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Alchemy launches new Kratos adventure bike with Fox AX suspension fork at NAHBS

New Fox suspension fork with 40mm travel breaks cover at NAHBS

Over in the US the annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) is getting underway and as well as a good place to see some beautifully made bicycles of all shapes and sizes, it’s also where some new products get launched. Such as this new Alchemy Kratos adventure bike with Fox’s brand new suspension fork. 

alchemy kratos 2.jpg

The Kratos is a new addition to the Denver-based company’s stock frameset lineup and is billed as a do-anything bike ready for adventure, gravel, dirt and pavement (US speak for road). It’s made from titanium tubes so expect similar craftsmanship to the Eros I tested earlier this year, and it features the flat mount disc brake standard. 

alchemy kratos 1.jpg

The frame is decked out with eyelets for racks and extra water bottles, and the water bottle mounts are positioned to allow maximum space for bikepacking frame bags to be fitted. There’s a tapered head tube for additional front-end stiffness, and all cables are externally routed. 

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There’s generous tyre clearance, with the pictured bike sporting 38mm wide Teravail Cannonball tyres, but Alchemy says it’ll take up to a 45mm tyre.

It’ll be sold with Enve’s CX carbon fibre fork but the company has shared photos of the new frame built up with Fox’s prototype adventure cross fork, which Alchemy say is a Fox 32 Step Cast 27.5” fork cut down for this bike. That suggests Fox has simply modified one of its short travel mountain bike forks for the gravel bike market, and reduced travel. According to Bikerumour who have seen the bike in the flesh, it’s offering 40mm of travel, a bit more than the Cannondale’s 30mm Lefty on the Slate.

alchemy kratos 4.jpg

This new suspension fork, the first time the US suspension specialists have dabbled in a road product, hasn’t been officially announced yet (we’re expecting that at the Sea Otter Festival) but it’s been shared on Instagram a few times so we know it’s coming. 

alchemy kratos 9.jpg

We can see that it’s a disc-only fork with external brake hose routing and a 15mm thru-axle. It looks to be offering generous tyre clearance with the wide crown.

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The new Alchemy Kratos will be available in 14 colours and while we don’t yet know the UK price, over in the US it’s going to set you back $3,999 for the frameset. 

http://alchemy.bike/

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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2 comments

Avatar
Morat | 7 years ago
2 likes

Fit flat bars, squint a bit - it's the 90s!

Avatar
AndrewDeKerf | 7 years ago
0 likes

I wonder if there will be a 'slightly more road oriented' 29er released? 

Probably not - market segmentation sells more bikes, but we must be getting really close to a true 'allroader' now.

Plus 29ers have high front ends to fit in the suspension travel, a much more suitable position for an 'adventure' (not race) bike, and you get 3x the fork travel.

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