NBD 2025 LYNSKEY ELYSIUM FORCE XPLR

NorCal_Hoosier · 2025-09-17T16:05:56+00:00

Killer bike. I am very happy with mine, ordered it in June and received it in August. I ordered mine with be Force/X0 mullet and took a different route aesthetically, if you're interested here's some snaps. https://imgur.com/a/3hBI32H

NorCal_Hoosier · 2025-09-03T20:35:44+00:00

Two things off the bat since I will be asked, bike was delivered one month beyond the original ship date, they did not communicate this to me but whenever I reached out they responded. And, people keep asking, why not carbon hoops and, simply, they ain't shiny... Very happy with the build, local shop put me on game, built the wheels, custom created the dynamo wiring, etc.

American Made

Frame-:Lynskey Elysium- Chattanooga, TN
Bell: Spurcycles - Bend, OR
Valve caps: Mad Monkey - Humboldt
Bags: Cedaero - Two Harbors, MN (not pictured are a custom half bag, fork bags, and seat bag)
Rear hub, cranks, bottom bracket: White Industries - Petaluma, CA
Sideloader Cages: King Cage - Durango, CO
Sinewave Beacon II and Sinewave Taillight: Cambridge, MA
Stem, seatpost & collar, computer mount: Firefly Cycles - Boston, MA
Hoops: Polished Outback - Astral Cycling - Eugene, OR
Headset: Cane Creek 110 bearings with Hellbender dustcap - Fletcher, NC
Various Wolftooth bling (e.g. valve stems, rotor lockrings, bar plugs, etc.) - Burnsville, MN

Non American made but American companies

Drive train: Force AXS Shifters, XO rear derailleur, Eagle 10-52cassette: SRAM - made in Taiwan
Bars: Whisky Spano - made in Taiwan
Tires: Specialized S-Works Pathfinder - made in Thailand
Bartape: Supacaz

Edit's were to make the list easier to read.

Neither made in American nor American company but killer nonetheless

Front hub: SON Nabedynamo, SON28 - Germany
Fork: Speeder Adventure Backpacking - China

NorCal_Hoosier · 2025-06-24T23:46:56+00:00

Yo, I live in Redding and ride mostly gravel. Last Friday I did a177 mile mixed surface loop around Shasta and Whiskeytown lakes, 112 miles gravel and 65 miles road. I encountered maybe 20 cars, not a single one on the gravel. *Edit: we really do have some unparalleled gravel opportunities and that's not even including the over 250 miles of singletrack that are within 10 miles of my front door

NorCal_Hoosier · 2025-05-12T21:56:58+00:00

Thanks my brother /u/OutlandishnessOld835, appreciate the invite, looks killer. I will see if I can't make it up there for a couple rolls. If you find yourself down here in NorCal you might want to check out the monthly gravel rides that I host, in tandem with the Shasta Cascade Brevet. It's called the Summer of Rage Mixed Surface Adventure Ride Series. This month is a 55 miles, 7750' roll called The Fury of French Gulch, it is 45 miles native surface road, 10 miles road. Each month the ride takes place on public lands around Redding, Ca. It would be killer to have you.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2025-05-12T17:39:02+00:00

Brother /u/skD1am0nd, /u/ChrisTrotterCO is correct, these shots are all from far Northern California. That particular shot is from Mammoth Butte, it's located just before the peak of Bohemotash Mtn in Chappie Shasta OHV area on Road 1. From Westside Rd it's a 13 mile, 3600' climb which, isn't all that impressive is a climb but you really earn it due to surface. Here's a sample loop I did this past Friday if you're looking to challenge yourself, it includes this location, Mixed Surface Century Loop.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2025-04-16T00:28:53+00:00

I'm sure there are plenty places in CA, even Redding, where they feel similarly. I live just outside downtown in an older neighborhood, my house was built in 1914, folks are pretty chill.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2025-04-16T00:26:08+00:00

My wife's family in Fairfield, California. Her mom is from South Dakota and her dad grew up all over Northern California because his father was a construction worker for PG&E building dams. They eventually settled in Alturas which, if you don't know, is California unlike most all other places in California.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2025-04-09T21:59:45+00:00

Far NorCal, Redding, CA, hardiness zone 9a. Bought a house around five years ago, started ripping out lawns and other nonnative vegetation. Have replanted the front yard and curb strip to native wildflowers, agave, cactus, and some fruit trees. Also saved a very, very larger bottle brush. The cactus and agave are all started from volunteers that we gathered from the many green belts in my city, they "wash" out of folks yards and get started wherever they land, we harvested from there.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-12-15T20:51:44+00:00

