Borrowed, Lynskey Helix |
Good questions and the answer was too long for a comment.
Two years ago we visited my friends in Frances. He allowed me to ride his winter bike - a Lynskey Helix - during our stay.
My wife borrowed his wife’s Lynskey Sportive. Both Lynskey’s are, of course, titanium.
It was my first ride of a titanium bike, so clearly I’m no expert in this matter. However, I liked the ride, weight, stiffness and durability of titanium, all of which I felt made it an excellent choice for a winter bike.
First visit, riding with French club |
Kinesis ATR demo bike at home in Scotland |
Which is why I tried the Sonder Camino Ti and loved the quality for the price.
Is it titanium perfect? No, because it’s not light enough to replace really light, fast road / aero bikes.
However, unlike carbon it makes a fabulous bike for the British winter when road salt does lots of damage. It's robust too - my Specialized Roubaix has lots of chips to the frame lacquer which not only look bad, they make me doubt the integrity of the frame beneath. That doesn’t happen with titanium.
My Roubaix taking punishment in Morocco |
If I could only have one bike then it would be titanium with large clearances for winter, for touring and for off-road adventures, pretty much like the Camino Ti.
Fast summer bike |
Here's the video which prompted the question.