I made something!

Project: Lynskey

I have always imagined that if I were to build my own bike, it'd probably be some exotic road bike, since that's generally what I prefer to ride. However, with Miss V and myself planning on doing another leg of this years BikeSA Outback Odyssey later in the year both of us were thinking that new bikes might be the order of the day. While our 26" dual suspension bikes handled things okay last time, we thought things could be a little more pleasant for us with some smooth rolling hardtail 29ers. I initially had a few options in mind, Focus and Scott had some likely candidates to name a couple.

Something that kept cropping up and piquing my interest was a Lynskey titanium frame on special. Did I have the skills to build my own bike? Maybe. Could I maintain interest long enough to complete the project on time? Possibly. Eventually I bit the bullet and started to order all the bits that I thought I'd need. One by one I watched as all the components and tools arrived and were promptly placed in a pile of goodies, ready for the start of construction. With excitement building I (perhaps foolishly) posted a photo of the pile of goodies on Facebook, which produced a huge amount of positive feedback. No backing out now!

Task: Turn this into a bicycle.

I started fairly slowly, taking care of the low hanging fruit first, such as mounting tyres to wheels, installing the seat post and similar trivial things.  The drive train and associated cabling found its way onto the frame in short order. I guess up to this point I was making good progress since I was concentrating on tasks that I was fairly familiar with from working with my other bikes.

As parts were being attached I could get a bit of a feel for what the final product was going to look like, and I liked what I was seeing.

Nice solid wheelset.

Ridiculously complicated seatpost.

Eventually, I had to tackle some of the more difficult tasks though. I guess when I say "more difficult" I really mean tasks that I've never performed before, primarily installing the headset cups and to a lesser extent cutting the steerer tube. 

Installing the headset proved to be more troublesome than anticipated since the headset press that I purchased wasn't entirely suitable. Nevertheless, I improvised a little and eventually got them installed. With the headset installed the forks could be put in place and work start on setting up the cockpit and controls. I think it was during this phase that things really started sinking in. I could stand back and think   "I've made my own bike!"

Getting there!

My final tasks were to cut the steerer tube, install the starnut, and tighten everything down. A few final adjustments and I tentatively rolled my new Lynskey out the door for a gentle spin in the park across the road.  I had a rideable bike! No way!

Looking pleased with myself

Back from my short test ride.

One task that I decided to get an expert to take care of was trimming the brake lines and bleeding the brakes. A quick email to the folks at BMCR and it was all sorted. I figured paying Pete to work his magic on the brakes was by far a better and cheaper option than an extended stay in hospital due to failed brakes!

So there you have it...  In about a week and a half of part time work I turned a pile of parts into an awesome bike, put together with components researched and picked by me. In my humble opinion, it looks pretty damn good to boot!

The initial rides that I have had on it have shown it to be much easier to keep rolling compared to my dual suspension bike. Somewhat expected, but good to have validation that the initial point of the exercise has been achieved.

The finished product, out in the wild.

For those that are interested, here are the specifications for the build.

Specifications:

• Frame - Lynskey MT29, size small
• Fork - Rockshox SiD RCT3, 100mm travel, 15mm through axle.
• Drive train - Shimano XT 
• Brakes - Shimano XT
• Wheels - Shimano XT hubs laced to Mavic XM319 rims
• Tyres - Schwalbe Rocket Ron
• Seat post - Crank Brothers Cobolt 3
• Saddle - Sells Italia SLR
• Pedals - Crank Brothers Candy 3
• Stem - Specialized
• Handlebar -Crank Brothers Cobolt 3
• Grips - Crank Brothers Iodine
• Headset - Cane Creek 10 Series

Learnings:

• Research every component you plan to use, even the seemingly simple stuff. 
• Take your time. Don't be afraid to down tools and have a think about how the task at hand is supposed to progress. 
• Youtube is fantastic for bicycle maintenance and building tutorial videos.
• Have fun! Bicycles are supposed to be fun!

If I were to undertake this process again, I think I would more than likely revisit the seat post and headset. The headset is a lower specification model which uses an injection molded crown race. Hopefully I can upgrade that to something more durable in the future. The seat post, while nice to look at, includes a clamp seemed to be overly complicated, and a bit fiddly to set up.

Any questions, shoot me a line and i'll try my best to answer!  Thanks for reading! :)