What better way to kick off the week on this chilly Monday morning than with a bit of bike porn. Except in this case it’s not your usual Bikemagic affair, instead it’s a rather fine Lynskey speedway bike.

We’ve all heard of Lynskey, that prestigious US builder of some of the finest titanium frames around but speedway racing, well that is a discipline of cycle racing that is very much underneath the radar. So when you combine the workmanship and skills of Lynskey and the particular design demands of a speedway bike, you end up with the bike in the picture above.

It came our way via an email from cycle speedway racer, Lukasz Nowacki, who was keen to share with us his latest bike. And when we looked through the images attached to his email, we could see why. And we just knew we had to share them with you all.

We’ll hand over to Lukasz to tell us about this unique build.

“I started looking for a new frame a while back, when my old Reynolds made bikes could no longer put up with the demanding world of the cycle speedway experience.”

“I’m a top rider and have to train hard at least four times a week, and race on Sundays. I always valued the tradition of steel, and the sweet handling of a Reynolds tube, over the lightweight and rigidity of a modern aluminium bike. I’ve been looking for an alternative though, and bearing in mind how fragile carbon is, and the fact that we do crash quite often, I was left with only one option, titanium.

“Lynskey came to mind after I’ve seen their products on their distributor’s website. I was curious to see what they’ve had to offer in terms of flexibility of the design, and how much custom could we go. I got in touch with their sales manager, Mr Don Erwin. After a few exchanges we started building the frame. Don asked for the measurements of my existing frame, and asked a couple of questions about the sport, what the key factors were, and what would I expect from a new machine.

“After that, they’ve send me a professional drawing of the frame for me to see into it and approve. Just the fact of seeing my name under the picture was enough to get me excited. I didn’t really know what to expect from it, as I’ve never rode properly a titanium bike. From what I could read about them, I knew they’re much more rigid than steel frames, but lighter than aluminium, and they supposed to last for ages, which is what I wanted the most.

“After a couple of impatient moments a frame finally arrived, it was just a matter of paying the customs, and getting it built. The timing was perfect, as my season was nearly finished, but one meeting was rearranged due to bad weather, and I had a chance to try the Lynskey out. I literally put it together on Friday night, and without any training on it raced my last Premier League match against Poole CSC.

“First thing I’ve noticed getting out of the gate, how unbelievably rigid the whole construction was. The power transfer is so efficient; I seemed to gain a yard going into the first corner, which is a lot in our sport. The set up was always going to be alien, as I’ve not had a chance to test it and set it up. The meeting went very well, the bike was going better and better, on a damp and soft track lightness of the bike made much difference, and in my last race I managed to pull an amazing pass on one of the top riders, going around him.

“I was very pleased with the way the bike rode, and I’m certain this is the best speedway bike out there. With sleek design, beautiful finish, and great sliding dropouts on the back, Lynskey had created a masterpiece. Probably even too posh for the small world of cycle speedway, but I’m sure if any other rider out there would ever have a chance to ride one of those, they wouldn’t hesitate.”

Find out more about Lukaz at his website www.lukasznowacki.com. Photos by Magda Nowacki.

More at www.hotlines-uk.com and www.lynskeyperformance.com.