Kenevo Gen1 29er Front and Rear Kenevo

cozzy

E*POWAH Elite
Subscriber
Aug 11, 2019
935
1,045
Hampshire UK
I've had this built for a while.. ever since I saw Rob's vid.. I love the longer chainstay on an S4 being 6' 3". The front end is so low on the bike.. that would be my only complaint.. Running 50mm bars with about 2 in of spacers.

I'm running either a Fox 40 @203 or a Zeb @ 170 depending what I'm riding. I'm probably gonna put a 190 in the 40. I was running a dorado.. A lot easier to change the travel but that upper weight is hard to get used too. (All the weight is at the top of the fork.. The 40 feels way stiffer and the weight is lower.

Zeb
2.4 rear 2.5 front chip in high = 61.8 HA

Fox 40
Same above = 61.5 HA

EXT E-Storia Rear Shock

I would like to get the HA to around 63.5-64 for normal riding.. Seems like me only only is to swap the tires. I put 1/4 block under my rear tire.. gained almost 1 degree. That's about the difference from the 2.5 and 2.4 I'm running.. (Assegai 2.5 and DHR 2.4)
Full 29 ?
Ha on my mullet with a 40 with a2c at 596mm is 62° with flipchip high.
Edit - of course the phone app I use to measure may not be particularly accurate.
 
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Chickon1

Member
Nov 8, 2021
62
32
FL
Full 29 ?
Ha on my mullet with a 40 with a2c at 596mm is 62° with flipchip high.
Yes.. Full 29.. I'm not sure how you guys are getting over 60 HA with a mullet. I verified my level on my other bike that is stock and it's really close. My tire size difference is about 1/4 inch smaller on the rear.. that gives me a little over .5 if they are the same. I would be happy if I could get to 63.. it rides awesome when you go fast.. is horrible and floppy when slow.. which isn't too often unless I'm climbing.
 

cozzy

E*POWAH Elite
Subscriber
Aug 11, 2019
935
1,045
Hampshire UK
Yes.. Full 29.. I'm not sure how you guys are getting over 60 HA with a mullet. I verified my level on my other bike that is stock and it's really close. My tire size difference is about 1/4 inch smaller on the rear.. that gives me a little over .5 if they are the same. I would be happy if I could get to 63.. it rides awesome when you go fast.. is horrible and floppy when slow.. which isn't too often unless I'm climbing.
Yeah I don't understand that. If the original bike is supposed to be 64° or thereabouts and you raised both axles by 20mm plus an additional 20mm for a 29 fork, a 2.5° change in ha seems wrong.
 

GeordieKenevo

Active member
May 12, 2023
127
101
Newcastle Upon Tyne
I've picked up a used 2020 Kenevo Comp for a really good price and going to try mulleting it with a 29 Fox 38 fork that has 180mm travel and guessing the flip chip should be in low when doing this?
 

mustclime

Active member
Apr 19, 2023
444
357
New Jerzy
I've picked up a used 2020 Kenevo Comp for a really good price and going to try mulleting it with a 29 Fox 38 fork that has 180mm travel and guessing the flip chip should be in low when doing this?
I don’t recommend that, I tried it and the head angle was 60.5 ish degrees on my s3 bike. A 170 mm 29er fork gets you into 61 ish degrees. Don’t forget, putting a 29er on the front not only adds the hight for the taller wheel but also the taller fork.
 

Henrik

Member
Oct 25, 2022
89
94
Germany
I am running a Boxxer 180mm / 29. Atc is 582 mm.
Messured my HTA with the Bike in scale with 62.8 degree.
Picture shows my Levo with the same method.

b2521f0a-465c-4180-937d-a14b0e627d70.jpeg
 

mustclime

Active member
Apr 19, 2023
444
357
New Jerzy
I did. I was wrong, my tool said 62.9
Calculator said 62.8
The bike rides beautiful.

View attachment 140234 View attachment 140235
Your spread sheet does not take into account the 29er wheel size difference over the 27.5 rear wheel that is required with a mullet. The difference in the ground to axle of a 29er wheel to 27.5 wheel is 15 ish mm depending on tire size. That hight increase is a real number that head angle make no difference in. Here is my Kenevo with a 180mm Domain 29er with a 27.5 wheel. See how choppered out it is? That’s with wheels of the same size…. Also, fyi single crown forks have higher axle to headset numbers than duel forks because the single crown have to be thicker, a 180mm 29er Zeb is 596mm. This also adds hight to the front of the bike.

IMG_2410.jpeg
 

Henrik

Member
Oct 25, 2022
89
94
Germany
Your spread sheet does not take into account the 29er wheel size difference over the 27.5 rear wheel that is required with a mullet.
Nope.
It does. Its German, but I can change wheel size (front, rear), I can change fork, can ad offset bushings etc.

The Boxxer has 602 atc @ 200mm. So, it has 582 with 180mm @ 29
Zeb has 586 with 170mm @ 29

This can also be changed in the tool.

IMG_4906.jpeg
 
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mustclime

Active member
Apr 19, 2023
444
357
New Jerzy
Nope.
It does. Its German, but I can change wheel size (front, rear), I can change fork, can ad offset bushings etc.

