Tl;dr: I got a nice bike, but it was a less than ideal experience.
The bike: stock 2025 Lynskey gravel mullet (Rival / GX-Type.) XL Elysium frame. Not stock: saddle, and 44 Thunderos setup tubeless.
Pre-order and the week after ordering Lynskey was very responsive. They helped with sizing of frame and components, and confirmed some additional details for me. I ordered in late Jan, and was given an early March ship date. When I followed up around my ship date, I was told it would be delayed until end of the month – figured an extra 3-4 weeks for delivery. Early April I was told mid-April. By mid-April I got old late April. Ultimately my bike was delivered 8 weeks after the ship date provided when ordering.
Unpacking the bike and to my surprise…it’s not the frame I ordered (got an Elysium, ordered a Zephyr) or the build I ordered (got T-type derailleur/chain/cassette, had ordered regular Eagle AXS). Lynskey has since said that this was intentional upgrade due to the delays. Unfortunately, that was never communicated to me before the bike arrived. The frame change is a wash to me (I prefer externally routed cables). But like all good /r/gravelcycling folks, I of course had bought shit during the extended wait for the new bike….powerlinks, spare UDHs, an Eagle cassette for road wheels, and spare Eagle chain for waxing. All of which is now incompatible with the bike I received due to the swap to t-type.
Unfortunately the delivered bike which was assembled (note: they now offer an unassembled option for ~$175 less in shipping and handling costs) had multiple assembly flaws. The compression plug arrived at the bottom of my steer tube which was a pain to fish out. No grease in headset cups. Play in the crankset, I believe attributable to lack of grease on the non-drive side spindle which resolved with reinstallation.. It was disappointing to have to spend a few hours going through the whole bike…especially compared to assemblies I’ve done for friends in the past from DTC brands like State, Poseidon, etc that were in a much better state out of the box.
The frame itself is nicely aligned, well finished and has beautiful welds. The design hits all my key boxes – geometry works for me from both a sizing and use perspective, threaded BB, plenty of clearance, standard headset sizing, round seatpost, all the braze-ons you could want, and UDH. And my first 50mi loop of dirt, mild singletrack and road (including a significant climb/twisty descent) was great: laterally stiff, intuitive handling, a good compromise of manners across dirt and road.
What I’d like to see changed:
An honest delivery estimate before a customer purchases.
Less excuses around delays… the SRAM IT outage that occurred 6 weeks after my order (and a week after the original ship date) was blamed for the delay.
Communication about any changes (including upgrades) to the build purchased by the customer.
More attention to detail on assembly
I’ve posted my frustration elsewhere, and Lynskey reached out to clarify the upgrades and confirm they’re working to prevent assembly issues in the future. I’ve provided them with the same feedback. I’m hopeful they can improve their post-sales communication and service. The final product really is uniquely positioned from a quality to price perspective in the US market.
by doebedoe
7 Comments
If you don’t like the bike, you got a couple of choices:
Keep it, adapt to it, etc.
Send it back, get a refund, cancel the order
Send it back, request your original bike, have to wait longer
I’m still waiting on my GR300; currently 7 weeks delayed based on the original ship date (which was only a ~6 week estimate to start with).
Personally, I’d be a bit pissed on the upgrade from a Zephyr to an Elysium; I don’t like the look of the helix tubes. Is that overly picky? I dunno; not to me.
The drive train upgrade is mixed since you bought stuff. Both of these could have been avoided if they simply communicated with you, but they don’t.
My bike is supposed to ship this Friday, but they’ve already blown past two previous estimates. I fully expect it to be missed, and then I expect to have to reach out and see what’s going on, to be told some other excuse…
Communication is the most important aspect in almost every scenario, and it sounds like they failed quite miserably on that front. People will judge against their expectations and if you deviate from what you’ve promised, you’re just setting yourself up for failure.
Personally I’d be pissed. The groupset change is irritating, the frame change is insane. Aesthetic is a huge part of the equation and changing how something looks this dramatically without telling the customer is wild. I recently went through a build with my LBS and had purchased some non-standard parts for install during the build plus some extras for waxing so I get it.
Sounds highly frustrating. I’ve heard similar from other Lynskey owners but once they get it all sorted, they really love their bikes. Sounds like you’re on track to be in the same boat.
Also, howdy neighbor. I live next to South Table.
South table pretty lit tho.
Thanks for the post.
I have been on the fence of ordering, I am not too worried about the delays thanks to doing my research and finding so many posts with the same story. And the sale’s never seen to cease….but the sooner I order…the sooner I will get it.
I am leaning towards a Zephyr and have been considering going with the T type. Looks really great. Congrats!
Sorry to hear about your experience and the parts you bought in anticipation of the bike arriving. Glad you ended up liking the bike and got some nice “upgrades” for it. I too had frustrations with lynskey. I worked with them for sizing and I got fitted based on frame geometry and size of the components. They shipped my bike with 172.5 mm cranks instead of the 170mm that’s supposed to ship with my size small frame. When I contacted them about it they said it’s a choice they make based on supply shortages. They also forgot to ship the saddle and seatpost (which I won’t end up using but still). They did ship me a ti post for my trouble for free but I wanted the matching stem too.