diff --git a/variants/nicerf_lr2021/target.cpp b/variants/nicerf_lr2021/target.cpp
index b98ddfb8..8737d6a0 100644
--- a/variants/nicerf_lr2021/target.cpp
+++ b/variants/nicerf_lr2021/target.cpp
@@ -1,12 +1,22 @@
 #include <Arduino.h>
 #include "target.h"
-#include "EspIdfHal.h"
 
 NiceRFLR2021Board board;
 
+// On ESP32-C3, FSPI (SPI peripheral 0) is the only general-purpose SPI bus.
+// Using SPIClass(0) per maintainer suggestion. If this returns all-zeros on
+// your board, define USE_ESPIDF_HAL in platformio.ini to use the ESP-IDF SPI
+// HAL workaround (see EspIdfHal.h for details).
+#ifdef USE_ESPIDF_HAL
+#include "EspIdfHal.h"
 static EspIdfHal hal(P_LORA_SCLK, P_LORA_MISO, P_LORA_MOSI);
 RADIO_CLASS radio(new Module(&hal, P_LORA_NSS, P_LORA_DIO_1, P_LORA_RESET,
                              P_LORA_BUSY));
+#else
+static SPIClass spi(0);
+RADIO_CLASS radio(new Module(P_LORA_NSS, P_LORA_DIO_1, P_LORA_RESET,
+                             P_LORA_BUSY, spi));
+#endif
 WRAPPER_CLASS radio_driver(radio, board);
 
 ESP32RTCClock fallback_clock;
@@ -24,7 +34,11 @@ bool radio_init() {
   fallback_clock.begin();
   rtc_clock.begin(Wire);
 
+#ifndef USE_ESPIDF_HAL
+  spi.begin(P_LORA_SCLK, P_LORA_MISO, P_LORA_MOSI, P_LORA_NSS);
+#else
   hal.init();
+#endif
   return radio.std_init(NULL);
 }