The Boxxer has 602 atc @ 200mm. So, it has 582 with 180mm @ 29
Zeb has 586 with 170mm @ 29

This can also be changed in the tool.

View attachment 140246
Face palm….. I was replying to the guy that wants to run a fox 38 180mm mullet…. Your numbers are off for that.
 

mustclime

Active member
Apr 19, 2023
444
357
New Jerzy
Whats the a2c of that fork?
Around 596mm…. Stock is 572mm, and the ground to axle difference from 27.5-29er is around 15mm. You want to know it feels? Take a 2x4, lay it flat and put your front wheel on it. The wheel fork combo jacks the front up about 1.5 /1.7 inches depending on tires. The difference is less if you go full 29 or run a 170mm fork with the 29er.
 

drumfrodo

New Member
Aug 10, 2023
15
11
Norway
I thought others had successfully mulleted their Kenevos using 29" 180 38s :unsure:
Yes, I (and others) have done exactly this. HA measures at about 62.5 deg or thereabout. As can be seen, pretty slack but definitely not too slack (for me at least). Mind you, flip chip must be set High otherwise you're in the low 61s of HA. And I have a relatively large rear at 27.5x2.8. It rides totally awesome, both up and (especially) down.

20240409_200019.jpg
 

peterpeterson

New Member
Aug 21, 2024
12
6
Pol
2021 Kenevo S4, I am 6 feet tall (183)
I did the 29er And mullet, went back to 27.5
neither were preferred
Mullet: My Kenevo front end wondered all over the enduro trails in the high or low setting, while climbing the front end lifted very easy.
29er: My Kenevo was ”OK” in low, bad in high setting, felt like my Kenevo was a S5 and wheelbase was extended I believe around 40 or so millimeters (The Titanic)

View attachment 100961
Hi! Great bike 🤩🍻
I am the same hight, and stuck between S3 and S4. Will go to full 29/29. Could You advise - how do You find Yours?
 

mustclime

Active member
Apr 19, 2023
444
357
New Jerzy
Yes, I (and others) have done exactly this. HA measures at about 62.5 deg or thereabout. As can be seen, pretty slack but definitely not too slack (for me at least). Mind you, flip chip must be set High otherwise you're in the low 61s of HA. And I have a relatively large rear at 27.5x2.8. It rides totally awesome, both up and (especially) down.

View attachment 140471
Yea, I tried that but on my s3 the stand over was to high. You start with 799mm and it just goes up from there.
 

2dedge

New Member
Sep 19, 2023
3
0
Maine
I still say the Kenevo works better as a 27.5 plus bike. Get some 40mm iw wheels and some 2.8 tires. All that skipping through rock fields on 2.3-2.5 tires aired up to 25psi or more goes away. 2.8 tire aired down to sub 20 psi allows the rubber to conform to the rocks much better. The new e tires with strong sidewalks don’t have tread squirm. No argument, the 29er’s roll faster but the 27.5s roll better imo.

View attachment 136098 View attachment 136099
What’s your winter setup?
 

mustclime

Active member
Apr 19, 2023
444
357
New Jerzy
What’s your winter setup?
Pretty much the same, most north New Jersey (USA) trails are not armored for wet riding so when it really wet I don’t ride. When it snows, I have a fat bike. The Kenevo is full coil suspension so it rides way better in the cold than an air suspension with little or no stiction. Plus tires are just so so on a meat powered bike. People try to run light casing plus tires on meat bikes and then complain about tire squirm . With a e bike you can run heavier casings and with wider rims tire squirm is not an issue. I used to ride dirt bikes, they don’t run 29er’s. Dirt bike tires are 3.5 inches to almost 5 inches wide. Big rubber on wide rims with lower pressures are an awesome set up on long travel e bikes. Plus tires on 30mm inside width rims don’t work, you need 35-45mm iw rims to make plus tires setups work. Hope that helps
 

Chris_R

New Member
Nov 8, 2024
2
4
Switzerland
Hi all, my first post on this board 👋

Got a 2021 kenevo since Jan 2021. Second motor, but otherwise had no issues other than 10 or so broken battery rockguards. I ride mostly technical (hiking) trails here in central Switzerland. Always had issues with pedal strikes and the rock guard.

So went first with mullet about 2-3 years ago and then full 29er shortly after. Rides superb 😎 also ran a coil for a while but put metal to metal way too often on even smaller jumps...

170mm Fox 38 and
230x65mm öhlins ttx2 air with a few tokens (1+2)

S3 at 1m77 / 5'10

Nothing stock anymore on this bike aside the frame - even managed to bend one crank 🫣 still running 1x11 though

IMG_2657.jpeg
 
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Funkadelic

Member
Oct 16, 2023
4
9
Germany
Nice bike @ Nato base. How did you fit the fidlock bottle? I have tried this a couple months ago but there was not enough space.
 

mustclime

Active member
Apr 19, 2023
444
357
New Jerzy

 

Chris_R

New Member
Nov 8, 2024
2
4
Switzerland

Yeah I checked those before but shipping cost to Switzerland turned me down. Same thing with the sicomb fenders.. But now on 29er these things are no longer an issue.

Regarding Fidlock, if I remember correctly I simply put a 2-3mm spacer beneath at the lower mount point (eg from a tube valve)
 

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