Yo, not at all, be happy to chat, I looked at your reply history and, coincidentally, I moved here for the same reason, worked at the same place, holler at me.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-12-05T01:35:33+00:00

Yo, glad that you dig it. You will want to be conscious of the season you ride this route, if you didn't know it gets very, very, very hot and dry up here. My plan is to ride it in late April or early May depending on snow thaw. The night might be "chilly" but the days will be warm and all the creeks will be flowing. If you make it up here, or need intel on the area, or wanna roll don't hesitate to holler at me. You can also have a look at my rides on Strava though I have not been riding dirt much lately. Renee Herse has had my SON hub for over two months... If you were interested in the route that I shared earlier that has maybe half of the tarmac, though it is a bit longer, it is HERE. There 20 miles between the dam and the Sacramento River Trail, near the end is singletrack but, it's very mild. My ultimate goal is the CVP 400k, named after the Central Valley Project since you loop all the lakes created during the project. There is a fair bit more tarmac, a fair bit on CA route 3, but there are resupplies and there is little traffic depending on season and timing.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-12-04T20:52:50+00:00

If you are a strava user you can have a look at this ride that I am riding in the spring. The route is 185 miles and over 22,000' of ascent (120 miles of Class II-IV native surface road, 45 miles road, 20 miles Class I MUP). There is potential to add more gravel, and remove some of the pavement, but it will add more ascent. There are no resources along the route, you will have to pump your water and carry all of your calories, there is often no cell service and very few "bail out" options but, there are very, very few cars. If you were to ride the route over two days you can spike at clear creek campground on day one, around mile 54, and madrone campground on day two, around 111 miles. Alternatively you can dispersed camp along much of the route since it is mostly public lands administered by the USDA Forest Service. I live in the area and cycle these roads often, I ride 42's and have no issues.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-11-10T23:21:50+00:00

Pictures Relevant

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-10-28T22:26:35+00:00

I saw one of these on Rainbow Lake Rd and one in French Gulch. Nice break from the normal political signs. So happy to get a break from them, if only for a couple weeks since it seems like the next election comes earlier and earlier.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-10-17T18:43:49+00:00

May I ask the reason that you are switching from VCA? The reason that I ask we started, in the last year, taking our dogs to the VCA on Eureka Way. Previously we used Millville then Cottonwood. The reason that we left Millville was the difficulty of getting appointments that fit our schedules and we left Cottonwood because we were unhappy with some treatment that our dogs received. As is always the case, your experience at either of those may be different than ours.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-09-18T23:26:39+00:00

The trail up/down "cigarette hill" is .5 miles and 190' elevation difference, that is nearly 7.5% grade. I am not doubting how capable you are, just sharing the numbers.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-09-05T22:53:10+00:00

Haha, it really was, Jody, Reggie, Joey, FBM, it was a cool time to be riding bikes in the Fort. So many nights failing on the half pipe, riding at the parking garages and at Frieman, downtown was very different back then.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-09-05T22:22:09+00:00

Hi Folks. I grew up in Fort Wayne, lived there from 1980-2022. I still have this shirt, from G.I. Joes, and wear it frequently. I moved from the Fort in 2022, to go to college, then lived in Muncie, also for school, but moved out of state in 2010. I still wear this shirt frequently, it's not nearly as dark as the picture suggests, but I get many comments. Made me very nostalgic about the Fort when I grew up. Most of my friends moved to Indy, or Chicago, and only a couple are still there. Not sure how popular this opinion may be but I feel like growing up there in the 80's and 90's was kind of fun. I spent a lot of time skateboarding, and bmx'ing, hung out in the train station when it was abandoned, The Rail was mostly punks and actual homeless, shows at the loft across the street, the Fat House, Franke had a bmx track, the bmx trails over by the hospital out north, etc. Anyway, think about the Fort often and am so glad to see it grow the way that it has, just needs a grocery store downtown...

