. I've never put the dropouts further back than fully slammed, so the CS length is at 415mm. Kona Honzo ST - The Bike Shop California Theres scope to shed weight, whether from the finishing kit or by going tubeless with the wheels, but the chromoly steel frame will never be light. What is it you don't like about it? Its long, its low and its very slack. Add in a COVID supply chain delay and shipping to Canada and that could easily slide to Jan/Feb 2021. Konas Honzo ESD has gravity at the forefront of its design depsite not having any squish at the back, with a shape rivalling the best descent-focused hardtails around. Kona Remote 130 Kona Bikes Also new is the . They are the basis of many a dream build, the yang to the yin of a bigger bike, and they are the heart and soul of Kona. But the impression I do have of it is very positive. Ive only ridden hardtails with super short chainstays (Chromags and Konas) but it hasnt felt weird to me. We offer a variety of Honzos from the hard-core and aggressive 150mm travel Honzo . I can ride it through our slow speed tech fine, but it does take more effort to maneuver it. 2019 Kona Honzo DL - Specs, Reviews, Images - Mountain Bike Database It sports 29" wheels, is priced at $1,499 USD, comes in a range of sizes, including S, M, L, XL, has RockShox suspension and a SRAM drivetrain. I don't really *want* to run a super long dropper, tho. Does climbing become compromised after a certain length? How did the super steep seat angle feel on the hardtail? He has a particular focus on mountain bikes, but spends plenty of time on gravel bikes, too. I went back to trying bone shakers in 2013 after picking up a sweet industry deal on an Aperture. You just have to remember how much fun it is as you slog up the fire road. E-MTB-specific SRAM Guide RE brakes with 200mm rotors slow you down when you need. While riding in the attack position you find yourself over the fork, and given the rigid back end you do end up riding the fork a lot. I own a Kona Explosif, which was the 27.5 version of the Honzo (more or less) and I run a 130mm fork and it feels perfect. Up front youve got a 635mm top tube (Large) this relatively roomy top tube gives you plenty of space to move about over the bike, which is handy as on a hardtail you end up using a bit more body language to muscle the bike over and around trail obstacles. With just a fork to worry about, setting up the Honzos suspension was fairly simple. The Honzo is no race bike climbing is far from its forte, with the 14kg (30.9lb) weight conspiring against you when you want to accelerate up hills. Dunno. NS Billet or someone like that could easily make longer dropouts for this rig (make 'em 180 post while you're at it), if there were enough demand. Specifically on the topic of short CS I'm definitely appreciating the long CS in some scenarios. I was again surprised by the capability of the Honzo by staying pretty close to his tail for almost the entire ride. As it is, Maxxis still prove to be the tyres to beat, as even without the sturdy carcass, the rear end feels beautifully damped, letting you land squiffy drops and rattle through rocks without getting pinged left, right and centre. Given the longish travel fork those reach numbers are going to grow and that STA will be pushing 80deg at sag, no? ); the large has a lot of stack, and I'd probably put a 160mm fork on it, instead of 140mm. Also while the Kona bar, stem and saddle are all first rate, wed recommend upgrading the stock grips for something softer before leaving the shop. Also note that CS length moves between 417 and 433mm. I'm riding Honzos since '14, and a 26" Bfe since '19. I just did a quick sketch in solidworks and the reach grows about 7mm with the fork sagging 40mm. The chainstay length moves a total of 16mm between 417 and 433. One thing though, how is it for pedal strikes? Shifting was superb throughout the test and we didnt miss that extra cog one bit. As such, it hustles effectively through tight singletrack. That's not what I typed. I wonder if the frame only will every be available here in Europe. Kona, Kona Honzo st vs honzo esd : r/MTB - Reddit My thoughts on the longer CS may evolve with more saddle time. I have to say your build looks impressive, really well composed! Kona has opted for a 110 drivetrain, with a 32-tooth ring and 11-36 cassette. Pedal away to the top, then drop the saddle and hoon back down, in as much control as you can muster. There are a growing number of bikes bucking the trend, with Konas Honzo joining its full suspension cousin, the Process 111, in the winch-up, point-down-and-hold-on 29er format. A stumpy stem and wide bars make it more fun than pig wrestling. KONA BIKES 2021 | MTB | BIG HONZO | Big Honzo DL - konaworld I'm going to ride the BFeMAX for a full year and then see where I am at. The Honzos frame design breaking new ground back then, with 19 gearing, super-short chainstays, a 68 head angle and a stubby stem. The fork isn't coming with the travel reduction spacer and I am starting to think 140mm may be a touch too much out front. *SAVE 50%* Get a year's subscription for just 42.99 - pay just 3.30 an issue! Furthermore, on technical climbs youre easily able to manipulate your body weight to balance traction and steering accuracy over rocks and roots. Could it be that, because the rear wheel doesnt move vertically relative to the rest of the frame under load and pumping like a full suspension, a shorter rear end on a hardtail will give a similar sense of balance? On rolly terrain there is nothing like pumping backsides on a hardtail. Race Faces Aeffect 35 range is featured at the cockpit, with a WTB Volt saddle sat on top of a TransX dropper with plenty of travel. I love my OneUp 210 and I have a pre-production 225 on the way to try from another brand. A Revelation fork is an excellent choice at this price range. Kona Dream Builds: Roger's Honzo ESD | KONA COG Shimano Deore, 180/160mm rotors: Cranks: Race Face Evolve: Fork: And let's not get started on the aesthetics or strength