Esker Debuts Hayduke LVS

Be Like J.P.: The Esker Hayduke LVS (Image Courtesy of Esker)

Many of you dear readers have no doubt seen and heard about Jay Petervary's tragic ending to his Great Divide Unearthed ride aboard a prototype long wheelbased bike packing bike from Esker Cycles. Well, good news on two fronts: JP is aggressively attacking rehab, as you'd expect, and making progress. Secondly, Esker Cycles has released the Hayduke LVS for your consideration as a bikepacking/touring platform. 

The frame is made out of titanium with cold-formed tubing. It features the same front triangle as Esker's Hayduke hard tail bike. So, it can handle up to a 120mm travel suspension fork. Tire clearance is up to 29" X 2.8" tires. 

The frame also features 24 accessory mounting points for bolt on frame bags, or water bottle cages. The frame has 6mm rack mounting points and Esker also has created the "MOLLE Rackwald" (Ha!) rack which utilizes the MOLLE accessory/pack mounting standard. The rack is available separately at $300.00. The Hayduke LVS is also compatible with Salsa, Old Man Mountain, and other rear racks.

The Hayduke LVE shown with the MOLLE Rackwald and Cedaero frame bags.

Frame bag companies already set up for making Hayduke LVS bags are as follows: Cedaero, Rogue Panda, and JPacks. I would assume others will follow if this bike goes as well as planned. 

The frame has the new version of the Portage dropouts which can allow a single speed, bail-out option. This dropout also is compatible with the UDH hangar and SRAM Transmission rear derailleurs. 

All images in this post are courtesy of Esker Cycles.

Price: $2950.00 USD or a complete bike can be had for $4950.00 USD. See the webpage for the Hayduke LVS HERE. 

Comments: The concept of this bike is intriguing. It draws obvious comparisons to the old Salsa Cycles Blackborow (v2) which was a fat bike with a very similar profile. A bike JP actually used for his successful Iditarod attempt to Nome, Alaska several years ago. 

I've heard nothing but good things about how that Salsa fat bike handles, climbs, and rides. Esker claims that this is a superior ride quality bike packing rig, and with it being made in titanium, I've no doubt that this is the case. JP seemed plenty pleased with his prototype that was sadly destroyed in the crash he suffered at the hands of motor vehicle operator. 

I'm interested in the bike since it can handle 29 X 2.8" tires, which I would want to run on something like this at times. (Most of the time?) I love the frame material. I am intrigued by the frame pack capacity, although this could be like purses and garages: The bigger they are, the more stuff you fill them with. Maybe unnecessary stuff... 

I'm a bit reticent to consider this on the basis of its price, fair as that may be, and maybe more importantly, because the bike is long, probably ungainly to portage, and a chore (on my end) to park it when not in use. But those are my problems, not necessarily your problems, so take that under advisement. 

Overall I think this is a rad idea for gravel, rough-road, and off-road touring. It should be a really sweet riding bike, but of course, I don't know that, I am speculating here. However; if JP has nothing but good things to say, that's a heady endorsement. Expensive, yes, but worth it if it does the tricks it claims it will do. It will be fun to see what people make of this as time goes on.

Thanks to Esker Cycles for the press release and information used in this post.