit of "undo" on a couple of the changes. First of all, I can't get comfortable on the new seat no matter what I do to adjust the angle and position. It pokes me in what I'll call a sensitive spot and a day of riding on it makes me pretty sore. I think I'll go back to my previous seat. Hopefully REI will take the new one back - though I would understand completely if they told me to go pound sand because my bony, hard to fit butt is not their problem.
Also, the 40mm tires are bouncy and fun, but slow. Plus, I really don't like relying on the bungie hack for something as important as brakes. I'm going to go back to 35mm tires, which is what I had on the bike before.
All told, I probably spent about $800 on this refurb, most of which I expect to recoup from selling the other frame. A bunch of that was for the new wheels (which it turns out I didn't need since I'm going back to narrower tires), but, I don't regret it - they're new, they're spinny, and they look nice. Eight hundred dollars might seem like a lot of money, but it gives me a like-new bike, and a bike like mine would cost about $5,000 new these days. And the irony is that Cyndi was wrong: I've owned this bike for ten years, and I'm still happy riding it.
As to the leftover road bike frame, I had a brief delusion of rebuilding it into an eBike. As is happens, one day while getting ice cream in Del Rey, I bumped into a guy who was riding a Lynskey (unusual enough, since it's an uncommon brand), which he had converted to a mid-drive eBike. It was cool, and I immediately fell in love with the idea of creating a titanium frame, custom eBike, all for a third the price of buying an eBike new, since I already had a frame and wheels. However, once I spent some time researching what it would take, I realized I'd be taking on a complicated project. I mean, I could easily handle it if all went well, but creating a Frankenstein eBike had lots of opportunity for complications. I'm back to the idea of selling the frame, which will refill my wallet and open a bike parking space for some possible TBD future purchase.
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| Current state of affairs: the refurbished bike on the bottom, and the road bike carcass up top |
