Knolly Endorphin 275 – Review
We grab a few weeks out on Knolly’s 130mm trail eater, the Endorphin.
Back in November I had a few weeks on Canadian brand Knolly’s Warden, a playful 150mm bike designed around having fun and riding hard. Like most smaller siblings, the 130mm Endorphin is designed to keep up with it’s bigger brother, snapping at its heels.
The Endorphin I’ve had on test was put together by Decade Europe, the UK distributors and was a no compromise build letting me concentrate on the business in hand, the frameset. For reference the bike was running a Mavic Crossmaxx Wheelset, Rock Shox Yari Forks, SRAM 1×11 drivetrain and brakes, and Kore finishing kit.
The alloy frame makes use of the same 4-bar linkage that drives their burlier bikes, designed to deliver traction and remain really supple through the travel. The frameset comes with the excellent Crankbrothers DB Inline shock, which works well with the suspension. The Knolly website includes a table of rider weights and shock pressures for both the CB and Fox shocks, and a couple of experiments with different weight riders found them to be right on the money.
All the features of the Warden are also on the Endorphin; options for internal or external routing, 12×142 rear end, threaded BB and replaceable ISCGo5 mounts mean you have a modern set up without the faff. Those cranks and wheels you’ve got in the shed? Yep, they should fit. Not bothered by a super-clean finish? Just bolt the cables down. Refreshing in a world of ever changing “standards” to see a brand sticking with what are still popular options.
The angles on this bike show a real understanding of what a Knolly rider wants – low, slack and playful. Just because a bike is relatively short travel doesn’t mean it has to be an un-shreddable XC race weapon. Riding it is a lot of fun, even though the medium test bike was on the small side for my 5’11” height it felt balanced and stable at speed. The cockpit, when ridden by someone more around the 5’8″ height had enough room to hack about on. The 67′ head angle and 337mm BB height, combined with a supple back end mean that the bike just wants to be thrown into corners and launched into the rough.
Climbing, the bike delivers a shed-load of grip through the linkage driven shock, the platform damping of the DB Inline helping to stop the bike bobbing too much. As the going gets technical it bites in, and as long as you can keep your legs turning, she’ll keep climbing. Long fire-road grinds with the saddle high feel a bit odd, the slack seat tube puts you over the back wheel; this is a bike that demands to be hacked up punchy, techy climbs where you are out of the saddle more, rather than the grueling seated slogging of a trail centre drag.
All day trail rides haven’t been as much of an option on this test sadly. At 5’11”, the upper end of the recommended medium range, I’ve just found it all a bit short and cramped in the cockpit. I’m itching to get some proper rides on the Knolly platform, as the suspension delivers a great ride and the bikes suit my “mucking about in the woods all day” approach to riding. Your best bet is to grab a go on one through one of the dealers, Decade can put you in touch with someone, to get a size that boths fits and suits you.
Frame – RRP £1899.99 including Cane Creek DB Inline
Photos – Skinny Dave Morris
