Here at Flow, in amongst the stream of test bikes that come and go, we always like to have a couple of bikes on hand to serve as long-term test mules.
These are the bikes that we use to review products and components. We’ll keep them in service for between six months and year, riding them as much as we can. The logic is that we become very familiar with the bike so we can better determine how, say, a new shock or set of tyres effects the ride quality.
Here’s the latest addition to the Flow stable – the BH Lynx 4.8 29. We delivered our first ride impressions of this bike a few weeks back and it’s fair to say our opinion was pretty positive. Since then we’ve acquired a bare frame and built it up with a whole host of new (and some used) parts, most of which we’ll be delivering a full test write up on soon.
At present, the BH is decked out with the same XX1 drivetrain that we’ve been running for the past nine months. Suspension is all Rockshox, including a Monarch RT3 shock and Reba RL 120mm fork. We hope to get our hands on the new SID when it appears back in the country too.
We’ve just installed the new SRAM Roam 50 wheels, which we’ll be giving a good hard testing over the next few weeks, and shod them in new Specialized Purgatory and Ground Control rubber. Again, we’ll be testing these tyres over the next few months, so expect a review soon-ish.
Specialized also provide the dropper post, with a 100mm-drop version of the Command Blacklite post (we had to opt for the 100mm version as the interrupted seat tube design of the BH wouldn’t work with the 125mm version – it was too long for our test rider).
Over the past few months we’ve been predominantly using two bikes as the sleds for our product testing – the Yeti SB66C and Trek Superfly 100 Elite – so it’s great to bring the BH into the mix as well, as it sits quite nicely between these two bikes in terms of riding style.
The weight of our BH Lynx test bike, as you see it in the photos with Shimano XT pedals, dropper post and bottle cage, is an impressive 11.47kg.
While you’re here, why not check out some of our other bike tests too?
