The Lynksey Bicycle Saga

Great Bicycles From A Company With A Whole Lot Of Attitude

Susan and I decided to go for broke!

Instead of shipping/driving one old aluminum bicycle and one new aluminum bicycle to our kids house is Missouri — we’d buy two new bicycles and ship our current (old) bicycles out.

We decided on titanium (for the the valid and invalid reasons).

We also decided on Lynskey because of the recommendations.

Lynskey Performance sells direct and through a dealer network.

My initial inquires were direct.  Feedback and response was excellent.

I then went to my LBS (local bike shop),  a Lynskey dealer to decide on the specifics and get price from him, for  two bicycles.

The price came in at $4839 per bicycle.   Knowing that three of my friends got hefty discounts from Lynskey, buying direct, I then asked for a 10% discount on the two bicycle.

My LBS said Lynskey said they could not do it.   This did not really upset me.  It is prime season and I was prepared, if necessary to wait until the fall or winter to get my discount.

In the meantime I decided to shop around on the internet.  I found several Lynskey dealers on line.

The Attitude

1. The powers at Lynskey were instrumental in preventing me from price shopping my bicycle by getting other dealers to refuse to sell to me.  The sad part of this is that I had gotten the okay from my LBS to price shop.  They were willing to build the bikes regardless of where I bought them.
2. After my LBS and I found a price we could both live with, the order was placed.  Part of this order was two SRAM Rival  gruppos.  Before any of this was shipped to my LBS I inquired about possibly upgrading to SRAM Force.  Lynskey would not process this request.  Various reasons I got were “we do not stock this item”, “it was a special order” and “it was an oem order”.  Even the Lynskey distributor who sold them the gruppos would not process an exchange.  Yes, I was willing to pay the difference.  Perhaps there really was a problem with what I wanted to do.  If so,  an explanation that made sense  was never forthcoming nor given as a warning when the order was first placed.
3. On July 5, 2013,  I wrote to Mark Lynksey, explaining the above.   The last paragraph of this letter left an opening:  “My wife and I are 64 and 66, respectively.  We know that life is not always fair.  We also know that sometimes life requires compromises.  This should NOT have been one of those times.”     To date, I have not  received a reply.

The Bicycles, as originally ordered are in our possession.

I have been on four rides on my new bicycle.  Susan has been on one.  We can find no fault. They ride and handle extremely well and exceeded our expectations.  We are thoroughly enjoying our new toys.

This is not the first, nor probably the last time I will have dealings with a company with this type of attitude.

From the people I have spoken to who also own a Lynskey,  I think buying direct, online and making sure of all your components before ordering will give you the best outcome.

Or, buy a Litespeed!

Glenn