I ordered in a couple of Surly Knard 29×3.0 tyres to experiment a little bit. First stage of that was to put one on a Velocity P35 rim and see what it would fit through. Turns out it just makes it in a Niner fork.

The ride is very nice, reminiscent of the fat front experiment of last year but a lot more nimble, agile and less hard work going uphill. Even after a short ride this afternoon I’m pretty excited to get some more miles on this set-up and start doing some drawings for a 29+ front and rear frame.

Do reckon it’d still fit on a rabbit hole?

Seems a bit pointless without a 50mm rim.

Niner fork looks good painted to match your colours though Sam.

Sam, The fact you’ve used a niner, does that mean your forks won’t work?

Anyone any photos of a knardt in any other non krampus forks?

The Knard on Rabbit Hole fit’s in any fatbike fork and also both the Jones forks.

Knard on Rabbit Hole fit’s in Karate Monkey, Salsa El Mariachi, Bontrager 26 and 29 Switchblades forks too. Currently have it in a 26″ Switchblade on the front of a Salsa Selma – rides sweet!

Where did you get your Rabbit Hole?

From the front end of my Krampus ;o)

😈

*Keeps on waiting*

And Charlie confirmed the knard on rabbit hole sat nicely in a Niner steel fork, so should go in the Swift steel fork, as they are all but identical.

Only thing that puts me off is the price. What are they £120 ea or something daft like that… 😯

No, not that much.
Tyres in folding 120 tpi are £75
Rabbit hole rims are £139

But you need a 35mm plus width rim, so a cheaper velocity p35 will work, and the tyre is only 1mm narrower on the p35 compared to the rabbit hole.

Meanwhile elsewhere on stw folk are getting wound up about 650b…. These big tyres will be the future for many people.

29er trials rims, whilst a bit weighty, are a cheaper option and very Rabbit Hole like

My Rabbit Hole is in the post 😀

Sam will the Knard/Rabbit Hole theoretically fit in the Puffin F+F?

29er trials rims,

I meant unicycle 😳

@Rorshach – no it’s pretty tight as it is and I don’t think it would fit using a rabbit hole rim.

Stu – it’s still a nice big fat tyre, and you may have missed the bit which said this was the first stage! Plus it’s running tubeless on the P35 and the rim is aroung 200g lighter than the 50mm Surly also – so quite a bit lighter.

Eddie etc – no, it doesn’t fit through a (current) Swift fork.

Kaiser – no intention for that at this point in time. More likely possibility is that I could tweak the Swift to make it 29+ compatible.

Would be nice in the Swift but maybe nicer in the Buzzard?

Yay – my Rabbit Hole has arrived 😀 – looks very well made – weighs in at 695g, so spot on the claimed weight and a handy 150g lighter than the Gordo it replaces, so wider and lighter = win win. I probably won’t be able to get it built up yet as we’re probably going to be snowed in tomorrow 🙁

So Sam, are you going to make a knard compatible swift fork? to use with the standard swift frame.

I would buy one tomorrow!

Clobber…(pic shamelessly borrowed from Charlie…)
Knard on 50mm in Niner steel fork. Having had Niner & Swift forks side by side they are all but identical.

Charlie, rims…tyres…are you stocking these (or planning to)

Yay – my Rabbit Hole has arrived – looks very well made – weighs in at 695g,

hardly 100g more than a P35 .. I’m in. Well, once I can a) get my wallet around that kind of money for a rim and tyre and b) be confident of enough dry weather to need a tyre that big – not had my Ardent 2.4s on since last spring.. what’s your opinion on knards in the damp?

Well my TBH – my Knard was crap yesterday !! Conditions were very slippy and greasy with the recent rain on the hard mud = challenging conditions, and I was trying to rid it like it was still dry 🙁 I suspect even a Nate would have struggled.

Bud ftw then.
😉

niner fork costs more than twice that of the swift!

Hmmm – That’s interesting, I will have to double check in a Swift fork.

Let us know Sam…

Hopefully by next winter there will be a mud specific 29er + tyre.

If it’s muddy, what’s the benefit of such a big tyre? I’ve not tried a proper fat tyre with heavy tread, just normally large 29er tyres on P35s – 2.2″ Purgatories on P35s seem about as big as I can go and still get grip in the wet/mud here.

A fat tyre, 3.8 Nate or even more so a Bud 4.8, have so much grip in mud……. And wet roots……… a mud specific Knard would be nice as would have more grip, in , er, mud 😉 without the weight penalty of a fat tyre. If you don’t think you need one, don’t get one , simples 😉

Sure ) Just wondering where the grip / size ratio thing starts working again – I hear Nates grip well based on tread and sheer footprint size, yet average 2.4’s aren’t great even with a tread that’s ok in wet conditions, compared to a slimmer tyre. Pressure is force over area etc. I just can’t imagine an advantage to offset pushing even more slop out of the way or floating on the top, rather than cutting through. But I like bigger tyres in general so interested to know what I’m missing / not considering ..

Well for real sloppy conditions = fat tyre, nothing else will do. But for the merely muddy conditions, but the ground is a bit firmer a Knard will work well, great grip with Cush, and faster acceleration and faster handling. But if conditions are such that your pushing mud aside then a fat tyre is best. It’s great having both options as the two are so totally different, really. Nate will be on tonight for muddy/snowy conditions.

Ok, so worth trying a nate where I’d usually use a storm control. One extreme to another.. the fat wheel has wider use than I thought. Keeping an eye out for a s/h one to try.

james.
I might have a cheapish fat wheel up for grabs soon.

I can sell you a Larry 😉

Stu/FRC, I am interested .. mail me if so, it may be a sell-on after a couple of rides so it’s really just a try-out. Gut feeling says it’s a bit wrong but that’s no reason not to try something eh.

Be carefull trying fat stuff.

It can get addictive. 😀

Email sent – fat curious , the gateway to fatty addict 😀

I have fork envy.