The floor of the Interbike show is dominated by exhibits from the largest brands in cycling. Yet, one of the busiest booths featured about a dozen frame-sets from the newest brand in the business – and a hand-made-frame-builder, no less.

“We have been absolutely swamped,” said Mark Lynskey, co-founder of the latest incarnation of the Lynskey family business. Their last was Litespeed.

According to Lynskey, the fledgling company was approached by as many as 200 dealers during Interbike, inquiring about how to become official Lynskey dealers. A follow-up report in Roadbikerider noted that about 75 had been culled for the initial roll-out.

The hand-crafted titanium frames are available for about $3,000 – comparable to most custom-made frames today. What is remarkable is the wait-state: about four to six weeks. That compares favorably to an average 12 to 18 months wait quoted by many custom frame builders last March at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.

What niche will Lynskey Performance Designs serve?

“What do you want to ride,” answered Mark. “If you can dream it, we can build it.”

Ironically, about 100 yards away, the folks at Litespeed were distributing a flyer that read, “Going out of business.” Of course, Litespeed was referring to its “withdrawal from the business of building bicycle frames from carbon fiber.”

Given the absence of traffic in its booth by week’s end, and the throngs still over at Lynskey Performance Desings, the creative approach seemed ill-timed, if not ill-conceived.

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