Esker Cycles' Hayduke Hardtail Back in Stock With Updated Fork Spec
PRESS RELEASE: Esker Cycles
The Hayduke started with our vision for the perfect hardtail. Designed around modern frame geometry, a versatile dropout system, and custom drawn steel tubing, Hayduke is a capable mountain bike built to be used as a single-speed, a singletrack machine, or a bikepacking rig. Since its creation, the story of this beloved hardtail has been one of local singletrack rides, stargazing overnighters, and worldwide exploration.
Until now, Hayduke complete builds have been equipped with a 120mm 29” fork built with 27.5”+ wheels and tires to allow riders swap between the 27.5”+ and 29” wheel sizes. While that same swapping ability still exists for Hayduke framesets, complete builds will now feature a dedicated 27.5” fork with 140mm of travel. With the same axle to crown fork length being used on all Hayduke complete builds old and new, we were able to increase the fork travel within the 27.5” package while still making a bike that suits the needs of trail riders and bikepackers alike.
This newest offering on Hayduke completes paves the way for riders to simply choose between the dedicated 27.5” complete platform with the Hayduke, or a dedicated 29” platform with an upcoming Esker hardtail model to be released soon. For those riders that like to choose their own adventure, all Esker hardtails will be offered as frameset only, allowing you to build up your bike just how you like.
The goal with Hayduke has always been to make it as easy as possible to set it up how you like, and hit the trail. For that reason, this steel hardtail also continues to feature the versatile Portage dropout system, which was designed to allow riders to easily switch drivetrain types, hub widths, wheel sizes, and chainstay lengths. Frames comes standard with internal dropper routing, a plethora of braze-ons to attach anything that you can dream up, and external mix and match routing guides that mount to any of the existing braze-ons to allow riders to place external frame bags or cages, and tune their cable routing to wherever is clever.
Hayduke framesets come standard with Portage dropouts, an axle, seat collar, and a Wolf Tooth Components headset for $750. Complete builds are available in limited quantities at 3 levels starting with H1 at $2000, H2 at $2950, and H3 at $3250. Framesets and completes are available through eskercycles.com. eskercycles.com.
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I mean they were hyped a lot.
I think they were initially overhyped, and now they're bashed on too much, but they're decent forks, as long as your expectations are tempered. I had a 150mm ribbon 29 and recently replaced it with a 160mm smashpot lyrik... no comparison, huge upgrade for that bike. The ribbon has a lot of stiction (although I'm still on pre-choco-luxe internals), and the damper is harsh and not tunable. The air spring is actually really tunable, but if you read a lot of the negative forum feedback, it seems many people are running way too much negative pressure, likely to try to compensate for the harshness, but this makes it wallow really badly into the midstroke, ime.... it does well with equal pressure in pos and neg chambers.
I dropped that ribbon down to 125mm (air spring is internally adjustable in 5mm increments, which is nice) and moved it to my xc bike, and I'm really happy with it on that bike... feels more suited to that bike and the riding I do on it. The compression dial can provide a nice firm xc platform if that's what you desire. I think the ribbon SL would probably be a good fit and that's the route I'd go if I could do it again. I think the ribbon is a decent fit for how I would use this hayduke frame (xc and bikepacking), but I'd want the 29er version... I wouldn't want to be limited to 27.5 front wheels. I think the bad reputation that the fork has gotten more recently, combined with the decreasing demand for short travel 27.5 parts, has led to mrp ending up with a surplus and they probably made esker a sweet deal on them.
I’d be stoked to ride something like this if I could only afford one bike. Would’ve been a way sweeter first real bike than my ss rigid 29er with xc race geo.
What works for an fs bike isn’t the same for a hardtail. And if you are riding the rowdiest of trails on your hardtail and need a cromag then go for it. But 90 percent of people would be better off with geo like this.