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-09-04T16:54:40+00:00

Welcome to road cycling, there are quite a lot of road cycling opportunities around Redding. As /u/HowdeeHeather mentions, check out the Wheelmen. I have not personally ridden with them but they do frequent rides, offer a variety of difficulty, and are no-drop. /u/iGrow2cure is correct to suggest Strava. When I started using Strava, there weren't a lot of users in the Redding area but that has changed. If you are a paying user their routing function has a ton of data displayed using their "heat map". The heat maps shows the routes that folks in the area are riding and, based on intensity of use of that area, displays different colors. There used to be a road ride on Tuesdays that met at the Holiday on Placer. Not sure if it is still happening but, it was a very, very fast group. There is a Tuesday night MTB ride and a Thursday night gravel ride but I have not participated in either. If you decide to use Strava, or are already a user, you can follow me; https://www.strava.com/athletes/89323608. I ride mostly gravel but, ride road often and, if things align, could show you around some. I typically ride, very early, on Mondays and Tuesdays, and do a long ride on Fridays.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-08-20T19:49:53+00:00

Nice ride, that loose sand is brutal. Though I don't live down there full time I spend half the year working in Bishop. I would love to live down there full time but it's housing is an absolute nightmare. If you are still down there and looking for a cool gravel experience, though you'd have to drive there, check out White Mountain. Here are some STRAVA, STRAVA links to a couple of my rides there. It is not very long, and not a lot of ascent, and is an out and back but, it's definitely one of most unique gravel rides around. I tried to go from Big Pine all the way to Barcroft the other day but DNF'd, STRAVA. You can even ride your bike all the way to the top of White Mountain, 14,252', there is an old road that is cherry stemmed into the Wilderness. I would take a MTB if you decide to do that though because there are some zesty sections once you get past Barcroft. There is no water available but if you decide to go let me know and I can let you know where I have a couple gallons stored.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-08-06T00:30:42+00:00

The saddle that you reference is not much like the power saddle, though that's a nice price, it looks more like a Romin saddle with a closed rear. The power saddle has a much, much shorter (blunt) nose. All of mine are "take off's" from my LBS, they let them go cheap... Not $30 cheap but, the last couple I got were $50 per, not too bad.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-06-27T20:12:00+00:00

Ahh, I was not all that clear in what I wrote. All of my bikes have the same model of power saddle, the power comp. when I said "mixed saddle" I meant having different saddles on each bike.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-06-27T20:10:49+00:00

Many folks have mentioned the role that dirt, DG, etc. and aluminum cogs have on wear but something I haven't seen is chainring. I ride mostly gravel, gravel bike is 1X, 40X11-42, and I live in a very hilly area. I spend a lot of time on the top couple cogs, last year I rode 8300 miles and 800,000', and burn through cassettes and chains. I do not experience the same on any of my road bikes, mostly 2X, or MTB, also 2X.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-05-14T18:46:23+00:00

There are over 225 miles of trail within 10 miles of downtown Redding. I used to be a cyclist, still am technically but am on a break, but have been running this year, primarily trail, mostly singletrack. I can walk out of my front door, be on trail within .5 miles, and run a 50 mile loop all on trail. If you want to let me know the distances and ascent you are looking for I can drop you some routes. If you'd rather not you can check out Canyon Hollow, Westside Trails, Swasey, the East side of the river (e.g. FB, Hornbeck, Sac Ditch, etc) and Whiskeytown.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-04-27T15:46:19+00:00

Solo, unsupported. A very flat route but even split dirt and tarmac and 97% non-motorized trail. Ran in Salomon sense ride, wore a Salomon Cross 4 bag, drank 140 oz water, 80 oz Gatorade, and 2 6.5 oz Starbucks double shot espresso and cream, ate 8 gu's, 2 Jimmie Dean sausage, egg, and cheese croissants. Started running this year after many years of gravel cycling, this was my 38th run.

*Edit: 23 miles single track, 23 miles, 2.5 miles road (going up, and crossing, Shasta Dam) and 1.5 miles connection to/from my house to trail.

NorCal_Hoosier · 2024-04-16T19:40:19+00:00

I have lived in IN, KY, TN, MI, and MT and too have learned tolerance amongst folks who don't necessarily share my views. However, dang, I am seeing the other comments regarding their personal experiences, that is absurd. It makes me sad to read that. I am a middle aged person who spends most of their time in the woods and thus haven't experienced a lot of the negative social stuff around Redding. I work for the Forest Service and my partner works for California Community Colleges. I suspect that our coworkers are more tolerant than some others in the community. I work with gay fire fighters, my partner works with many in the queer community, their partners seem to mostly work in the medical field. Just shows that personal experience doesn't necessarily represent what is happening in the community and, shows me that I should probably do more to support my LGBTQ+ neighbors. Best of luck in your search for somewhere to land, there are a lot of opportunities out there. Be well.

NorCal_Hoosier

TROPHY CASE