RRP: £999
www.upgradebikes.co.uk
Review by Frazer
After being a 29r convert I was a bit annoyed that the Brilliant offer from Kinesis of a frame didn’t include a wagon wheeler in the range. I plumped for the best they had to offer and that came in the form of the KM810.
I found a great pair of wheels and them set about pulling the entire race equip of the big wheeler to see what this Frame would bring. I was right in the middle of the Gorrick spring series when the frame arrived and I took my time to build the bike and make it pimp. New cables and new tyres and new wheels.
My test ride was a road ride to work to make sure everything was secure and gears indexed correctly. My first thought was this is a fast bike, convinced myself that it was mainly down to the tarmac and put the bike to sleep for the race the following day. The Bike got its race debut and shakedown ride all in one. Wow, it was fast off the line fast in the single tack and climbed like a road bike. The race was a blur and so was the KM810, I got a 6th 6 places better than the last race. The following race I got 2nd place on the podium. My Best Ever results at the Gorrick, I have to give some of that credit to the BIKE.
The slightly slack head tube gives the bike such great handling; it makes you go even faster through the twitchy stuff. Light, stiff and Bloody fast. In fact getting to places faster than expected has put a few riders in trouble in a couple of races. Its one of the only bikes I have that can change my mood if I don’t want to train, the smile comes back very quickly. Its almost like cheating.. (Perhaps there is a motor in it).
10/10.
____________________________________________________________________
Review by Oli
I’m always wary about reviews from people who are given stuff to ride by their sponsors, as I always presume them to be biased. One aspect of The Kinesis Morvelo Project (The KMP) is to banish this. Sure we are given things but if they’re no good, we won’t run them and say what we think. With this in mind here’s what I thought of the KM810.
This is a bike a could ride and own forever.
I’d like to leave it at that but maybe it needs more justification. The bike is absolutely dialled for its intended purpose. To get you from A to B, or from A to A for racing, as fast as possible with the most amount of fun. Sure, it’s carbon, lightweight, aimed at first glance to those that like to keep their nose on the handlebar and pedal like f*ck.
That was my first impression too. Something that was perhaps a bit fragile and not really suited for having fun as such. Speed instead of smiles. That is until I rode the damn thing and after a couple of months of hard riding and racing (and some gentle rides to the pub) nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, it’s fast and quite uncompromising but the Dom at Kinesis know his onions when it come to creating a great handling bike, and this is true to form.
The bike just loves, absolutely loves, to be thrown around, jumping off roots, manualling whoopy sections (this is far the best and easiest manualling bike I own, even above the BMX), rattling down steps, jumping off steps, carving banks. You name it. Fun, fun, fun. Which goes so nicely with fast, fast, fast.
So much so that I don’t even notice the effort sometimes, My race times are quicker (even winning a race this year) and I’m picking lines that are far more adventurous. You only have to look at the type of riders that are on The KMP to notice there is a big emphasis on treating the bike to a bit of ‘tough love’, so to see it keep on trucking despite numerous crashes is reassuring.
As a singlespeeder at heart, I originally converted my KM810 to one gear. It was fun but something just wasn’t quite right. It just didn’t feel natural but I was loathed to go shifter crazy and burden the bike with all sorts of hanging metal. So I decided, a little bit halfheartedly, to go for a 9 speed set-up. MRP guide at the front, Microshift White road mech short cage at the back (very nicely build bit of kit by the way!) and a 23-12 road block on the back. Super tight and I get some looks sporting such a strange range of gears. But, it has opened this bike to it’s full potential. In fact the race I won was just the first ride after this conversion! The close range of gears behaves a lot like a multi-ratio singlespeed if that isn’t a massive contradiction. Still mashing the climbs and spinning the flats but now with added speed. If I no longer get flowed this frame for free, I would unreservedly, hand over cold hard cash. Which from me, Mr Skinflint, is quite some compliment.
In summary, think Santa Cruz Chameleon at heart but one that has been on a diet and can climb like a goat.
One louder – 11.
____________________________________________________________________
What they say:
Comes in S,M,L sizes
Full monocoque construction.
Kinesis UK: “After a great 2009, which was our 10th anniversary year for the Kinesis UK brand, the coming of 2010 means it is time to look forward again with new frames becoming available for the spring racing season. UK tested and developed, the new KM-810 carbon MTB frame is designed around a familiar racing geometry with a hint of trail in the angles, meaning the frame is ideal for the newer breed of technical singletrack XC courses found especially in the UK. The frame is a full monocoque design, has s-bend stays for improved comfort, is designed for a 90-100mm fork and weighs in at just 1100 grams for the Medium size painted.”
