DB North Vancouver

Store Blog

We Ride: Jeff’s Knolly Endorphin

Posted: Jun 03 2010 in Reviews

Whether we ride our bikes, or use them as towel racks; the good folks working in the bike industry have a, generally well earned, reputation for changing our rigs more often then we change our undergarments.

So, with over 300 Days of, mostly rainy, All-Mountain riding courtesy of the North Shore mountains one could certainly excuse Jeff if he had any plans to replace his well abused Knolly Endorphin (www.knollybikes.com)

The bike that Jeff readily calls "the best bike I have ever ridden" and "the perfect bike for what I do" has seen multiple full rebuilds to its Fox Talas 32 150mm RLC and Fox RP23 rear shock and "more rubber then a dead skunk on the Trans-Canada highway" (it's -partially- a Don Cherry quote!) but still swings -smoothly- on the original bearings!

This annodized black sub-28-pound 6" travel rig sports a Shimano XTR drivetrain, shifters and brakes (with a nice-and-light 203mm Magura Marta SL rotor up front), RaceFace Next carbon bar and Atlas stem, Thomson Masterpiece post, Stan's rims (with tubes, thank you very much), Ti-Railed WTB Rocket-V saddle,  Specialized lock-on grips, and -of course- a Chris King headset.

-brutal- cellphone Photo: Drew@NV / Bike: Jeff@NV's nicely kitted and sweetly abused Knolly Endorphin

When you ride as much as Jeff you go through A LOT of tires. His current rubber of choice up-front is a 26x2.4 Continental Trail King (formerly called the Rubber Queen) with Conti's soft "Black Chili Compound" and out-back he is rocking a 26x2.25 Maxxis Advantage.

Clean or dirty the bike looks WAY better in person (especially compared to my brutal camera-phone photo) and rides WAY better then it looks. Throw a Fox 36 on the front and rip it around the Shore or build it light with a 120-140mm fork and sign up for whatever epic you want.

The Endorphin descends way beyond its -carefully calculated- 140mm of rear suspension would suggest (in a way that makes you wonder where a lot of other companies are pulling their travel numbers out of) and its unlimited climbing traction seems to stand in contradiction to how nimbly the bike pedals.

We stock the Endorphin (and the Delirium and Podium) in a variety of colours and sizes and we usually have a bike or two built up on the floor as well. Stop by and check out Knolly's line-up of bikes or to talk to us about specing out your own custom Endorphin starting at ~$4000.00.

-Drew@NV

 

 

 

Read more DB North Vancouver Store Blogs »