New Kona Unit

OK, it looks nice to my eyes, but they’ve essentially just added modern geometry to a rigid bike. Steep seat angle, long reach, slack head angle (but no increase in fork offset…)

Does that make any sense to anyone, or is just a misguided attempt to keep an inherently unfashionable bike on trend?

They also changed from 650b+ to 29×2.6″ but left the gear ratio the same.

2019 = 28-11/42 11s 650bx2.8″
2020 = 32-11/50 12s 29×2.6″

2020 has lower gearing by my calculations.

Looks fab.

I reckon with a 100mm fork it would be awesome!!

Those geometry changes make sense for off road bikes, regardless of type.

looks great. nice to see big name companies putting decent/niche bikes out there.

FWIW i use the same ratio SS on 650×2.8 compared to 29×2.4.
looks tidy that.

Looks like a nice mountainbike that but I always thought the Unit was a singlespeed?

I believe the Unit is single speed and the Unit X is geared. You can buy the parts to add gears to the Unit.

I’ve ridden a 27.5 unit and really liked it. This looks great too.

2019 = 28-11/42 11s 650bx2.8″
2020 = 32-11/50 12s 29×2.6″

2020 has lower gearing by my calculations.

Looks fab.

Ah, that’s my bad, I was talking about the single speed version.

Those geometry changes make sense for off road bikes, regardless of type.

Even for a rigid bike? Looking at the geometry or a Stooge or a Jones, they have seat angles of 72deg, idea being get the weight off the front wheel not on it. And although the new Stooge has an even slacker head angle than the Unit (66 vs. 68), the offset is huge to compensate (80mm vs 50mm)

Unit is a singlespeed, Unit X (pictured) is the same but with 1x gears.

Looks to be 470 axle to crown on that fork, so good for 100 or 120mm suspension forks if you wanted them later.

Even for a rigid bike? Looking at the geometry or a Stooge or a Jones, they have seat angles of 72deg, idea being get the weight off the front wheel not on it.

Stooge and Jones are both nichemonger bikes though, and not really aimed at people looking for rowdy bikes (I know Jones can ride one pretty well himself, but the people I’ve seen riding them out on the trails aren’t particularly hot on a bike).

What I’ve found taking a drop barred rigid bike down rough stuff is that you can get away with more precisely because there’s more weight over the front wheel. The theory applies to all bikes like this, and shorter offset with a slacker head angle is, apparently, either better or unnoticeable, depending on who you listen to.

The Stooge bikes are definitely rowdy and very capable. Whether that’s the geometry or not is another question though.

I’ve had my eye on that for a little while now; I think it looks pretty good, though edging away from the good price point.
Looks about as steep/slack as you’d need to go though.
https://theradavist.com/2019/08/trevor-and-his-cascadia-cycles-doug-fir-rigid-mtb/
https://www.peterverdone.com/pvd-sopwith-camel/

Nice bike, though I’m not totally sold on the colour.

I’d have gone with a much bolder colour scheme to announce the change back to 29er wheels.

My preference is for a slacker seat-tube angle to get more power from my glutes down. (Wasn’t that the logic behind Greg lemonds road frames from 1992?)

The sliding dropouts don’t appeal to me (no experience of them), but it’s Sod’s law that they’ll probably be the first thing to go when you’re miles from home.

My preference is for a slacker seat-tube angle to get more power from my glutes down. (Wasn’t that the logic behind Greg lemonds road frames from 1992?)

Time trial bikes have steeper seat angles to allow you to put down more power. It’s less comfortable, which is why not all bikes have TT bike STAs, but more steepness = more power.

I like that.

The unit was never a rowdy bike. It’s always been an xc orientated all rounder ss bike.

As for sliders – they take a fair abuse. My Kona sutra is from like 2007 and the sliders have given no issues…..it’s a long tail cargo bike these days so significant load on them. Like wise my main xc bike. Is a ragley td1 ss with sliders that’s now 10 years old and going strong

Time trial bikes have steeper seat angles to allow you to put down more power

Not quite. TT bikes have steeper seat tube angles because the position is rotated about the BB to give a lower front profile for the same hip angle. Closing down the hip angle reduces the power, so just bending lower on a road bike position doesn’t really work.