concerns. Pedals Back. But the price tagwowthe build kit is pretty well thought out but I feel like this bike should be $500-$1k less for what you are getting. I give any new bike 6 months to earn its keep or I move it on. Shifters. Save 25% + Crankbrothers Stamp 1 pedals (worth 49.99) when you subscribe to MBUK magazine. Cam you don't have to be particularly heavy to bend/break saddle rails that are clamped at the front of a saddle to get a slacker STA. HTP likes short CS normally. *SAVE 50%* Get a year's subscription for just 42.99 - pay just 3.30 an issue! I would have told you HTs were silly for Coastal BC trail riding until I got the Daambuilt and experienced the "modern aggressive" HT geo for myself. Recon fork may lack the bigger stanchions of rivals, but proved stiff enough in shorter 120mm-travel guise. If youre used to a longer travel full suss bike this may not be an issue, but if youve come from a cross-country race machine then beware. Vik, thanks for the tip, already do that one most of the time, but sometimes you just need to undo the collar and get some fresh grease in there. Ultimately the STA on the Sick is too steep for comfort if you leave the S2S, and there's a few other geo tweaks/oddities. Outside of testing bikes, Tom competes in a wide range of mountain bike races, from multi-day enduros through to 24-hour races in the depths of the Scottish winter pushing bikes, components and his legs to their limits. Despite those rumors, the hardtail is alive and well, and in recent years a growing crop of extra-long and slack options has emerged. However, we did need to add an extra 20-30psi of pressure to the RockShox guidelines to give the support needed in steeper terrain. Just like the Sartori from a few years ago where they boosted the seat tube angle but didn't add to the reach to compensate for the lost cockpit room. Low slung top tube gives plenty of clearance. That said, I ultimately ended up ordering a 2020 Chromag Rootdown for a couple of reasons: In the end, the Rootdown has quite similar geometry to my trail bike and I think it's going to be a stupid amount of fun out here. When not riding he can be found at the climbing wall, in his garden or cooking up culinary delights. At the top I let him go first without much sense of whether or not Id be able to keep him in range. All rights reserved. Add about 4 of saddle height and you have me, and many others. Tl;dr - how much fork travel can a hardtail handle? While it's only 35mm, or about an inch and a half beyond my normal limit, the wheelbase at 1285mm is 40mm longer as is the front centre at 875. Honzo Build Thread - post your builds here | Page 310 | Mountain Bike Their width is reasonable, giving a good profile to the 2.4in front and 2.25in rear Maxxis Ardent treads, which come with the decent EXO sidewalls, but slightly plastic compound. I feel like the ultimate rallying cry of NSMB.com has been the ultimate stable is a 2+2=4 kit, with one good do-everything FS, and a proper steel hardtail. The Honzo Ti might not have the best of reputations among the Ti frames, but I love it dearly and have no plans of parting with it. And its not that I haven't tried longer. A 120mm fork provides just enough suspension to make quick work of technical sections of trail. I have stopped doing them for a long time [over a year]. Theres little harshness to speak of, and it stays propped up nicely until you really start to hit repeated big hits. On top of my actual velocity being pretty good, my perception was that I was absolutely flying down the mountain, further broadening my grin. Kona Honzo ESD Wheelsize: 29" Chromoly frame 150mm fork 63-degree head angle 490mm reach (size L) 417 - 432mm chainstays Weight: 32.8 lb / 14.9 kg (size L w/o pedals) Price:. When Deniz was taking these photos I noticed a sticker behind the seat tube where it clearly showed this was an XL frame. I have no problem climbing anything squamish or the shore has to offer on it. I was feeling much more of the trail and having to be as dynamic as Batman and Robin put together. It chops and changes direction far easier than youd think a bike with a 63-degree head angle and 150mm fork should. Wich bike is bigger? Of course it wasnt as smooth or as easy as the duallies Ive been riding lately, but other elements made up for those deficiencies. Bike A will just require fewer stem spacers. The digits aren't quite as extreme as Chromag's Doctahawk, but those numbers (62 HA vs 63 for the ESD for example) reflect a 180mm fork vs. 150mm for the Honzo. The reach on our size large comes in at a lengthy 490mm, which is paired with a very slack 63-degree head tube, giving a long 1,245mm wheelbase. The kinked seat tube means short stays and so a nimble experience going downhill but your weight can get shifted further back than youd like on the ascents. Ride number two was with Pete who was riding a Transition Sentinel, a fast and capable bike in his experienced hands. Guess to be accurate you would need to also take HTA into account. The EXO casing is thin for a bike of this type, and wed happily add a few grams and lose a bit of rolling speed for a DoubleDown carcass out back and EXO+ at the front, just to give that little extra peace of mind when you send it off a lip and onto a bed of roots. Broad Wide Trail, triple-compound Maxxis rubbers wrap Race Face AR 30 rims these needed double taping and some valve jiggery-pokery to get sealed around the off-centred rim bed. One Size . seems many of the aggro ht's are in the 77-78 range tho (including the marin, which i otherwise kinda dig, perhaps even moreso because of the uncool brand factor). This is classic Kona. Rebound adjustment is also present. The SLX drivetrain is a real performance highlight and the smart folks at Kona nailed it by adding an XT shifter. We get a lot of snow on this side of the Rockies and the Rootdown will let me run 27.5x3" wheels in the winter. This means you never feel cramped on long drags. Hah, geddit? Sometimes I'll run a longer post on hardtails, but generally run 150mm.