Posted on May 17, 2022 by Tyler Benedict
The new Esker Hayduke Ti and Japhy Ti mountain bikes take the versatile, trail-loving geometry of their steel hardtails and give them new life with seamless, butted, cold-shaped 3/2.5 titanium tubing.
Both share extremely similar frame details, and are designed around 120mm suspension forks. Here’s what you need to know to decide between them: The Hayduke Ti has a bit shorter TT/Reach/Wheelbase lengths and 67.6º head angle, and fits 29×2.6 or 27.5×3.0 tires. The Japhy Ti is a bit longer and gets a slacker 65º head angle, and is designed specifically for 29ers with a max 2.8″ tire width.
Framesets come with Portage sliding dropouts, giving you hub/axle width and gearing options (like singlespeed) as well as the ability to slightly customize the geo.
A custom chainstay yoke increases tire clearance and room for 34-tooth round (or 32-tooth oval) chainrings.
A few extra braze-ons give you more spots to store stuff, and a bead blasted finish with rainbow anodized graphics makes it pretty.
Framesets come with the sliding dropouts, a Wolf Tooth Components headset, seat collar, and axle for $2300. Those, and a Level 2 complete bike ($5200) are available for purchase now with delivery in June. Level 1 and 3 complete bikes will be available later in the season for $4400, and $6000. Full spec builds and more details on their website.
Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com. He has been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for 14 years. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel to killer riding locations throughout North America.
Based in North Carolina, Tyler loves finding new travel adventures to share with his family and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part to make his bikes faster and lighter. And, he’s totally gone down the NFT rabbit hole.
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Is anyone else out there tired of all these “brands” that “design” bikes but don’t make anything? Oops, I mean, where are these frames made? Lolz
designed AND made right here on planet earth…
Is you cellphone made by the designers? Or even on the same continent? How about your clothing? Or half of your diet? esker is a passion driven company. Making really cool bikes at a reasonable cost. I happen to know they value domestic production/sourcing when possible and if customers would pay for it instead of moaning about supporting domestic labor that you would have more options to satisfy you.
Photographing the gap at the chainstay yoke is tricky because of the angle, so maybe I’m not seeing it right, but it looks like those tires are too big for that frame. It looks like the vent sprues are hitting the yoke. And that’s beyond not fitting.
There isn’t a single shot where the rear tire clearance looks anywhere near acceptable… certainly wouldn’t meet US CPSC requirements for clearance if sold as shown (complete).
I think that this tire size requires the sliding dropout to be all the way back, which it isn’t. I have a (steel) Japhy and the clearance difference with the dropouts forward vs. back is significant.
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