Agreed, but I think even the Big Three are guilty of churning out mass produced chinese garbage.
edit: I’m referring more to road frames than mtb, it seems mtb has less variety of frame materials
Heres a neat breakdown on their quality, with specific reference to carbon vs aluminum: https://www.knollybikes.com/quality
Personally got my eyes on the Endorphin. Already have a park/dh ride and dont wanna stray too far from my hardtail roots
Okay so…
In complete agreement with @bent6543 but unable to get myself a Cotic at a smokin deal I’m going aluminum, again. Cost vs benefit just doesn’t seem to add up to a yay vote not to mention confidence in carbon standing any test of time or granite. Ordered my Knolly Warden raw frame and now contemplating my build.
See new thread…
Rock shox Pike vs Fox Float 36… Go!
1 Like
@shadowfox70 Titanium is way better than carbon but I’m not prosperous enough to even contemplate s Ti frame.
@rossw Full suspension. Dilemma now solved. Knolly had a very limited amount of small frames so I was considering carbon. I just wanted to know failure frequency and general opinion.
@nova if you want a Knolly Endorphin then move quick. The line is being redesigned so there are no 2018 models. Very limited stock. I was first interested in the endophin but an now doing the warden. Come by the shop and check it out once I get it.
I don’t think Carbon strength when the frame isn’t crashed is a concern. I crash a lot (If you’re not crashing, you’re not trying hard enough 
). I’d be concerned about scratching the Carbon on our rocks (think Fight Trail), leading to a catastrophic failure of the frame. Isn’t that why a lot of Carbon frames have a frame protector on their downtube?
I have a Giant Trance Advanced and I’ve been riding it hard for the past 8 Yrs. Everything on that bike is carbon. Frame, Seatpost, Seat rails & shell, Handlebars, Brake Levers, The Rear Derailleur lower part of the cage and jockey wheels are carbon. I have not broken a single piece of it. It has scratches and dings, I’ve ran the BB into granite and concrete, I’ve hit trees and washed out at high speed. I’ve stood up after catastrophe and winced at the very true notion my bike may have exploded. Pick it up, its fine.
I also have a Marin AXC. Aluminum frame. I was railing fast down a trail, hit a rock someone had drug into the path. A big one. It ripped the entire BB off. Fluke; Maybe. My experience; I have never had a carbon frame fail in even a minor way. Let alone major & I own more carbon bikes than I do aluminum.
4 Likes
Save your money and buy a Rockshox yari. It is literally the exact same chassis as the pike, the only difference is the damper. Instead of the fancy charger damper it uses the damper that they considered top of the line before the charger damper came out. I wrote of a Pike last season and didn’t want to shell out the money for a Pike. So after some research and talking with the RS Techs I spent half as much on a Yari and it works just as good and is just as light as my Pike was. I realize the Yari isn’t “cool” but it’s a great fork with a strong chassis, I hate fiddly knobs so I got teh basic version to replace my overly complex pike with travel adjust, etc. And if you take the Yari decal off off of the arch no one will know the difference.
1 Like
This. x2
The pike is a nice fork and all, but the Yari and Revelation (which is now a 35mm chassis) would get my vote as well. I wouldn’t buy a Fox fork unless it came stock on a bike I was buying.
Much cheaper, simpler to work on, and you get the identical air spring.The charger damper is a pain to work on compared to the Motion Control unit.
Rockshox full service manuals are on their website, and parts are easily available on the internet.
2 Likes
I’ve a Pike on one bike, and a Yari on the other
I actually think I prefer the Yari, but that could just be how I feel about the whole bike
I stuffed a bunch of tokens in, which made them feel a lot better for me (and my 95kg)