Climbing aboard Kona’s entry level 120mm trail bike looks a promising proposition. With 760mm wide bars and fairly short (60mm) stem, there’s a promise of confident handling, and comfortable feel. The Shimano Deore chainset and derailleurs afforded solid shifting performance, and the fast-rolling Maxxis Ardent tyres allow for swift traversing.
Up front the RockShox XC30 fork is air sprung, meaning it’s easy to tune for rider weight. It also has a lockout, a useful feature for standing efforts on smooth terrain. The lack of lockout on the Fastrax AF-1 rear shock undermines this a bit, meaning there’s a lot of wallowing from the back end on climbs, though switching to the granny ring does reduce it. The 14.7kg weight of our XL sized frame doesn’t help either, but the cockpit did feel roomy.
Bouncing cheques
The anti-social climbing manners will leave you hankering for a lively descent, but the steep 69° head angle, quick-release axle fork and flexy wheels impart a vague feeling, making it difficult to load up the front tyre when cornering hard. At the back it’s similarly disappointing. The rear suspension is difficult to get going initially and feels wooden over small bumps and crashy elsewhere. It’s not too bad once it’s moving, but we suspect a better shock would improve matters. The Tektro brakes are a little underpowered but performed solidly over our test period.
Big Brother
These shortcomings go against the Precept, but for 450$ extra, the DL model looks a much better proposition. It has a longer travel, bolt-through, air sprung fork that slackens the head angle and will boost steering stiffness. Throw in some stiffer wheels, Shimano brakes and a higher quality RockShox shock and the extra initial outlay seems like money well spent.
PRICE 1648$
