day dreaming about the 2017 Kona Hei Hei 29er race DL (carbon fibre)… sadly out my price range. Any one got one and convince me I really need one 😀

I’m having the same thoughts.
Thinking it’s time to move my old Hei Hei on and splash the cash.
I fancy the lime green one

I have the alloy 2016 Hei Hei DL Trail (120mm 29’er with Fox 34)

It’s great. Slightly slack 120mm 29’ers are (IMO) a great all round bike. Ride it all day, race on it, and you can still ride some gnarr with confidence. Mine handles my inept attempts at 2+ ft drops with ease.

I owned a Hei Hei Supreme 29er a few years back (the scandium 69 alloy) with a SID WC fork on it. It was a brilliant bike. Very light and fast.

Any one think the Kona Hei Hei 2017 looks a bit under geared ? It has a 34T front single chain ring and 11 – 42 back cassette. I am coming off a tripple chain set KTM aera comp (22/30/40) annd 11-36. They describe the Kona as a racing XC bike but I think I will find it vey limited gear range wise ?
thanks

My race HT has that exact gear combo and never feels undergeared.

OT, i quite fancy a Hei Hei but i’d get the 120mm fork probably, to be a bit more “trail”.

I mentioned this before on a previos thread – I got a 2016 DL Trail knowing that the 2017 was coming out with a carbon frame and that it would cost a lot more. I certainly don’t regret saving the money.

I can confirm it is generally a great bike – having ridden both Cwmcarn and the Peak District over the past 2 weeks. It will be off to Basque in a few weeks too.

Gearing is fine in my opinion – though I came from a lightweight carbon hardtail with 10 speed 11-36 on a 32 tooth, so gained extra range of the bigger cassette

Any one think the Kona Hei Hei 2017 looks a bit under geared ? It has a 34T front single chain ring and 11 – 42 back cassette.

No, seems pretty stiff gearing to me.

Is the relatively small almount of rear travel really noticeable over a hard tail? is it mainly for traction rather then soaking up bumps?

I had a 26er version (frame’s for sale!) that had 63mm rear travel. And yes it is noticeable. Well – it doesn’t feel like a 150mm rear of course, but it does more than take the edge off. It basically lets you go much faster when it’s bumpy, as long as it’s not really rocky.

It basically lets you go much faster when it’s bumpy, as long as it’s not really rocky.

This, dealing with bumps and traction.

I had the Process 111 – 1cm more travel than the Hei Hei with similar geometry – it was amazing how fast that bike was on some surprisingly rough trails.

Yeah I’m another one with an aluminium trail dl (120 / 100mm) and as above, it’s impressive as a short travel trail bike.

Sounds like the OP is eyeing up the 100/100 “race” version though which makes me think more about the potential of mine as a flat out xc bike – and I don’t know. It definitely seems to bias the trail aspect to me and even with a shorter fork I’m not sure it feels “xc race”, if you know what I mean? The carbon will lighten it a bit I guess – I’d be interested to hear how people are finding them as dedicated xc race bikes…

I’m interested in the carbon race one as a pure xc bike – marathon rather than short races though. Can’t decide between this or something like a Procaliber. New Anthem 29 also looks good but limited droppers due to 27.2 seatpost.

I’ve had a quick pedal on the green carbon DL 29er, I think it’d make a fine marathon XC bike.

My only concern would be the chainstays are pretty short so it may struggle a bit on loose steep climbs.

My only concern would be the chainstays are

430mm. 438mm on the new Anthem and Scott Spark by comparison but a variety of HA’s there.