As for the Unit, loved my SS 29er until it was stolen. Geometry on the new one looks fine to me. I presume it has swappable sliding rear dropouts like the original.

Looks good, essentially an updated version of the 2006 Lava Dome I’m riding. The sliding dropouts haven’t budged in the 1900km since February when I built it up, although I run them all the way forward. When I strip it and rebuild, I’m going to try the dropouts further back, to see if it’ll help with the main niggle – not the best climber I’ve had, a lot of which is down to the slack ST angle and my height, pushing the saddle a long way back.

Stooge and Jones are both nichemonger bikes though, and not really aimed at people looking for rowdy bikes

True, but they’re only niche because they’re dedicated rigid bikes, which is exactly what the Kona is up against. And the Stooge is as rowdy as a rigid bike is going to get, surely?

I like it. The longer reach makes sense. When I bought my inbred 29er frame I went for 19.5 rather than 18″ because of reach. I am in the large size range height wise but always like a really low TT but wanted as long a reach as possible. Longer tt in ridgid bikes can still be a good thing.

believe the Unit is single speed and the Unit X is geared. You can buy the parts to add gears to the Unit.

If you bought the frameset it used to come with the gear hangers to fit a derailleur. Don’t know about now.

Nice – seems like rigids are having a resurgence and benefiting from updating to modern geo.

Aren’t the Jones and Stooge slack to effectively increase the length for different size riders due to lack of available frame sizes?

I like the look of it. Been secretly scanning 2nd-hand ads for a Unit for a while. Shh, don’t tell the wife.

It would be nice to see these new rigids pop up on the Youtubes when they do a “rigid on an enduro course” video, rather than a 25 year old budget hack.

Like the look of it, is it just me being daft though or is the kona website terrible at outlining the bikes features?

Rack mounts – how many? where?
Dropper routing?

I mean they’re supposed to be trying to sell it FFS! The sort of niche monger who’s going to buy one wants to know all that!

Think I’m in the minority but the previous Unit X version ticked all the right boxes for me with the relaxed seat angle, low stack, shortish top tube, 27.5 wheels and qr front and rear. All sold out now unfortunately so need to look elsewhere. Hoping the new Planet X steel 650b might fit the bill, fingers crossed.

looks good. And … looks somewhat like a Longitude.

I’m sure that sliding dropouts may be okay, but on a geared bike they seem to harken back to a time when 29ers were seen as a niche product.

The Voodoo ‘bizango’, designed by joe Murray no longer features sliding dropouts…

I love my 29er unit 2014?

I run it geared with 100mm forks, it’s incredibly capable , I would like a steeper seat angle tho, partly coz with 100mm tapered forks it’s a bit slacker than stock, but it tilts sa back too.

Sliding dropouts are fun to mess around with – all the way back is more stable, all the way forward better for jumping.

I have mine as short as possible, but I use a trailer hitch for the little uns so it’s about 70% of the way forward, which is a good compromise.

Great bikes, if I had the space/time/money id have a honzo and a rigid ss unit with the new geo & chunky tures.

£1100 for a rigid singlespeed? 😲
Looks like a fairly average 520 chromoly frame.

As above,I like it…

But the price??

Actually, £1100 is for the singlespeed. The geared one is £1400.

The single speed was £900 last year and the X £1200. I was toying with getting the single speed and putting XT drivetrain on it as I don’t like SRAM to bring it in a similar price to the X.

A £200 hike is a bit steep.

A £200 hike is a bit steep.

By the time they are available, I’m guessing they are guessing the £ will be worth a bit less

(Sorry to drag Brexit in)

Kona always seem to be on discount so wouldn’t personally worry too much about the rrp. Think it looks great.

Don’t want to be boring as mentioned it on a few different threads but a rigid bike like this suits me much more than a gravel bike.

A £200 hike is a bit steep.

price rises above inflation?

There is a lovely large single speed unit for sale in the classifieds right now 😉

@kimbers

Best of both worlds?

https://images.app.goo.gl/A9USttDPScBKxB7V8