Kona's New Carbon Process 153 29, Big Honzo, and More - Sea Otter 2018
Process 153 CR 29
The carbon 27.5” Process 153 was released last summer, and it will soon be joined by a big-wheeled carbon sibling. The Process 152 CR 29 has the exact same geometry as the alloy version, with a 66-degreee head tube angle, 425mm chainstays, and a reach of 475mm for a size large. The frame will accommodate up to a 2.4” tire, although depending on how much clearance you're comfortable with a 2.5” tire will likely fit as well.
There will be two complete models, with the DL version receiving a 160mm RockShox Lyric RC2 fork and SRAM RSC brakes.
Operator 29
Connor Fearon is currently preparing for race day at the first round of the DH World Cup in Croatia aboard prototypes of the new Operator, but Kona had another pre-production model built up and on display.
The bike can accommodate either 27.5” or 29” wheels thanks to the flip chip on the seat stays, but the plan is to bring it to market spec'd as a 29er. In that configuration it has 195mm of trear travel, and either a 455 or 465mm reach for a size large, depending on the orientation of the headset cups. The head angle is set at 63-degrees, and the chainstay length can be adjusted by 15mm, resulting in either a 425mm or 440mm length.
Big Honzo
There was already a Honzo, so it only made sense to create a carbon version of its plus-sized counterpart. The Big Honzo carbon has room for up to 27.5 x 3.0” tires, 430mm chainstays, and a 67.5-degree head angle with a 130mm fork. There's a mix of internal and external cable routing, with hose guides for the brake line on either side to ensure the bike works with both moto- and North American-style lever configurations.
Hei Hei Trail Alloy
The new carbon bikes might be hogging the spotlight, but there's also a new alloy model in Kona's lineup - the Hei Hei trail. With 140mm of front and rear travel and 27.5" wheels, the Hei Hei Trail is meant to be an energetic trail bike, one that's not quite as beefy and burly as the Process, but that can still handle a good dose of the technical stuff.
30th Anniversary Honzo
It's Kona's 30th anniversary, so in honor of the occasion they made 200 limited-edition steel Honzo hardtails. Each bike has a commemorative head tube badge, and the bike's number on the seat tube. One of those bikes is being auctioned off at Sea Otter, with 100% of the proceeds going to Southern California trail organizations who will use the funds to restore trails damaged by recent wildfires.
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[5 mins later]
Eng : "Done."
Oh yeah, those bikes were called "Cascade" that year, then "Kona" the next.
Kona Joe disappeared a couple of months later, and I have no idea what happened to my old friend, Big Red. I miss that bike. We traveled trails in Mexico that never saw a wheel before us.
Looks like Kona Joe did you like a kipper. I'll keep an eye out for your bigfoot-sized machine. Mag 21 up front yeah?
Kinda pointless they dropped the drive side chainstay without ending up with short stays. Kind of a waste.
NB @TransitionBikeCompany @CarbonSmuggler420
It's all about compromises. Watch the suspension compression vid in the Smuggler test a week or two ago. Under full compression, the seatstay bridge barely clears the seat tube. Options: curve seat tube, lengthen stays, underbuild bridge, use 2.3 max tire size. I'd choose the tire size limitation too.
Best handling bike I've ever ridden...
Luckily Europeans have got someone to teach them how to set up their brakes.