bike review
kona honzo
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www.nzmtbr.co.nz
Photography by craig madsen
As far as a bike that makes you want to ride and get that knowing
smile plastered all over your face are concerned, the Kona Honzo
does a fantastic job on both counts. In fact, we’ll put it out there that
this is the one new bike that you’ll enjoy the most this year if you get
a chance to throw a leg over it. Big call? Let’s see why…
The bent seat tube that allows such short 16.3
inch chainstays; it also means a front derailleur
won’t work, meaning the Honzo is single-ring only.
Sliding droputs and a thru-axle for adjustment
and a solid wheel connection (and easy
compatibility with modern wheel sets).
Rock Shox Revelation 120 proved ideally sprung
with good stiffness for the sort of riding the
Honzo is capable of.
The Honzo has been designed as a single
ring specific, big wheeled, slack geometry
29er trail bike.The 4130 cro-moly frame
comes with a 142mm x12mm Maxle rear
end on sliding dropouts, ISCG 05 tabs, a
standard threaded bottom bracket and a 1.5
inch steerer tube.
Bikes International, who say the narrow
bars were fitted to meet some arcane NZ
legal requirements, but they’re looking at
another solution so the Honzo can retain
the intended wide bar. Anyway, it’s not
a biggie to have it switched at the shop
before you walk out the door. The other
odd fit issue was that for a large (18.8”) it
had an excessively short seat post. This was
changed to a Rock Shox Reverb dropper
post, seeing as it would be a waste not to
use the under top tube routing provided,
but you should otherwise make sure you
can get the stock post high enough for
pedaling, or swap it out.
thanks to the short chain stays. We managed
to get it up some of the biggest climbs in
Wellington with no problems at all. Besides,
if it gets really steep, pushing is always an
option, isn’t it?
Out of the box, the component choice is a
mix of Kona’s solid in-house kit, plus avid
Elixir 5s with 180/160mm rotors, a 60mm
stem, FSA Comet cranks, an E13 chain guide,
WTB tubeless-ready wheel set, Maxxis
Ardent tyres, a SRAM X7 10 speed shifter
and derailleur combo and the ever-capable
120mm Rock Shox Revelation (with 20mm
axle) Solo Air taking the big hit duties out
front.
It won’t be the lightest bike in many sheds
- at over 30lbs it also won’t be winning you
the XC rainbow stripes any time soon - but
that’s not its intended job. With a short 68
degree head tube, low bottom bracket and
short chain stays due to the curved seat
tube, this bike is designed small, compact
and stiff for throwing around on trails and
jumps.
Fit bits
Straight out of the box, a few things were
changed to suit our test riders. The bar was
supposed to be 760mm wide but it came
with one that measured 700mm, which
was too narrow considering the intentions
of the Honzo. We spoke to Kona importer
Up
One of the first things you notice is the
lack of a front derailleur; with the seat tube
bent out of the way to provide space for
the tyre/short chain stays it physically won’t
fit in there. Short chain stays, a solitary 32
tooth front ring and chainguide; this does
not bode well for climbing. Well, here’s the
surprising thing: it climbs very well. A clever
combo of an 11-36 cassette out the back
and a steep seat tube keeping the riders
weight over the front make the Honzo a very
capable climber. You’ll never forget you’re
riding a hefty bike, but it has the perfect
balance for steep ascending – the front
remains firmly planted with no wandering,
unless you need it to pop over some trail
obstacle - then it’s as light as a feather,
Down
Just one look at the profile of the Honzo
and it’s obvious that it is predominantly
designed for the descent rather than the
ascent, and that is indeed where it shines.
Here is where the short chainstays, low
bottom bracket, big 2.4” Ardent tyres
and snappy steering come into play. The
Honzo carries speed very well, is nice
and stable and corners as hard and fast
as you’re prepared to push it. The Rock
Shox Revelation is a good, solid choice
for the front end, the 120mm of travel
never seeming to be overwhelmed and
never missing a beat with ‘set and forget’
simplicity.
