74 Main Street Middlebury Vermont (802) 388-6666

We guarantee your fit

Cockpit

The cockpit supports your butt and your hands and controls your bike, so comfort and reliability are your top priorities. The weight in your cockpit has less effect on performance than anywhere else on your bike. If your resources are limited, a set of lightweight, high performance wheels will serve you better than the lightest combination of cockpit components.

Shifters

The three choices -- SRAM, Campy, and Shimano -- are all world class, and we have at least one demo bike for each. When choosing your group, we suggest you keep in mind that SRAM and Campy shifters can be overhauled, while Shimano cannot. 

Brakes

Shimano Dura-Ace 7800 brakes set the standard for braking performance. Campy and SRAM are not quite as powerful, but close enough to satisfy both cautious and bold descenders. A growing number of after-market brakes focus on light weight, but at a high price, such as Zero Gravity and M5. Prices for the exotic after-markets range from $400 to well over $600, just for the calipers.

Handlebars and stems

Bontrager, Easton, FSA, Zipp, and others use carbon to build stems and bars that are strong, stiff, and damp road vibration. High-quality aluminum is available for less than half the price, however. A Zipp 145 stem and SLC2 handlebar retail for over $500 and weigh 300gm.  A Bontrager Race X Lite stem and Race Lite VR bar retail for $170, however, and together they weigh 334gm. 

Much as we like carbon bars, the most likely part of your bike to be damaged in a fall is the handlebar. This is why our demo bikes use the Bontrager Race Lite VR handlebar, which we believe is the most versatile, adaptable handlebar on the market.

Seatpost

Lynskey uses a wider seat tube to enhance lateral stiffness, so your frame will need a 31.6mm diameter seatpost. Bontrager, Campy, Easton, and FSA are among the leading choices for carbon, with Thompson making a beautifully machined (and expensive as carbon) aluminum post. 

The Bontrager Race X Lite ACC (aluminum core construction) is a carbon seatpost with an aluminum core -- strong enough to be used on a mountain bike, yet only 210gm. Saddle position -- fore/aft and angle -- is easier to adjust with Bontrager than any other post, and the post retails for only $95.

Saddle