2017 Knolly Grassroots Racing - Applications Open

2017 marks the fourth year for the Knolly Knation Grassroots Program aimed at supporting selected athletes with Grassroots level support for racing in disciplines of Enduro, DH, and XC. This program has helped develop hundreds of racers over the past few years by providing them access to high performance bicycles and supporting accessories for their racing needs.

2017 represents another exciting year as we have more progression with the athletes in the program. 2016 saw Steve Storey move from Tier 2 status to the Factory Team and Steve killed it in 2016! Hailing out of Whistler, BC, Canada, Steve is a unique rider since he specializes in just about everything from trail ripping to full-on DH racing. Steve placed 1st at Whistler Crankworx this year in Air-DH and Canadian DH (expert division), had great success in the Deep Summer photo challenge at Crankworx, and also GoPro’s ‘Best Line’ series of competitions. Here an example of Steve’s edits from this summer:


Steve is back for his second year in 2017 and will be riding for the factory team. Photo: Justa Jeskova

“This was the intention of the program all along. Not only to get these young racers started in the race experience but to nurture them into competitive racers at a world elite level.” - Kevin Waterbury – Knolly Bikes Director of Sales & Knation Grassroots Overlord.

Steve Storey is the first rider to work the program bottom to top. Congrats Steve!

Our second racer to grab a full factory sponsorship is Dylan Crane, who’s hometown is Carbondale, CO. Dylan is a fast, young buck showing lots of promise as an Enduro and DH racer. 2016 was his first year racing against the big boys in the PRO category, and he had strong finishes at AngelFire finishing 8th in Enduro and 11th in the Pro GRT DH. Dylan keeps getting faster every year so we are excited to see what 2017 brings. We're stoked to announce that Dylan has moved from Grassroots Tier 2 status to Factory for 2017. Congrats Dylan!

Dylan's latest edit training on some of his home terrain:


Photo: Seth Beckton

The Delirium is incredibly versatile with two different set ups and geometry. Dylan showing off his DH set up here. Photo: Kai Maulhardt

---

This program would not be possible without our sponsor partners, and we are very stoked to have O’neal signed on again this year as the supplier of the official team race kit. Other valued sponsors include Cane Creek, Spank, EVOC and Suntour providing top quality products for athletes signed to the program.

“We’re fortunate and honored to work with these companies that support the program. We all have the same objectives in mind to support Grassroots Racing and develop athletes so working together has allowed us to build the program and drive synergies. It’s been awesome to see riders like Steve and Dylan progress through the program and we are eagerly looking to grow the program each year.” - Ryan Berrecloth – Knolly Bikes Marketing Manager

Oneal's Element FR Blocker. This will be the 2017 Grassroots kit. You may have seen Team Rider James Doerfling recently rocking this kit at Rampage slashing monster lines.

---

2017 Knolly Bikes Line Up

The Knolly Bikes model lineup for 2017 is built for pure speed. Each model features our patented and proprietary Four by 4 suspension package which focuses performance around traction leading to Maximum Traction Control (MTC), speed and ultimately winning. Here is a breakdown of models that will be available to thru the Grassroots program at ‘team only’ pricing around the world:


This no holds barred beauty means you'll be winning before the race even starts. Sleek, sexy and fast as hell. "On your left!."




The Endorphin is the weapon of choice for tight/fast Enduro courses where pedaling is the difference between winning and losing. This bike is mind blowing nimble and like any other Knolly tougher than your favorite NFL team's nose tackle.

And now we have to give a shout-out to the race managers who carefully select their teams for each territory around the world. These guys work their asses off each year and deserve a lot of credit for making the Knation Grassroots Program a success every year:





Shout out's to Tier 2 racers returning for another year in 2017 - Adam Davis, Martin Zietsman - Cape Town, South Africa, Damon Sevidy - Whitefish, Montana, Bryce Helbring - Midvale, Utah, and Maximillian Jakubowski - Pforzheim, Germany.

---

Do you want to join the Knation?

The process is simple: Find the race manager that covers your hometown (further territory details can be found on our site at www.knollybikes.com/grassroots), and send your manager a race resume with your proposed 2017 race schedule. We are looking for responsible riders with positive attitudes to represent our brand around the world. Good race results, consistent positive ambassadorship and mad social media skills are considered in all applications. We look forward to hearing from you!

Brian Waugh - Southwest USA, Midwest USA, East Coast USA, and Europe / contact: brian@knollybikes.com
Duncan Jones - Duncan Jones (aka Dunk) / Territory: Canada and Asia / contact: duncan@knollybikes.com
Shea Jordan - Shea Jordan (aka Spanish) / Territory: Mexico, Central and South America / contact: shea@knollybikes.com
Ralph Havens - Ralph Havens (aka The Doctor) / Territory: Pacific Northwest / contact: ralph@knollybikes.com
Tristan Purss - Tristan Purss (aka Trigger) / Territory: Australia and New Zealand / contact: tristan@knollybikes.com
Brenton Bowers - Brenton Bowers (aka Bibi) / Territory: South Africa / contact: brenton@knollybikes.com

www.knollybikes.com

---

MENTIONS: @KNOLLYBIKES / @oneal / @CaneCreekCyclingComponents / @SRSuntour / @evocsports

---