The Knolly Chilcotin 29"
You'll notice a few features carried over from the Fugitive 29 and the Gen 3 Warden - Like the 157mm rear spacing, hydroformed straight offset seat tube and the refined Fourby4 linkage.
Looking at the smaller travel Fugitive 29" at only 135mm of travel - That definitely could hit above it's weight with that deep and supportive rear suspension and it's crazy quick when the trail opens up - no slouch on the climbs either
The new Chilcotin takes it up a notch with 167mm (or 151mm ) of rear travel. Just like the Warden and Fugitive you can change the shock stroke to switch travel options. The Chilcotin has a slack and neutral setting at the lower shock mount which will give you a 63.8º head angle in the slackest setting.
It does not have crazy long reach at 464mm (medium), the big wheels and extra travel do help keep stability at high levels - this looks like a nice balance of monster truck smashing and still keeping that crispy-ness when it comes to handling
This a big bike and can take a dual crown fork but it's good to see Knolly stick to the low bottom bracket at 338mm. It's no myth that the corner fantastically well, almost like of like a well tuned race car a few mm's off the ground. The Fourby4 offers that nice sensitivity at the initial stroke and the progressivity to fight bottom out and it plays well with a air or coil shock.
The low stack (626mm) and standover height 710mm for the medium which will suit smaller riders who still want those 29" wheels. The seat post length is also tiny at 405mm, this makes it a lot easier to fit a super long dropper post.
If you are looking for a well made aluminium frame, the Knolly's are hard to pass up. Loaded with details like the custom titanium pivot hardware, angular contact bearings, keyed axle pivots and well thought out routing and a lifetime warranty.
Quick Specs
- 167 or 151mm rear travel
- 29" Wheels
- 157mm rear hub spacing
- Aluminium only
- 63.8º Slack / 64.5º Neutral head angle
- 76.9º seat angle (slack)
- 464mm reach in a medium
- Raw and Moody Blue (lilac)
Dawn Patrol and Extra Credit builds available with the optional upgrade to the Industry Nine 1/1 Enduro-S or the Hydra-S
Who's this for?
If you are consistently riding steep gnarly terrain, always searching for sketchy lines and hitting drops and jumping off anything you can and needs something that is dependable when your landings are not-so-smooth. You'll also want something the edge out those short steep technical sections, you're not a whip but happy to sit down and turn those pedals to the top - all for hitting that descent again!