This was the beginning of it all. Lanhammer numero uno is a traditional race geometry 29″ mountain bike. It has sliding dropouts so that it can run as a single speed. But occaisonally I install a dropout with a hanger and mount a derailleur. It’s a versatile design for all types of XC riding and racing.
This was the very first Lanhammer and I had to gather some tooling and develop some skills before I started welding tubes together. I built a fixture from T-Slot Aluminum bars and metal cones that could hold tubes in the desired geometry. Once the head tube, bottom bracket, and rear axle are located firmly, you can start placing the long tubes in between. It’s not as adjustable and fancy as a professional fixture, but it gets the job done for the few bikes I was planning to make.
The tubing I chose for this frame is a Nova butted cromoly set. The main tubes are .8/.5/.8 thicknesses. That is a medium weight profile that I thought would be easy to work with for a beginner. The rear triangle is made from Nova S-bend chainstays and seatstays. The finished frame is just about 5 lbs.
The powder blue color was applied by a local powder coat shop. It’s a super durable single stage powder.
The final build uses a set of lightbicyle carbon wheels, a fox 32mm float fork, and a Race Face Turbine crankset. It weight about 23lbs in single speed trim.
I rode this bike for a long time before I started on another frame. I wanted to make I liked what I built and learn from my mistakes. 3 years later I’m still riding this one all the time. Overall it was a successful first bike project.
