Knolly Endorphin Review

TESTED

Knolly
Endorphin

WORDS Mike Levy
PHOTOS Amy McDermid

With 26'' wheels and an aluminum frame, Knolly's 140mm travel Endorphin may not trigger nearly as much excitement as the hyped-up 650B-wheeled bikes that seem to be taking the lion's share of attention these days, and we'd say that the sturdy looking machine is a bit of a sleeper in the current trail bike marketplace. The man behind Knolly, Noel Buckley, seems to have purposely steered clear of much of the design details that lead to marketing-friendly buzzwords, choosing to instead use a threaded bottom bracket shell and the aforementioned 26'' wheels. There are some smart concessions, though, with routing for a dropper post and a 12 x 142mm rear end, as well as a set of replaceable ISCG 05 chain guide tabs in place. It is those tabs, a bit of a rarity on a 140mm travel bike, that hint at the Endorphin's intentions as a trail bike that doesn't shy away from a spot of rowdy riding.




Frame Details

Aside from the small 'Four by 4 Linkage' decal on the bike's non-drive side chain stay, the Endorphin is refreshingly free of any slick three letter acronyms or phrases that would claim to make you a better rider than you actually are. There are some smart details that can only be spotted by looking a bit closer, and the lack of marketing belies a beautifully made aluminum frame. While they were once manufactured in Canada, Knolly has moved frame production to Taiwan in order to stay competitive in a today's marketplace. Don't let the unwarranted stigma of offshore manufacturing give you the wrong idea, though, with the welding and finishing on the Endorphin rivaling anything we've seen built locally.


The frame's cable routing is far from invisible, with external housing guides along the underside of the top tube and the top of the down tube, but we'd still call it clean looking. There is no allowance for an internally routed dropper post, but there are plenty of external options that should work well with every post on the market, and the cable stop for the front derailleur is removable if you decide to run a single ring over a double or triple setup. Likewise, a set of bolt-on ISCG-05 tabs can be removed if you don't require a guide (or replaced if you happen to damage them), and the bike uses a direct mount front derailleur that is bolted to the front triangle rather than an extension off of the chain stays as found on some designs.

We weren't surprised to see ample tire clearance at the Endorphin's seat and chain stays - Knolly is a B.C.-based company, after all - but the amount of space in there actually puts many DH bikes to shame. Just for fun, we installed a set of high-volume 2.5'' Kenda Excavator tires front and back and found that there was nearly enough room left over for us to slide our thumbs in on each side. While tire clearance, chain stay length, wheel size, and front derailleur positioning are all factors in the amount of tire clearance a bike sports, Knolly seems to have figured it out correctly. Moving further back, a 12 x 142mm rear end has been used, with a standard threaded axle that requires a 6mm hex key along with a 4mm to loosen the pinch bolt. While obviously not as convenient as a Maxle layout, it does appear to be both quite burly and impervious to working its way loose over time.

Specifications Release Date 2014 Price $2275 Travel 140 Rear Shock Cane Creek DBair CS Fork FOX 34 Float 150mmCTD ADJUST FIT Headset Cane Creek "forty" series Cassette Shimano XTR 11 - 36 T Crankarms Shimano XTR Bottom Bracket Shimano XTR Rear Derailleur Shimano XTR Chain Shimano Front Derailleur Shimano XTR E-type 2 direct Shifter Pods Shimano XTR 10spd Handlebar Race Face SIXC Stem Chromag Ranger Brakes Shimano XTR Trail Hubs Hope Pro II EVO Spokes DT Swiss Competition, black Rim DT Swiss XM450 Tires Maxxis Minion DHF/DHR 2.35'' Seat Joystick Digital Feather Seatpost KS Lev Compare to other All Mountain/Enduro/XC

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Riding the
Endorphin

Climbing/acceleration: The Endorphin isn't exactly a purebred climbing machine, but it can more than hold its own when the time comes to gain elevation. In fact, the trickier the climb, the better it performs, with great traction on hand that seems to search out any available bite. Rear wheel spin was near nonexistent so long as we had the slightest bit of form, even when we were flailing up a stepped pitch that did its best to make our life difficult, and that fact always seemed to keep the bike moving forwards rather than stalling out. Much of this Super Glue-like stickiness is surely down to the bike's relatively short 425mm/16.7'' chain stays that helped the rear tire find adhesion, and it really let us concentrate on staying on line rather than if we were about to spin out. Praise also has to be heaped on the Endorphin's Cane Creek DBair CS shock that, even when set to its firmer and more efficient pedalling setting, allowed the rear end to track the ground and find traction when it was needed most. And when that traction was found, the front end suffered from very little too no front end lift on pitches that have had other bikes wanting to rotate backwards over the rear axle, an issue that we were fully expecting to deal with but one that never reared its head, despite our test bike's short Chromag Ranger stem.