The ‘roll-over‘ of the big wide rims combined
with the 2.4” Ardent up front and the 2.2”
on the back enable you to get in and out of
trouble before you even realize it. Just get
the front wheel headed where you want
to be heading and the rear end will come
along quietly, though there is a limit to this
as speed and rockiness increases. This is
also a bike that likes to be in the air - the
first place it was ridden was at the local BMX
track, where it was up to speed in no time
at all. The fact that it’s a hard tail means that
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A classic double-diamond steel frame with modern accoutrements like 1.5 head tube, 142 thru-axle and a single-ring
with chain-keeper is an uncommon combo, but it works. The dropper post and seat aren’t stock – they’re tester’s own
the rider is generally in for a rougher ride,
but with the short, stiff rear end it is always
easy to pick the bike up and put it where
you want. One of our dyed-in-the-wool
full-suss riders noted the Honzo wasn’t as
punishing as expected downhill, especially
during steep, gnarly slower speed descents.
Overall, it’s a significantly more forgiving
ride than a traditional XC race hardtail of
any wheel size, thanks to a bit of give in the
steel frame and the voluminous tyres taking
out their share of trail-chatter. As an aside,
thanks to the adjustable drop outs, fitting an
internally geared hub sans chain tensioner is
an option, though you’d need the 9mm axle
plates, rather than the stock 142 thru-axle.
This gives the owner the option of making
the Honzo into a do-it-all winter bike too.
We like.
Niggles
We had a good experience with the X7
shifting this time, even in wet and muddy
rides, thanks to the fully lined cable. Not
so for the FSA bottom bracket though,
which seized after most wet rides. While
it’s not like this is the first external BB to
do this, it’s something we’ve experienced
less on test bikes lately, now that external
BBs seem to be getting better sealing. The
rear Elixir brake also decided to give up the
ghost a few weeks into testing - multiple
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www.nzmtbr.co.nz
bleeds could not persuade it to work
right again, so we relented and replaced
it for the remainder of our testing. Almost
lastly, while we liked the sturdy wheel
components, the big hoops did need quite
some re-tensioning after we’d been hauling
on them for a few weeks - keep an eye on
this and get them tickled up before you
hit something big with loose spokes. Our
last minor small complaint is the lack of a
chain stay protector. It made for very noisy
downhill runs and is something that should
be standard on any mountain bike.
Conclusion
At $4199, the price is higher than we’d
expect for a hardtail with this level of
componentry, even a hardtail this unique.
But we see many buyers got better deals
when it was on sale and we’d suggest you
get in quick when 2014 stock arrives as all
the 2013 models are sold out. Overall, there
really is nothing to really fault at all about
the way the Kona Honzo rides. In fact, one
of our testers nearly bought the test bike
despite it being a whole size too small; it was
that enjoyable. If you are in the market for
a 29er all mountain hardtail and you don’t
mind earning your fast flowy and rough
descents with some good steep climbing
then the Honzo should be your first port of
call.
Kona honzo
Frame Material
Kona Cro-moly Butted
Fork
RockShox Revelation RL Solo Air 120mm
Crankarms
FSA Comet
Chainrings
32t
B/B
FSA BB7000
Pedals
Kona JackShit
Chain
KMC X10
Freewheel
Sram PG1030 11-36t 10 spd
Front derailleur E*13 LS1+ No Taco
Rear Derailleur
Sram X7
Shifters
Sram X7 (rh only)
BrakeS
Avid Elixir 5
Handlebar
Kona XC/BC
Stem
Kona XC/BC
Seatpost
Kona Thumb OB
Seat Clamp
Kona QR
Grips
Kona G-LOG
Saddle
WTB Volt Comp
Front Hub
Formula 20mm
Rear Hub
Formula 142x12mm
Spokes
Stainless 14g
Rims
WTB ST i23 TCS
Front Tire
Maxxis Ardent 29x2.4” EXO
Rear Tire
Maxxis Ardent 29x2.25” EXO
Paint Color
Matt Gold w/Orange & Black
WEIGHT
14kg (w/o pedals)
PRICE
$4,199
SUPPLIED BY
Bikes International