Riding it this weekend, but wanted to post a few shots.
A quick word on the Knards and Rabbit Hole rims – The 120tpi Knards are very light for their size. No, i didn’t weight them, but people are claiming around 900 grams. I would actually prefer to have the 27tpi version just from the feel of the 120 tpi version because the sidewalls are very thin! I wouldn’t run these tubeless unless I was only riding dirt roads and loamy singletrack and no rocks or twigs would ever have a chance to hit the sidewall. They are that thin, in my opinion. But otherwise, they look like a fast tire in terms of rolling resistance and knob height. I think people have been echo’ing these same thoughts — great, we finally got Knards, now what?! Let’s go bigger and knobbier! We’ll see what gets released in the next year. I still think they have more up their sleeve and that the 29×3-plus category will only grow in coming years.
The Rabbit Hole rims are much nicer quality than the Rolling Darryl fatbike rims I have. They Darryls have inconsistencies in the finish, even dents that were made in manufacturing are present! I just think they aren’t very well made. The Rabbit Holes seem different. They have a very light feel to them even at 50mm wide (49.5 actually) and the finish quality seems more dialed in. You can tell Surly is wanting bikes setup with this rim/tire combo to be solidly in the mountain bike ‘all-rounder; category (and not in the Fatbike category) where the Knard/RH bike is quick handling but rolls over everything without suspension. I set the tire pressure at 15psi and it was too high. I set the front at 10psi and the rear at 14 but I have a good feeling that I’ll be running them (with normal 29×2.25″ tubes, that is) at 8/12psi or thereabouts. I imagine that running pressure higher than 15 you’ll get bounced around like on a fatbike with high tire pressure. Sadly, I don’t think this will be a snowbike unless it’s frozen crust or very packed conditions…but I will be trying it out on snow this weekend.
How did the Rabbit Hole / Knard set up do on the snow?
Well, i only got out for two rides before it stopped snowing last winter (Sierras). But from what I can tell, the setup is worthy of most packed snow conditions and most of the days that I’ll be out riding here – which is snowmobile or cat-packed trails or snowshoe packed trails even. I ran the tires at 7psi front, 10 rear but it was a pretty warm day with packed snow. It’s definitely not going to be as good for soft snow conditions as a 26×3.8″ setup or fatter with 5psi.
Here’s what I wrote after the first ride on the snow:
http://meriwethercycles.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/knard-ride-report-snow/