Met up with Chakaping this morning and after a bit of faffing round checking things worked, adjusted, seat height, brake bite point etc I decided I’d take the Kona and off we went on the trails. Couple of stops after the first few sections followed by a tubeless rear not speaking fully and the debut ride wasn’t exactly going to plan.
So we binned the tubeless and kicked on with the ride.
The geometry of the Kona is at first very very alien, I knew it would be as its similar in many ways to he Pivot I hired and the Bird I tried. But the steering was precise, poised and happy. I struggled with seat position and height quite a bit, even in a large it’s quite a low top tube, so I’ve ended up with quite a chunk of seatpost showing. But its now pretty close to where I need it.
Hard part was getting out of the faster faster faster mindset and accepting its not an xc whippet and not to try and ride it like one.
Onto Stickler which is a forever and never ending turn of left right, right, right left for what seems like hours and hours, I was happy I could throw the Kona into the bends without the usual settling dab of brake I often use on the Spearfish, but maybe that was because I was going slower than on the Fish, not sure. But the Kona felt great and went exactly where I wanted.
The only thing really letting it down was the rolling ability, or lack of it. Its got a super tacky compound Magic Mary fitted, in a similar context to motorbikes this would be the same as the stickiest compound tyre you can get. Which is fine on motorbikes but on cycles its causing drag. Its also exceptionally heavy, weighing in at just under 1400gr, which is more than double the weight of a Rocket Ron. But, its soft, sticky and compliant. It grips superbly and rolls over stuff with ease.
The 160mm of travel on the Pikes soaks everything up you throw at it.
By this stage the bike was beginning to feel like ‘mine’ and not some alien machine. Throughout the day this didn’t change, it just felt right and happy.
Hitting some of the faster red runs of shows to me its happy in the air too, it flies well, lands well and doesn’t get out of shape.
The thing I noticed most was its ability to change direction, its sharp and responsive in spades. Really useful on some of the tight trails at swinley.
I then eventually got it home, time to start sorting out the aesthetics. Not mess as such but a lack of care and attention to detail. Just things left badly done, bolts not right, tape not installed and paint chips not fixed. But not everyone is like me I guess, to them its just a bike. But this guy paid nearly £4000 and in my book that means a higher level of care, not his it seems.
Mechanically though its mostly excellent, although one of the crank arm bolts was about 200nm lol.
However he’s a really nice fella is chakaping and clearly a very good rider, was great at times trying and failing to hang onto his wheels.
All in all I’m very happy with it. I’ll get some spare wheels and quicker rubber for most stuff and keep the burly rubber for uplifts.
