“Do you particularly like Titanium bikes?”

on
Borrowed, Lynskey Helix
“…and if so why?”  A pair of questions I was recently asked on my YouTube channel.

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
Price was the only downside.  Not having limitless resources, a new bike had  to wait, but I sold my Tri-bike in anticipation.  Waiting was good.  Gravel bikes developed.  Titanium gravel bikes appeared which added an extra dimension to the benefits of this material, because titanium is pretty much the ultimate material for a gravel bike.


Kinesis ATR demo bike at home in Scotland
Brands that previously marketed their bikes as round-the-world robust steeds made them with wider clearances and the ideal road/off road compromise bikes appeared.  All this happened quite fast and companies like Kinesis (which make superb adventure bikes) sold out of my frame size.

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
This week I’ve been back in France,  staying with my friend,  his Lynskey Helix.  There's another video coming 12th Feb 2020.  I’m struck by the differences to the Camino Ti (lighter, shorter and stiffer, more like a regular road bike) and also the similarities (a very comfortable ride, even when it’s not really the right size for me).

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
If I could have two, then I’d add a light fast carbon road bike for glorious summer days when the road calls.  Which is pretty much exactly what I have.  Although there's always room for another...

Here's the video which prompted the question.