Knolly Delirium T

6″ burly AM

Holy freaking Cow!!!! What an amazing bike. This bike was so much more solid. smooth, and quiet (no chain slap, no rattes, not creaks… like the whole thing is machined out of one big solid piece of aluminum)… down my usual Skyline to East Leg route than anything else I rode at the show (with the exception of the V-tach). Absolutely straightline tracking through the BC super chunk. You could not knock this thing off center with a sledge hammer and the 55 RC3 fork was by far the best fork I rode. Buttery smooth and able to swallow large boulders in a single gulp. It also exhibited the best small bump compliance of any forks I tried (Disclaimer: It was also the only coil fork except the WB I tried…. although it feels better than my Van36 too). I hope Marzocchi has their reliability issues ironed out because I love this fork (The stickers were already peeling off after two days use so I hope that’s not a sign of things to come). The rear end stays active while braking and gobbles up square edged rocks as well as the fork which only adds to the feeling of super confidence while railing a rocky, chunky line suspended on the side of a cliff like Skyline/East leg. The rear triangle is STIFF and there is no hint of any lateral flex. I mean, we’re talking hockey puck-sized Viagra stiff. Brilliant climber through techy junk though I did notice the slacker head angle and seat tube angle conspiring to cause the front end to wander a bit on really steep slick rock climbs compared to my 6.6. It also outweighs my 6.6 by a good 4-5 pounds even with a DHX-Air which btw is somehow transformed on this low leverage ratio four bar configuration. I’d love to feel how much better a Roco or CCDB would be on there. The 2.6/2.4 Maxxis Ardent dual ply tires felt solid and confidence inspiring as well. Way better feeling on rocky tech than the BigBetty’s on my 6.6 but they are starting to show signs of wear and chunking after only a week of riding which I was a little disappointed in.

The frame construction is uber burly and utilitarian yet still comes together nicely in the looks department…. .at least to my eye. I love a bike that is over built and built to last and last. That’s one of the things I’ve loved about my HH100x. It just keeps going and putting a smile on my face 7.5 years later. As you may have surmised this was my favorite bike of the show. In fact I liked it so much and Noel gave me such a good deal on this demo that I bought it. Anyone want to buy a beautiful slightly used Hot Rod Orange 6.6?

Lest you think I’m totally twitterpated with new bike love there were a couple of minor bones to pick. It felt a tad nose heavy in the air although it is not hard to pull the wheel up and over ledges (anyone know the weight on that 55RC3?). I got chain suck a couple times and I’m not thrilled with the under the bb routing of the front derailleur cable with the big loop hanging down. It’s also heavy and it remains to be seen whether it will be too heavy for big, climbing, adventure ride, type days. It absolutely ruled on Burro Down and Gold Bar Rim to Portal though.

Bottom line: I bought it. What more can I say?

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