Létrange Carbon MBB

[IyhelM]

So here is the new bike that I just picked up this morning:

It was built in 2024 by French craftsman Jean Létrange.
Jean is a semi-retired luthier from Mirecourt, in the Vosges mountains in Eastern France, actually it is reknown as the world capital of instruments makers; he started making MBB bikes over 15 years ago, carbon ones 10 years ago.
He builds one bike per year, rides it for a handful of months, sells it and then starts making a new one.

In France, we have 3 craftsmen working on carbon recumbents and particularly MBB, Létrange, Malric Leborgne with the infamous Zockra bikes, and a newcomer Maladik. Zockra mostly stopped after 2015 as he turned to shipcraft, Maladik is struggling to start, so these bikes remain elusive to say the least, I’ve been trying to snatch one for the past two years! So when Jean put in on sale, I jumped on it.
I tried it last month at Jean’s place, they were a few adjustments to be done, we met halfway this morning for me to finally take over
I can state with enough emphasis how long these past four weeks have been!

Now I need to change the wheel set for a lighter one with a dynamo hub and nice tubeless GP5000s, transfer the framebags from the Silvio and hopefully on next Friday I can ride it for my first brevet of the year - a 200 km loop around Mont Ventoux.

 

[Rolling Along]

I am curious how much it weighs as shown (with pedals, mirror and front fender).

 

[Frito Bandito]

Nice snag on a very interesting bike lyhelM. I like the front (camera?) mount and the suspended seat idea. Please let us know how it feels over the bumpy stuff. You probably don't need to carry much for a 200km brevet. but do you have plans for a tailbag? If so it would be nice to hear your thoughts on what you have planned for storage.

 

[IyhelM]

As it is it weights 11 kg; I can gain easily 1 kg with a good tubeless setup - minus 400 g for a dynamo hub. I’ll transfer the Geosmina bags too, that will add 600g, plus as much for the minimum survival toolkit, front and back lights, it should reach 12.5 kg in riding order, around 3 less than the Silvio.

The 2 x 5 l of the framebags should be plenty enough for a 200, I’ll travel there with the Banana Racers as a temporary solution but yeah, a tail bag looks like a good idea as there is some nice clearance at the back of the seat and it would improve the aerodynamics. I’m thinking about trying to adapt a Universal Aero but it’s expensive, heavy and not waterproof so maybe I’ll take the time to sew something custom myself.

The mount on the beam is designed for a computer but trying to set up my Insta360 there is a good idea!

 

[IyhelM]

First riding impressions: originally my idea was to ride it all the way back home yesterday but during the night from Saturday to Sunday a cat decided that sleeping was not an option for me so I was in no shape to ride 150 km. So I took a train back to Paris and only rode 30 km from the railway station to my house.
I had 5kg of luggage in the side bags, faced slight headwind, was slightly sleep deprived and did not try to go all out, yet I still managed to smash a handful of personal bests on my way home, with an average speed of 29 km/h instead of 26 maybe with the Silvio. This is encouraging!

The seat angle is 33º in the middle of the backrest (vs. 27º on the Silvio) and goes up at shoulder blade level which is definitely less aero but gives significant better support than the flat Cruzbike seats; combined with higher BB, I feel I can put more power in simply because of a better posture. The front triangle is also much stiffer than the S’s (no suspension).
Current drivetrain is 1x11 (42 Aldhu oval / 11-42), I was afraid that would be a bit long for sustained climbs as I’m used to a lower ratio of 30/34 on the Silvio but thanks to the better efficiency and maybe the oval ring too I am confident taking it to the brevet next week (2350 m of elevation over 200km, no significant slope above 10%) - we’ll see

The steering angle is less vertical (64º) than on CBs, but not as extreme as some other ‘European’ designs (Speculoos, Sokhol, etc.); with over 20k on a MBB, it was very easy to learn to ride, I’m still not completely at ease at low speeds and in tight corners but after barely 50 km with the bike it is expected. Wheelbase is 116 cm, 10 cm longer than the old S but close to modern CBs.
Overall I would rate it between the Vendetta (V1, heavy beam and long bases) and the Silvio (V2, lighter beam and short base) for ease of early handling. Mind you I would not put it in every hands - I don’t care much people crashing in slow motion on my battered 15 yo Vendetta but I’d like to keep this one in mint conditions

 

[Greg S]

What a beautiful bike!

 

[IyhelM]

I liked the previous one even better:

Double chainring, internal cable routing, a tad racier; but it didn’t allow for larger tires than 28 mm I think (I could go as large as 40-584 on mine)… and it was not available!

 

[IyhelM]

Now existential questions:
Head first…

… or tail first:



I also tried 6l Deuters but it does not look good:

 

[Boreen bimbler]

Tail first looks better to me. Lovely looking bike. How do you adjust it for leg length?

 

[IyhelM]

The seat can move back and forth by a few cm, more by drilling new holes or modifying the bracket.
You could also cut and reassemble the BB to shorten it by 5 cm.
Definitely not as convenient as the CB system; as I said I went to Létrange’s workshop last month, base setup was a bit too long for me and I didn’t have enough clearance at the handlebars for my thighs; the existing holes in the seat allowed to move the seat 2 cm forward, for the stem Jean had to cut and insert length of carbon.

 

[cpml123]

Now existential questions:
Head first…
View attachment 20039
… or tail first:
View attachment 20040


I also tried 6l Deuters but it does not look good:
View attachment 20041

I would probably go tail first. I feel like if you go head first, when you unzip the bag, stuff would fall out much more easily and make a mess.

 

[IyhelM]

Good point; never got any issue on the Silvio but the steeper seat angle could encourage some stuff to try and break free!

Changed the wheels today, transferred the Hunt ones with the dynamo hub, fitted brand new GP5000 (one gave me a bit of work, it is still probably a bit cold out there, the compound was too stiff), installed front light. Need to drill the seat tomorrow to set up rear light and the bags; not sure yet if I’ll go with bolts or straps, the latter would mean I could easily remove them but it requires cutting slots instead of simply drilling holes… Then cabling and I’ll be good to go!

 

[IyhelM]

One nice detail: no need for a kickstand!


Disclaimer: do not try this with a Cruzbike, the steering angle makes it very unstable; do not try this in windy conditions; do not try this with luggage.

 

[IyhelM]

Weight update with Hunt wheels with dynamo hub, tubeless GP5000 32 mm, bags, lights and toolkit: 12 kg.

 

[Greg S]

Impressive weight. I’d be curious what it would be with a “weight weenie” build, I’d guess somewhere around 10kg, perhaps less.

 

[IyhelM]

Impressive weight. I’d be curious what it would be with a “weight weenie” build, I’d guess somewhere around 10kg, perhaps less.

When I first tried it last month, it was fitted with a very light 700c Duke carbon wheelset, under 1.3 kg; without lights, bags, etc. it was less than 10kg, even closer to 9 I believe.
If I remember well the 2021 Létrange, based on a lighter carbon road bike diamond frame (not a MTB like this one) was closer to 8 kg.

 

[IyhelM]

Ready to go; lights cabled, bags hung; tools and 500g of food on the right, 2 litres bladder and high vis vest on the left, rain jacket and pants in the bottom bag, 16 kg!