Nice frame, but OUCH $$$$$

[sokyroadie]

https://www.lynskeyperformance.com/store/lynskey-nantucket-alfine.html

All you New Englanders better get in line.;)

Jeff

[eddief]

fill in the blanks.

[AngryScientist]

stupid.

city bikes, by definition operate in cities, get locked up outside, exposed to the elements, and thieves. who is the market for such a bike?

[Bradford]

https://www.lynskeyperformance.com/store/lynskey-nantucket-alfine.html

All you New Englanders better get in line.;)

Jeff

New Englanders don't waste that kind of money. Those are for New Yorkers vacationing on Nantucket

[alancw3]

great idea imho. price is high but it looks like 35% off with coupon which would bring it inline with a moots commutor. i do think they need an extra large size in the geometry for riders over 6'3". one more thing, i would have thought this bike a perfect canidate for belt drive. just saying.

[Charles M]

Ive seen a dozen customs in southern cal like this in a weekend... There's a market. Shimano doesn't make Di2 Alfine without a market...

[ahsere]

It is totally beyond me, but apparently there is a niche market for ultraexpensive city bikes with lots of mostly useless or overkill bells and whistles. Rolling thieve magnets, I'd call them. If people can buy a Budnitz (built by Lynskey I think) for more than the cost of a custom Bedford or Kirk, and roughly twice the price of a De Salvo, I guess the Lynskey guys decided they also wanted a slice of that rarefied pie.

[nighthawk]

Here's the "cheap" version...

http://www.filson.com/bixby-bike

[vav]

$ 699. 2014 Trek steel District. Throw a Brooks, a nice Sugino crankset and upgrade components as needed. Hard to beat: http://blog.villagecycle.com/2013/09/the-new-trek-steel-district-is-here/

http://blog.villagecycle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/20130927_115353.jpg

[oldpotatoe]

https://www.lynskeyperformance.com/store/lynskey-nantucket-alfine.html

All you New Englanders better get in line.;)

Jeff

Shinola, Alfine 11s, lugged,Waterford made frame, $3000.

Not sure titanium and electronic is 'worth' $6000.

[ORMojo]

Can't get behind that, at that price.

one more thing, i would have thought this bike a perfect canidate for belt drive. just saying.

Apparently no one has yet figured out how to combine the Alfine hub and the Di2 servo and the width of a belt all between the dropouts. I've been told that Gates is working on a narrower belt/cogs/rings to address this.

A couple of weeks ago I took a long test ride on the Norco Indie Drop Alfine Di2. It was a surprisingly very nice ride. At one-quarter the price, that would be my choice.

http://www.joe-bike.com/bikes/commuter-bikes/norco-indie-drop-alfine-di2/

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0191/0420/products/indie_drop_di2_1024x1024.jpg?v=1367612768

[markie]

If you are committed to using an internal hub, why use that tensioner abomination?

[donevwil]

If you are committed to using an internal hub, why use that tensioner abomination?

Wow good catch, didn't see that. Just wrong.

I just built a custom frameseted, Alfine 11, belt, disc, fendered, racked, dyno lighted commuter for my wife that was well below half that price all tolled.

Just seems very out of character for Lynskey.

[eddief]

Davis Carver could do you a belt drive ti frame for about $1500. Mine is just a normal road frame which has turned into my favorite ever:

http://www.carverbikes.com/frames/custom-ti

[parco]

Absolutely! I can't believe these bikes aren't belt drive. But they are still too expensive.

[alessandro]

It is totally beyond me, but apparently there is a niche market for ultraexpensive city bikes with lots of mostly useless or overkill bells and whistles. Rolling thieve magnets, I'd call them. If people can buy a Budnitz (built by Lynskey I think) for more than the cost of a custom Bedford or Kirk, and roughly twice the price of a De Salvo, I guess the Lynskey guys decided they also wanted a slice of that rarefied pie.

Budnitz moved to Burlington last winter. The dying local daily paper and the excellent alt-weekly both made such a big fuss over it that I was trying to come up with the appropriate Variety headline: Ti Townie Titillates Town was all I could think of. But look:

http://www.7dvt.com/files/f-bespokespokes-group.jpg

This wasn't quite as much coverage as they gave the second coming of Phish, but still. I am all in favor of anything that promotes bicycles and more people using them, but the Budnitz fervor is completely beyond me. I get that while no one needs a $6000 titanium city bike, there are people who want them, but I thought that BTV was cooler than that--it was like the city was asked to the prom by the handsome new jock in town.

[don compton]

Seriously?????????????????????????:rolleyes:

[EricEstlund]

I love you guys, but threads where we get worked up about how other people spend their money seem a little off. Buy the stuff you like, and don't get to hung up on the stuff you don't. I can guarantee this is someones dream bike.

[ahsere]

I love you guys, but threads where we get worked up about how other people spend their money seem a little off. Buy the stuff you like, and don't get to hung up on the stuff you don't. I can guarantee this is someones dream bike.

My comment was geared more toward the fact that the market seems to create some unexpected niches out of thin air (or so it seems) and it puzzles me that they can be sustainable. Who would have thought somebody could make a profit selling this kind of product in large enough quantities. I would think that super high end city bikes (not really nice ones, like $3000 nice, but anything over say 5k or so) are a very small market segment and that someone like you would receive a request for one of those every once in a while. That's what I'd consider "normal". But obviously Budnitz and the likes of Budnitz sell enough that they keep going and prove my assumption wrong, and that's surprising/impressive/incredible/insane/great/terrible/interesting, depending on how you look at it, but worth commenting IMO. If somebody opens a super high end "oral coolness" joint that sells $100 toothpicks and manages to make it work, I'm sure people will comment with awe in dentists' forums. This is not to knock Budnitz or Lynskey, as I totally wish them the best.

[EricEstlund]

" it puzzles me that they can be sustainable"

It (the specific model)need not be sustainable- that's the beauty of small scale production.

[Brian Smith]

Ive seen a dozen customs in southern cal like this in a weekend... There's a market. Shimano doesn't make Di2 Alfine without a market...

I firmly agree that there's a market. I would, however cite your first piece of supporting evidence and not your second. Shimano produced electronically controlled internally-geared drivetrains long before Dura-Ace DI2 or Alfine existed, let alone any southern cal interest. Get it on a hydroformed aluminum taiwanese-made bike sold through a retail channel that also sold you your football long before it showed up there...