When it comes to the relative value of used bicycles, the relative rideability of used bicycles, even, there’s something to be said for being proportionately long of leg. Take me, for example, even going back a decade, I can upsize on most frames to get a current Reach number whilst still running an adequately long dropper post*. Oh, hang on, I’ll come back to this.
Yesterday, I was out with some friends on a mountain bicycle ride. It was beaucoup déjà vu. A rare trip to my teenage pedaling grounds, the Woodlot in Maple Ridge, but more directly, our adventuring party consisted of me on my rigid single-speed and three friends riding their Knollys.
During the first decade of the K-brand’s existence, from V-Tachs to Delirium-Ts, to Endorphins, etc., the phrase ‘my #1FG and [X] friends on their Knollys at the Woodlot’ could have summed up a lot of rides. Actually, if you were to try to extrapolate information about mountain biking just from snapshots of every mountain bike ride I’ve been on, thanks to my friends, you’d think that Knolly was the largest mountain bike brand out there, and half of the folks who don’t ride one are on single speeds.
*{It’s wildly frame dependent. But, in my case, usually 170-180mm and then bumping up to 200mm in the last half-decade.}
Yeah, so. I’m sad now that I didn’t snap a couple of pictures, but there we are pedaling up the hill. A sixty-something, a fifty-something, a forty-something, and a thirty-something. It’s an old-timey group ride with everyone hitting the steepest pitches at their own pace, but also climbs are social time.
I’m on my Banshee Freeride BMX, and between them are three generations of Knolly Chilwardliriums. One brand newish mullet in Clairebarian-approved Blueberry*, a last-gen all-27″ two-piece-shock-linker in raw with coil suspension front-and-rear {those Vorsprung Smashpot conversions are still RAD}, and an old highlighter rig with 142×12 rear hub spacing, 11-speed SRAM shifting {the best}, and a PUSH 11-6 shock.
It’s the last rig that I was thinking about as I rolled into this chat because, while it’s around a decade old, aside from the big frame with double small wheels, it looks entirely modern with an all-leg rider pedaling it. The Reach vs. seat tube length ratio will be off for the average rider, but the actual seat tube angle (STA) isn’t that much ‘too slack,’ the head tube angle (HTA) is current, and the Reach isn’t terrible with the stem slammed and a riser bar. And to be clear, that’s comparing it to a new rig as opposed to just another edition of ‘buy the bike you already own.‘
*{I know I’m usually a grumpy no-credit-giving bike nerd, but props to Knolly for the switch to small-batching colours and also hitting it out of the park with the options. Even the orange-black fade that I didn’t love online actually looks awesome in person.}
So we’re cruising down one of the most fun trails I’ve ridden. Not hard, not tech-gnar, but not a ‘flow’ trail either, just, I mean, mountain biking, and I’m thinking about this decade-old rig. It could use a bottom bracket, maybe some fresh stoppers, and if it were mine, I’d be tempted to mullet it, but that’s moving away from the fact that it’s clearly plenty o’ fun as it sits.
If the owner were short of leg relative to their height, the seat tube length would be a serious detractor, unless they’re one of those medium-large folks happy running a 125-150mm dropper, in which case it would be fine. A bike that the original owner could certainly keep riding past its tenth birthday, and, in this case, the perfect {years ago} used purchase for someone whose Allosaurus legs rival the T-Rexiness of my arms.
And I was thinking, I have something for this, so I went digging into my archive of quotables, and pulled up this one from a chat with my friend Alex in 2024 {February 18th to be precise}.
“For most of our riding lives, newer has typically been better. But, we’ve recently crossed into a time when I’m not so sure anymore.“
Now Alex is on the bleeding edge of non-motorized mountain bicycles, continually considering hair-splitting micro-improvements, so if he’s feeling the malaise of settled magnificence, then for those of us {say, me} pedaling five-year-old rigs and thinking that newer doesn’t really offer anything until we actually wear stuff out, well, justified much.
And heya, if you’re craving a new mountain bicycle, don’t let me stand in your way. There are plenty of good reasons, including “I feel like it.” Maybe you want to try a mullet, or go back to dual 29″, or are overcoming fashion for a return to your favourite dual-27″ wheel setup. Or 38mm forks look meaner, or downtube storage makes you keener, or you really want to charge a few more batteries in your life – dropper, shifter, fork, & shock? Or, you’re done with hardtails, or done with sag wagons. All good.
And, maybe, you just are tired of the colour and want some fresh stoke in your life. And in the {industry-wide} absence of original ideas, I have to hand it to Knolly here. Anodized bronze is my favourite, but between their small collection of models, they have a TON of awesome finishes, and there isn’t one I wouldn’t ride.
To make a short story shorter, fresh paint may be the only reason for many (most?) folks to buy a new bicycle, and Knolly has been killing it with the small batch colour options.
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