looking for an ‘i don’t care what happens’ 29er hard tail…… honza is the obvious choice but at £500 more than the taro and £700 more than the park wood its a tough call….

The fact that the park wood is out of stock (large) doesnt help but still in the running if i wait until feb 2015!

Any other bikes worth considering?

The Honzo is a beast, a total animal of a bike. I like mine as much as the karatemonkey.

Have had it over everything I dare to ride on anything other than a DH full-sus & it’s very, very quick.

Ontor – is it worth the £500 more for Steel over Ally? Also – as its 1×10 (1×9) is it a beast to climb up hills as well as go down them?

Feb 15 for a parkwood? Is that right? I was looking but no way I can wait that long. I’ve looked at the honzo and taro as well, think I’d go for the taro…couple pounds lighter and a lot cheaper. But that may just be because I’m tight.

Parkwood is pretty different from the Honzo – Honzo nearly 30mm longer in front end, about 20mm shorter in the rear and a much lower BB. Honzo rips. Parkwood looks pretty bland.

What he says ^

Parkwood should have been designed with similar geo to Honzo/Taro/2Souls/Canfield N9 & Yelli.

I’ve not ridden a Parkwood, but have a Honzo and would say it’s the geometry which makes the bike. As always it depends what you want from a bike – the Honzo is lots of fun, but fairly heavy and stiff. I’ve used mine for every thing from 50 mile off-road rides (good), tossing about in the woods (brilliant), tail centres (brilliant) and XC racing (not ideal, but fun on the down hills)! I use it a fair bit single speed too. I love my Honzo so much I’ve just bought a Process 111 as it has such similar geometry.

If you want a bike just for long XC rides it may not be the best option, but if you are after something to chuck about and have loads of fun on fast/twisty/steep/tricky trails, then it’s ace.

..looked at all the above bikes and ended up with a cheap 2012 Whyte 905 that I converted to 1×10.
Best bloody bike I’ve ridden. Light as and very good down at the jumps,trails and down hills.I can’t fault it! It’s also bloomin fast due to it’s weight or lack of.

I think we over bike some times… try Winstanleys as they’ve a few going.

I’d look online but a few shops (including chain reaction) had the taro ridiculously cheap.. Think about £750 but medium only…

I have a parkwood and think it’s great. Konas both great but spec is pretty poor, even on the honzo.

“Cheap” 19″ Honzo here

Edit: just noticed its a 2012 so maybe not so…

of all the people to reply, have any of you ridden a parkwood?

just curious.

I’ve ridden a parkwood (coomber’s in fact)
Absolutely loved it. Can’t compare it to the Honzo or taro as not ridden them.

I’ve got a parkwood but not ridden other 29ers. To me it feels very similar in style to the other bikes in the on-one range. I’ve had an inbred, a 456 and a pompetamine. They all feel right, as does the Parkwood.

But, I’ve never been one to obsess over geometry. I’ve got on with all bike I’ve owned and just learned to ride them for what they are.

‘i don’t care what happens’ 29er hard tail..

Buy two parkwoods for the price of the others, in case you break one.

It cannot be exaggerated how much of a beast the Honzo is.

i have owned 12 or so hardtail 29ers over the years, ranging from stretched out race geometry fishers, to comfy all day inbreds and swifts, through to burly long forked chumba’s.
i now have a parkwood, i rode 48 miles on it on wednesday, so it is ok for distance i reckon, it was comfy, it feels light on the front so if you wanted to throw it about, i think it would be quite easy.

but for me the key thing now is VFM and nothing can come anywhere near it for that.

Ton – numbers in the context of the following bikes I own /have owned mean I know how it will fit and to an extent ride.

Kona Honzo, Zealous Division, Salsa Horsethief 2014, Genesis Fortitude, Genesis High Latitude, GF Rig, GF Superfly SS.

