Leviathan 32er – Frame

Description

The Lenz Sport Leviathan is built for speed with 32 inch wheels and 110mm of travel. As the popularity is growing with 32 inch wheels in the XC racing circuit, we decided the Leviathan would be a great chassis to redesign with this new wheel size. The Leviathan is an XC trail bike built for all around trail riding and distance racing. The bigger wheels increase high speed stability with the extra wheel base and added fork trail, and we have adjusted the cockpit length to create a good balance of stability at speed while keeping it maneuverable in the tight terrain. 32 inch wheels roll over rocks and roots even easier than a 29 inch wheel making the Leviathan a great bike for trails with lots small rocks and bumps since the wheels will help cancel those bumps out and help you to keep moving forward. All Lenz frames are 100% handmade in Colorado USA.

Understanding 32er bike geometry:

It’s important to understand the effects a larger wheel has on bike geometry and handling. When we increase the wheel diameter by 3 inches (29 inch to 32 inch), this has two immediate effects. The first is an increase in chain stay length which also lengthens the wheelbase. The second is an increase in fork trail which adds to high speed stability and reduces slower speed stability. The reduction in slower speed stability (also known as wheel flop), is going to make it harder to control the bike in slower tighter corners and technical sections. Two ways to improve this is to steepen the head tube angle and add more rake to the fork, however, at this time there are no forks available with more rake. Besides a slightly steeper HTA, the best way to preserve some of that slow speed agility is to keep the reach on the shorter side. You get plenty of added high speed stability from the increase in fork trail and chain stay length, so a shorter reach is going to be a game changer on a 32 inch wheeled bike. The Leviathan comes in multiple sizes with various reach lengths. The standover clearance is designed very low on all the sizes so if you want a bike that is fast but more maneuverable, choose one of the shorter reach options. If you want the most high speed stable bike and don’t care as much about slower technical terrain, then choose one of the longer reach sizes. The other effects that occur with the larger front wheel are a higher front end and higher bottom bracket, so we shorten the head tube and increase bottom bracket drop to adjust for those factors.