Knolly Chilcotin joins the Vancouver based bike co. line up

Last year, when we could go places and ride, I spent a week riding the trails in and around Whistler’s bike park on a Knolly Warden. That was a 27.5 long travel big trail bike. Today, Knolly have launched the Chilcotin, which is like a Warden on steroids. If the 160mm travel of the Warden isn’t quite enough for you then the Chilcotin goes 10 higher to 170mm. Oh, and it gets big 29r wheels too.

I’m a fan of Knolly bikes – I’ll disclose that now. It’s not just the way they make their bikes and the unique designs they offer – it’s also the way the sell them. There’s always a frame only option and when they do build up a complete bike the options are simple. They also manage a fine line between a dealer stocked brand and direct seller. Order from them online and they will work with your nearest dealer to fulfill your order, making sure they get the full dealer cut.

29r Wheels

Straight Seattube

170mm travel

167mm rear travel

Head Angle

BB Height

Chainstay

Seat Angle

They are a small company selling a pretty hefty range of big travel bikes around the world.

For us here in the UK our options are limited to ordering direct and having bikes shipped to us direct from Vancouver. There’s no distribution/dealer network in the UK right now for Knolly but I’m told they are working on it.

Anyway, let’s learn some more about the new Chilcotin from the Knolly presser we have here.

The Knolly Presser

We set out to design the next generation of the Enduro race bike and we’re proud to  release the new Chilcotin. The goals were simple: make the bike fast as hell and super  manageable even in the worst race conditions. Our new ride features 29’er wheels, a  completely new design (the last Chilcotin was a 26’er!), our industry leading patented  Fourby4 suspension and two suspension travel options for when you need to push your performance to the next level. The Chilcotin is ready to race enduro and tough enough  for large freeride hits. 

The Chilcotin uses our most advanced Fourby4 suspension technology and delivers the  highest quality of suspension travel available, with a fully progressive curve that will  easily manage the biggest hits while maintaining initial sensitivity and Knolly’s  acclaimed mid stroke support. 

The back end of the bike has been lengthened compared to our trail and freeride  models to increase high speed stability. Like all our bikes, our Fourby4 suspension is  designed to reduce the effect of brake “squat” thereby enabling the wheel to maintain  contact with the ground and maximizing speed through the most challenging terrain.  And our legendary pedalling traction is fine-tuned to ensure consistent pedalling  performance – even in jank – so you can get on the gas whenever you need to eliminate  another second off your time.

The Chilcotin’s geometry is highly progressive but not designed to escalate or play one  upmanship with the “longer, lower, slacker” trend. Most bikes in the industry are built  (and sold) on their static geometry, which is not indicative of how they actually perform  on the trail. We have always focused on the bike’s “Dynamic Geometry”: which is how  the bike performs when it’s “in use”, not how it looks on paper.  

Adjustable Geometry  

There are two adjustable geo settings (slack or neutral), so that you can tailor your set  up to match your riding style. It’s as simple as removing a bolt, sliding the shock  forward or back and re-installing the bolt. The Chilcotin’s effective seat tube angle  changes from 77.6 (neutral) to 76.9 (slack) and the head tube angle changes from 64.5  (neutral) to 63.8 (slack).

Suspension Options  

The Chilcotin platform is incredibly versatile with one frame and two fully progressive  suspension travel options. This offering allows our riders to set up their bikes based on  their riding styles. The Chilcotin 151 build kit features a 160mm fork and 151mm of rear  travel. The Chilcotin 167 build kit moves to an aggressive chassis 170mm fork (38  Float or Zeb) and increases rear travel to 167mm for extra back cushion when you  need to push your riding to the next level.  

Offset Straight Seat Tube Design (OSD)  

157Trail  

In line with our next generation of recent releases, the Chilcotin features 157Trail rear  hub spacing which uses the wide flange 157 hubs with 73mm BB shells. This update  provides the most options for tire size and can easily clear tire widths up to 2.6. With  the move to 157Trail, heel clearance is exceptional and chainring clearance remains  huge at 36T.  

Materials  

We’re known for building our bikes with super high quality aluminum and this model  is constructed with 6066 series hydroformed aluminum alloy tubing. It’s the most advanced weldable tubing alloy available and has a combination of high tensile strength and excellent durability. It’s easy formability allows us to create complex shapes to  maximize torsional stiffness and ensure a high performance, predictable ride.

The Chilcotin also features internal routing, an open cockpit downtube protector and water bottle mounts. 

*to view the Chilcotin 151 Geo & Specs: https://www.knollybikes.com/chilcotin151

SIZING, PRICING, COLOURS & AVAILABILITY 

The Chilcotin comes in medium, large and extra large and we’re offering two build kit  options: DP and EC kits. For this release, we’re serving up two great colour choices  including Moody Blue and Raw, and the Chilcotin complete bike pricing starts  from $5300 USD. It will be available for sale this December at your Knolly Bikes  Dealer and online: www.knollybikes.com.

Singletrack UK notes on pricing and shipping

As stated on the Knolly website all bikes are priced in US$ and not Canadian $. This is worth remembering when pricing this up. The base model Chilcotin is priced. at US$5300, which roughly converts to £4075 at time of publishing. But, as Knolly also make clear, outside of the US and Canada customers will be responsible for paying any landing charges, import duty and VAT. These are cost you are likely going to face paying to the courier company that drops it off.

We spoke to Ken at Knolly about the likely landed costs to a UK customer of the $5300 Chilcotin. Knolly are very experienced at sending bikes around the world and so working out an estimate is something they are used to doing for international customers.

Ken reckons that the base level, fully build Chilcotin for $5300 would today work out to approximately £5435. the frame only option would be approximately £1910 delivered to the UK. These figures could change daily depending on exchange rates and any changes to import duty. As would seem obvious, check all the numbers before placing your order.

Oh and let’s not forget the required marketing video edit

Knolly Chilcotin Gallery

Mark Alker

Singletrack Owner/Publisher

What Mark doesn’t know about social media isn’t worth knowing and his ability to balance “The Stack” is bested only by his agility on a snowboard. Graphs are what gets his engine revving, at least they would if his car wasn’t electric, and data is what you’ll find him poring over in the office. Mark enjoys good whisky, sci-fi and the latest Apple gadget, he is also the best boss in the world (Yes, he is paying me to write this).

More posts from Mark