About the Visualiser

Our virtual mechanic is pretty fast. He's also sometimes kind of lazy. He'll swap out frame colors and show you your drivetrain upgrades but he says it takes too long to change brakes and things. He's doing his best but please excuse any irregularities you may notice...

We also really, really recommend that you use the latest version of your favourite web browser. Definitely not IE7 or earlier. Basically, if things look weird here try upgrading your browser.

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If you're trying to see some bigger images of the Hakkalügi Disc click on the 'GALLERY' tab below. That's where the nice big images should be.

Our original Hakkalügi cyclocross frame (current holder of the 2012 UCI rainbow stripes in the Masters 45 category) now has a sibling, the Hakkalügi Disc. The frame is all new and utilizes all of the latest technologies in componentry and carbon manufacturing.

Click on the details tab above for gobs of info, or go straight to the gallery for some luscious images.

The Hakkalügi, while technically a cyclocross bike, has always been much more. We've ridden it on road centuries, on epic dirt rides surrounded by others on mountain bikes and in local underground races. Some of our most popular outings are ones that involve a bit of road and a bit of dirt.

We've raced it in cyclocross races, and a number of them at that. The original Hakkalügi is what Don Myrah rode to a UCI Masters World Championship (45-49) in 2012. He, along with Barb Howe and Danny Summerhill have ridden 'Lugis to National Championship victories. In other words, it's a legitimate cross bike as well as the most versatile bike you'll have in your quiver. You do have a quiver, don't you?

Disc-O-Lügi

The all-new from the contact patch up Hakkalügi Disc, as you might have guessed by now, has disc brakes. Another update is a change to a tapered steerer fork, which adds a tremendous amount of front-end precision, enabling shutter-free, predictable braking. The Hakkalügi disc has new geometry in every one of its 6 sizes from 47cm to 61cm. We've also switched over to a press fit BB, saving weight and adding rigidity. The lay-up is based on the tried and true Hakkalügi lay-up, resulting in a phenomenally strong frame that weighs under 1150g even in the largest size. In fact, it takes 900+ lbs of force at the front axle to break the down tube, more than some full suspension mountain bikes. Despite its extremely low weight, the rest of the frame is also exceptionally strong and does not have any known weak spots. What that means is that you can ride it for years without fear of pesky problems like chain stay or bottom bracket cracks. Our experience with the prior Hak is that the frame will last until someone crashes (hard) or drives into the garage with the bikes on the roof (doh!).

We've built in generous tire clearance. A 38C with good sized knobs will fit, and still have a lot of wiggle room for mud, out of true wheels, and fenders. And that's just on the rear. The front ENVE composite fork has even more room.

Do I Really Need Disc Brakes?

Yes. Rim brakes have greatly diminished braking power in the wet. Would you accept driving a car that required you to think ahead a couple hundred feet before the brakes started working in wet conditions? No. Since cross bikes get ridden in inclement weather quite often, you are faced with this same dilemma. With the advent of disc brakes, that's not true any more. You can bring the speed down faster with the discs vs rim brakes and as mentioned, there's no fork shudder. It also takes lower brake lever force, so you are less prone to hand and arm fatigue. This becomes a noticeable advantage on fast bumpy descents.

The Hakkalügi Disc utilizes a 135mm dropout spacing in the rear, making it compatible with many of today's 29er disc wheelsets without needing to change the axle spacing.

No more being kept down by 'the man'

We've been anxiously awaiting the day when discs become acceptable on cross bikes, and when the UCI relaxed their prohibition of disc brakes, we got to work on the newest version of the "Lugi". With the rule changes, we also knew that the brake manufacturers would be working hard on new hardware for us (and you). The days of drop bar levers with integrated hydraulic cylinders aren't quite upon us yet, but fortunately we have a lot of excellent braking options. Our two parts picks (Shimano Ultegra or SRAM Rival) come stock with the brand new and excellent Shimano BR-CX75 mechanical disc brakes. While these brakes are the best yet mechanical brakes, hydraulic brakes are superior. We are anxiously awaiting SRAM and Shimano's inevitable announcement of hydraulic disc compatible drop bar levers. For now, there are options now from both TRP (Parabox 2012) and from 324 Labs (Brake Adapter System), the 324 we have tested extensively. Formula recently showed a hydraulic brake drop bar lever with Di2 shifting integration.

In other words, we have excellent braking options now, with more on the horizon.

"It's all about the tires"

In California where we live, the State is chronically out of money. One of the things that suffers is road repair. The Hakkalügi Disc is a great solution for bumpy roads. Many tire manufacturers make road tires in 28, 32, 35 and even larger tires that are still quite light in weight and work beautifully on the road. We're not suggesting you ride the Hakkalügi in a criterium, but we wouldn't hesitate to show up on our Saturday club ride on this bike.
The bottom line is, you can put big road tires on it and bomb the rough roads without worrying about your State's road maintenance issues. And you can ride in the rain and grit without ruining the rims.

Gravel Grinding

We've heard a lot of talk lately about 'gravel road' bikes, and the rides in the midwest called gravel grinders: self-supported ultra-endurance um, "races", which are not sanctioned, but are increasingly popular. Events like the Dirty Kanza 200 and the Trans-Iowa are held on gravel farm roads in the midwest, and for the last couple years there was even a 'gravel road world championships' which was held in Lincoln Nebraska.

Gran Fondos (mass start organized road rides) have become all the rage in The States over the last few years. We've already started to see twists on the format, like Echelon Gran Fondo's Hood River Fondo, which this year added a “CrossMountain” routes that mixes pavement with singletrack and dirt forest roads. Levi's Gran Fondo in Santa Rosa for the last two years also threw in a nice dirt option over the nearly legendary Willow Creek road.

We mention these rides because we think the Hakkalügi Disc is a nearly perfect bike for this type of riding.

We are aware that gravel road events are nothing new. The grandaddy of all these rides is over in Italy and it's called L'Eroica. Although you're not allowed to ride bikes on this ride that are newer than about 1987 in the official L'Eroica (held on the first Sunday of each October), you can ride the "DiscoLugi" on the route any other day. Here's a picture from the 2012 L'Eroica by our friend Arnaud Bachelard.

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All measurements are in millimeters unless otherwise noted.

Sorry, no build kit info for the Hakkalügi Disc.