MIKE'S MINI MONSTER
Landyachtz was started in 1997 in the basement of the Blackcomb Ski Club cabin by two childhood friends, Michael Perreten and Thomas Edstrand. What started as a skateboard brand, with the simple mission of making the highest quality skateboards possible, has turned into a globally recognized brand and industry leader in skateboard product development, good times and exploration! In 2015, Mike took this simple mission to cycling and Landyachtz Bikes was born and we began designing bikes to the same standards that Landyachtz Skateboards are known for.
Late last year, Mike wanted to design a bike that could go further and charge harder than the normal gravel bike. He came up with the idea, using modern hardtail mountain bike geometry and adapting it with the ability to run either drop bars or flat bars. This simple design tweak would make the bike handle like a hard tail mountain bike, perfect for tackling the Vancouver’s North Shore trails in “flat bar mode” or give it the edge it needed to bite off long, hilly single track days in “drop mode.” The ability to run mountain bike wheels and tires while still be relatively lightweight were also key influences of the design.
We built the frame out of titanium and used compact geometry to keep the frame nimble with a large stand-over height. A Paragon Machine Works yoke and sliding dropouts where used so we could run up to a 3” tire and either 27.5 or 29’er wheels. The geometry was designed to run a suspension fork with 100-120mm of travel but we also sourced a rigid carbon fiber fork to keep the weight down when Mike didn’t want or need to run the suspension fork.
The build kit for this bike is a mashup of purpose-built mountain and gravel components. Race Face turbine cranks these come from their XC range. TRU carbon 27.5 mountain rims laced to DT350 hubs to keep the weight down and have quick acceleration with 2.8” Teravail Honcho tires. Sram Force shifters, brakes and derailleur come from Sram’s Gravel/Cyclocross line. and Whiskey No.7 bars and stem, these lightweight alloy bars have the perfect width and flair for off-road riding. The final touch is a hand actuated dropper post.
We decided to nickname Mike bike the “Mike’s Mini Monster” because it’s a lightweight mountain ready gravel bike and alliteration is awesome! Mike has been testing the limits of what this thing can handle on Vancouver’s North Shore and Sea-to-Sky corridor and is loving it!