While the Knolly was well balanced and forgiving, traits that let it make surprisingly short work of steep, technical ups, it seemed to lack a bit of spirit when putting the hammer down. The feeling was not unlike using a set of heavy wheels (mind you, the bike's DT wheelset is far from heavy), and was there even with the DBair's Climb Switch feature activated. It just didn't leap forward with the enthusiasm that other bikes of the same travel have displayed, and the stopwatch also confirmed that we were consistently slower on extended grades.



Technical riding: Given the Endorphin's spiritual home of North Vancouver, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that the bike can hold its own on rooty and slow speed moves. Sections that test a rider's balance more than their ability to find a line at speed are not difficult to deal with, and the bike has a low feel to it that makes such situations easily manageable. Need to pivot the bike around what looks like an impossible corner? No big deal. Likewise, the front of the bike pops up as needed, whether under power or not, and it didn't take much effort to put it down exactly where it needed to be. All of this added up to a machine that performed well at near standstill speeds.

The bike's aforementioned balanced handling and ability to seemingly pull traction out of a hat like a magician made steep chutes feel not quite so steep. Kudos has to be given to its active yet neutral feeling suspension that doesn't punish a rider for grabbing a handful of brake to prevent certain death, and its FOX 34 Float CTD fork felt more controlled and forgiving of such situations than we expected. Of course, the power of the bike's XTR Trail brakes, along with the 150mm drop of its KS Lev seat post, are all factors in the its adeptness on the steeps.



Downhill: What should a 140mm bike be capable of? A whole lot, at least in our minds. With that sort of thinking, we pointed our bright yellow Endorphin down everything from smooth pump lines to hairball trails like Goat's Gully and Joyride in the Whistler Bike Park. A rig like the Endorphin might see anything, after all, so we why not test it on everything? Besides getting a lot of funny looks from downhillers, we came to the conclusion that the Endorphin is one hell of a solid machine, one that manages to hold its own on some serious terrain relative to how much travel it sports. Nowhere is this more apparent than on rough ground full of small to mid-sized impacts, places where the bike's rear suspension can mute such terrain as if it had an extra 20mm of travel - it simply felt more forgiving than other 26'' wheeled, 140mm travel bikes that we've ridden in the same places. Don't get the wrong idea - it's best to ride the bike like the mid-travel machine that it is - but we felt comfortable carrying a bit more speed into toothy segments of trail or dropping off something that we might otherwise roll down on similar travel bikes, and that sort of ability adds up to a whole lot of fun on the Endorphin. And with suspension that can punch above its weight class, including its FOX 34 Float CTD fork that performed well once we nailed the correct air pressure, the Endorphin can be pointed towards some bold moves that would worry most other 140mm travel bikes. You'll still always want to search out a good transition before leaving the ground (that is true with any bike, though, isn't it?) but the Endorphin tolerates hard impacts without causing much concern.


The bike's biggest strength lies in its balanced handling, with our large-size test bike finding traction and remaining predictable when hanging it out beyond our comfort zone. And getting to the edge of that comfort zone and beyond was quite a bit more fun on the Knolly compared to some other lighter duty trail bikes on the market, very much because of the bike's rock solid personality - it isn't a DH bike, but it certainly thinks it is sometimes. There was very little shuddering or protesting, and very few skittery and loose moments that often become a real problem in the heat of the moment, especially on a 140mm travel rig, and the day-glo bike constantly surprised us with its composure.



Component Report

• Shimano's XTR Trail brakes have enough power to slow down a runaway train, let alone a sub-30lb trail bike, and comfortable ergonomics that feel spot on. They do have more initial bite than a set of equivalent stoppers from Avid, which can be either good or bad depending on what you're looking for, but it is their consistent lever feel that wins us over in the end. No pumping up, lever reach that doesn't migrate, and not even a hint of fade. Our only gripe is the lack of an effective bite point adjustment, something that we've often harped on about in the past.

• Our Endorphin test bike came from Knolly with a set of Maxxis' Minion tires that felt a touch skittery when pushing hard in our dry, dusty summer conditions. There is no denying their performance, though, as they are used worldwide by some very accomplished riders, but silty and loose trail certainly aren't their forte. We installed a set of more aggressive Kenda Excavator tires and instantly felt more comfortable when riding on the edge.

• The combination of a Chromag Ranger stem and Race face's SIXC carbon handlebar not only suits the Endorphin's solid and dependable personality, it also creates a cockpit that feels spot on for a bike that is intended to be ridden hard on demanding terrain. We point this out because it isn't often that we agree with a company's stem and bar choice, but Knolly certainly nailed it.

• The Endorphin's Joystick Digital Feather seat honestly felt a bit too soft for us at the first push with our fingers, but it proved to be one of the more comfortable seats that we've spend long periods of time sitting on. Those used to harder racer-style seats would be losing out to assume that it isn't ideal for the long haul.



Pinkbike's take:

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Reviews and Tech Reviews Enduro Bikes Trail Bikes Knolly Knolly Endorphin