The front end of the Parkwood is very short and BB fairly high cf Honzo. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong for all, but I know from experience that I wouldn’t like it. would require an 80/90mm stem to fit comfortably which sucks in terms of weight distribution and steering.

Unless something like fork offset is drastically non-standard, then looking at the geo numbers in context gives a pretty good idea of how a bike will both fit and handle.

Honzo is pretty radical in its geometry. Parkwood is not.

Not necessarily a criticism, but they are clearly very different.

Edit – front end of Parkwood is easy to pick up due to short front end and the BB not being low.

I’ve had both the Honzo and Parkwood, still have the PW actually, medium barely ridden if anyones interested 😉

The Honzo is much more hooligan and more fun bombing downhill imo. I just found the PW quite meh really. Not bad, just uninspiring. I much prefer steel too.

Second hand Scandal,do 60/70 miles on mine every week.

I understand the vfm point…. but will it be that after getting a park wood i wished i got a honza instead? Anyone here rode both bikes?

Having the same requirement, I’ve come up with the Ragley BigWig. More expensive than the Parkwood but with a slacker geo. Current model is going cheap on CRC as there is a 2015 version with changeable dropouts to support 135 or 142.

On a side note if anyone fancies selling their Large parkwood give me a shout, quite interested in trying one.

Having enquired about that Honzo listed at JE James, spoke to the shop on the phone and the guy said it really is quite battered (appreciated his honesty).

I love my parkwood.

I was under the impression the Honzo is really quite heavy, and you won’t be benefiting from any “steel is real” comfort, more a case that you’ll never break it (I’d go for the Tora over it!)

Honzo is pretty radical in its geometry. Parkwood is not.

Parkwoods 68degree head angle and 435mm chainstay might not be radical but they are most certainly bloody fine in my book (obviously those are a couple of figure in isolation), same headangle as the Honzo and I’m very suspicious that a 415mm chainstay length is possible (if measure the same way as the on one), as listed by Kona. Look at Zealous bike Diversion, it has a 415mm chainstay (horz) length but the wheel passes through where a classic seat tube would be!
So I’d be going for the Parkwood over the Tora (over the Hora), if finance’s allowed

Honzo is heavy. I’d agree the Taro is better in many ways if you don’t want to use the sliding dropouts.

Honzo is 415mm centre to centre due to the very curved (and really heavy) seat tube. I’ve got a Zealous (as well as a no longer used Honzo) – it’s actually a teeny bit longer in the chainstays, but importantly for me, it’s a lot lighter and hence easier for this scrawny old man to move around.

As stated, I’m not being critical of the PW – it’s just a very different beast, and so not necessarily particularly comparable to the other 2 bikes the OP mentions.

Bikes more comparable to the PW are the Genesis 29ers, and the Pinnacle 29ers, though both are still a little longer in front centre and lower in BB as well as a (surprisingly teensy) bit steeper in HA.

Thanks everyone – I am now £1200 out of pocket and a new Taro on order……..

Any views on the Dartmoor Primal 29?

http://slam69.co.uk/dartmoor-primal-29-29×22-2014-7452-p.asp

Amazing price, but interested to hear how you think the geometry compares with the Parkwood, Honzo etc.

What size of Taro/Honza are you guys riding and what height are you? I’d been mulling the medium discounted Taros but at 6’1 reckon they are too small.

you reckon?

bigger frame, shorter stem, it’s more enduro.

OP – Enjoy your new bike – it’ll be loads of fun. One word of warning, when I first got my Honzo it was the first 29er I’d had and first bike with geometry like this. It took a few rides to get used to it – I found I wasn’t weighting the front enough. They are brilliant bikes with really sorted geometry.

nevertoomanybikes – that’s going to be too small – I’m 6’4″ and ride a XL (20L)- it fits perfectly. So I’d have thought you’d need at least a Large to make the most of it (and be more enduro!).

Dammit. Suspicions confirmed. Back to the bargain hunting drawing board.