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Brodie Bikes Unveil Their First 29er Mountain Bikes: Khan and Crib

2012 Brodie Kahn 29er mountain bike
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2012 Brodie Khan 29er mountain bike

At this point, anyone bringing their first 29er bike could either be seen as late to the game or smartly waiting to see whatever everyone else did then do it better. Many claim the latter, many are simply the former. Brodie, however, was waiting on forks.

More precisely, they were waiting on the availability of forks that met their requirements for rake and trail, letting them dial the handling to what they thought a 29er should be. Here’s how they put it:

“The art of having a bicycle steer the way you want it to is having the “trail” of a bicycle fall within a certain range.  The trail refers to the imaginary line through the center of the steerer tube and the vertical line of where the center of the hub lies.  Fork manufacturers can adjust where the hub lies by offset (by hub placement on the fork legs and/or fork crown spacing).  The longer the trail, the floppier the steering (DH bikes) and vice versa the shorter it is, the twitchier the feel (road bikes).  When designing our 29’er two key aspects were critical, the fork trail and the chain stay length.”

So, how did this translate into a Brodie 29er?

2012 Brodie Khan 29er mountain bike explaining what is fork trail on a bicycle

“Until recently, forks weren’t available that would allow us to produce a 29’er which met our expectations. Now that suspension forks are being offered with sufficient offset we’d like to introduce you to the brand new 2012 Brodie Khan; fresh new graphics, 70-degree head tube angle, 100mm Manitou Tower with 51mm fork offset and short 437mm chain stays!”

Two models are offered, the higher end Khan shown above and the Crib.  Both bikes share a shaped, butted 7005 aluminum frame and are available in four sizes. Differences come in the spec and price. The Khan gets a Manitou Tower fork, Hayes Stroker Trail hydraulic disc brakes and a mostly Shimano SLX drivetrain. Wheels are Deore center lock hubs with Sun rims. Price is $1,849 US/Canada.

2012 Brodie Crib 29er mountain bike

The Crib uses a Suntour XCR fork with the same offset but reduced 80mm travel, Shimano Alivio/Deore drivetrain and hydraulic brakes. Price is $1,025.

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wv cycling
12 years ago

Hasn’t Gary Fisher been doing this for a while? How much trail have they implemented? More or less than 51mm?

dgaddis
12 years ago

This is still a me too bike. Fisher’s have been using longer offset forks for years, and the chainstays, while on the short side, aren’t unique, they’re pretty typical, only 2mm shorter than Niner’s Air9 and Giant’s XTC 29er (439mm), and 2mm longer than Specialized’s Stumpjumper (435mm). A 70degree HT angle isn’t revolutionary either.

Chad
Chad
12 years ago

Yeah, I think that at this point if a company is coming out with their first 29er; then, it isn’t that they were waiting for the right time, its that they were getting dropped. I mean, to many people a 29er isn’t special anymore, its just a mountain bike.

AlexK.
AlexK.
12 years ago

Short chainstays? Hardly. There are quite a few sub 17″ chainstay hardtails out there. In fact, there are FS bikes with shorter chainstays than this one.
I’m glad they’re finally copying designs from 3 years ago

Sevo
Sevo
12 years ago

Wow! A 29er…how cool. Bonus: They probably got a sweet deal on the frames by splitting the order with Breezer.

Geez…really. I’d have a bit less sarcasm if it weren’t for the claims they are making. They cookie cuttered it really. Just admit it. Not bad to go with what works. But don’t try to call it your own. Might as well change your name to “Justin Bieber bikes” from Brodie. May help. If his reach will buy his crappy albums, they’ll buy the idea Brodie is onto something with this “new” geometry.

Kovas
12 years ago

Ditto everybody else. Waiting for forks that would “meet our expectations…” – Oh puhlleeease. Late to the game boys, late to the game…

Mikeeeeeeeeeeeee
Mikeeeeeeeeeeeee
12 years ago

Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh……. just what the world needs…… ANOTHER 29’er HARDTAIL !!! 😛

Mikey D
Mikey D
12 years ago

There is nothing wrong with having “another 29er” I just think that it definitely has taken the place of the HT 26″ bikes and that everyone (company) should have one. That being said.. yes, late to the game. At this point companies have to accept that they are probably not going to revolutionize the 29er game with their first outing.

Brodie Bikes
12 years ago

First off we’d like to thank you guys for taking the time to read what we had to say; you okay Sevo, you seem a little angry lol.

We apologize if the information doesn’t come across as clear as we meant, it was merely a release to let consumers know that our 29’er is now available and why we haven’t had a 29’er yet. Like WV said, Gary Fisher has been doing this for awhile now and are actually a company we hold in very high regards for 29’er evolution; they have the ability and size to influence fork manufacturers to create product with parameters which we agree with. For this, we praise them!

Short chain stays were a key factor in our design which would still allow for a “meaty 2.1” tire for aggressive yet responsive riding style of B.C. In no way are we trying to take claim to having the shortest chain stays.

Again, we apologize if it offended you guys we never meant to slag any other companies, designs or claim to be the “revolutionary” 29’er. As a 6-person company compared to the larger companies out there, our releases and products have to be methodical and sometimes like Kovas said “late to the game boys, late to the game….” haha

PS: Thanks Mikey D, we agree; 29’er could potentially replace the 26″ one day!

Brodie Bikes

jebspeed
jebspeed
12 years ago

well said Mr. Brodie, well said. Ain’t nothing wrong with another option out there. The geometry may not be brand new but it is very good.

Sinman
Sinman
12 years ago

I just bought a Canfield Bro’s Yelli Screamy, 68 deg. head angle and sub 17 chainstays. I could not find that geo from any big company, although the Kona Honzo was close, but too heavy. This Brodie does not seem to offer anything new or different.

dimples
dimples
12 years ago

^ Brodie Bikes is not Paul Brodie.

Brodie Bikes
12 years ago

Appreciated Jeb.

Sinman- what’s the biggest tire can you run in there? Reason why we couldn’t go any shorter was because we wanted a semi-beefy 2.1 tire. We were thinking of doing a more aggressive 29’er, but our next 29’er project will be a few more models within the line and a Titanium version.

Sean
12 years ago

I have been riding a GF 29’r for 5+yrs and just recently sold it to pick up one a new Brodie Khan.

Sure, this bike is not revolutionary. Sure, the geometry may not be revolutionary. However, the Khan’s geometry is perfect – yes, perfect (for me) – it is quite possibly the most confidence inspiring hardtail I’ve ever ridden.

Brodie may not be the biggest bike company in the land, or the smallest, but what Brodie does do is make very good bikes across the categories they dabble in.

Bravo boys! I love my bike!

soma sister
soma sister
12 years ago

Dear brodie bikes,

2.1 is not wide or beefy. That is xc racing thin in the modern 29er world. 2.4 and 2.55 is wide or beefy. Many short chainstay bikes can fit these size tires.

Thank you for making a 29er bike btw

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