Do you need help deciding which bike to purchase next? I offer a one-on-one bike consultation service through patreon. It's how I put food on the table for my family, and how I'm able to provide custom bike advice for my vieewrs. Become a patron today for access: sign up for the monthly bike consultation tier, and cancel at any time. Most people sign up for a month or two, and we work together to discuss their needs, riding style, etc. to narrow down the list of all the great hardtails out there. When they get the info they need and they no longer have any questions, they cancel. Become a patron today: patreon.com/hardtailparty. If my videos have saved you time or money, consider supporting this channel for as little as $5/month. Support individual content creators over garbage tv or sponsored content disguised as reviews. A few more things... 1) Don't have time to watch the whole review? Skip to the summary at 20:34. 2) This is a fantastic bike, one of my all-time favorites for steep terrain. It needs steep terrain. If you don't have trails that are so steep that they're hard to hike/walk down, you don't need something this slack. 3) Yes, slack bikes can climb extremely well. 4) When I say the fork is "diving", I don't mean it's diving under braking, or it's not supportive. The Z1 is a fantastic fork and it felt great. What I am feeling is after multiple successive hits of 12-24" ledges, I feel the front end changing geo over and over, and it's a bit like a bucking bronco. A shorter travel fork does this less. 5) This trail is steeper than it looks on video. 6) I love how quiet this bike is. 7) In the beginning, shimano cassettes creaked, and a little disc/washer would quiet it down. But that was months ago. This is an SLX cassette on an SLX hub. If it requires a disc to quiet it down, that's bad. And if it DOES require that, it should come with them, I shouldn't have to add it as an aftermarket. 8) I still don't know why this came with 175mm cranks with a -63mm drop. 9) I LOVE the external cable routing. Listen to how silent this is. 10) I love the sliding dropouts. 11) This bike could absolutely be my only bike. It's super fun to goof around on in the parking lot. 12) The price is spot on with this bike. Aside from the crank length, there's nothing else that really needs to be changed. It's specc'ed extremely well. 13) Feel free to share this video with friends who would enjoy it. 14) These review videos are a ton of fun to make, but they're extremely time consuming. I don't have a bike sponsor (so I can remain neutral in these reviews), which means I rely on my patrons to support this channel. If you learned something from this review, and you benefited from it, consider becoming a patron today at patreon.com/hardtailparty
I’m super glad that Kona hooked it up by sending it to you! You deserve a connection to all of the brands because you’re filling a huge hole in the MTB segment in my opinion. It feels like all publications have “moved on” with full suspension and outside of known bike parks and gnarlier trails hard tails are just as important as the full squish bikes. I just don’t get it, but you know it’s great that there’s this gap in segment, because it gives you an in as a hard tail enthusiast to fill the gap and reignite the hard tail excitement. Keep up the solid work mate. The footage and your editing are top notch. I’m waiting for the eventual invite from Seth from Berm Creek to shred his backyard trail, that would be a super solid collab. Shred on!
Thanks so much for the kind words. I agree, not all of us live 5 min from whistler where we can take advantage of a 180mm zeb. I think hardtails are more relevant than ever. There's so much need for hardtail content.
I’ve had this bike for 3 years now and still love it. Run overforked with a 160mm Lyrik Ultimate, being a bigger heavier rider (6’4” 240lbs) it gives me the mid travel support I like, the longer fork and putting a taller bar on it shortens the reach up and raises the bottom bracket slightly (because it needs it where I ride). Being from British Columbia it loves the slow to mid speed steep trails and can handle everything I throw at it, the only issue I have with it with the rear wheel tucked up underneath it makes it jump a little odd compared to my full suspension but that’s easily adjusted too, just need to remind myself of that
I have a 62° head angle and 77° seat tube angle on my Hello Dave. She climbs super well considering that everybody told me it was going to be awful, but I can't see myself going back to anything over 64° now! Waiting for this review for a while, great video, thanks 👍
@@gearbox1858 well I'm still climbing faster than any of my friends on their full sus. Its not nimble by any means, nor is it built to climb. Its for going quickly the other way innit
frellis _ whatever makes you happy 😃. All depends on where you ride. It’s just not possible for a slacked bike to climb properly....if they did the best in the world would use them to race...
I have a 2014 Honzo with several upgrades. I have loved the bike but I am ready for something new. I was looking at full suspension like a stumpjumper but I think you just turned me right back around to the Honzo. Deep down, I will always be a hardtail guy! Awesome review.
Great review! I think it’s great that you’re not afraid to talk about the bikes shortcomings. I watch a lot of reviews and sometimes I feel like the reviewer might as well be a companies spokesperson. Hard to trust reviews like that. I’m so glad your followers got Kona to step up and send this bike out to you. I’ve been so on the fence about this frame since I find get one to even sit over. But where you gave this bike high scores is what is important to me for my next Hardtail so I’ll be ordering a frame the next time I’m in the shop. I love that you are going to experiment with the bike. I will be following closely.
Thanks. Yeah, if a "reviewer" isn't willing to explore the negatives or shortcomings of a bike, it's not a review in my opinion. Fluff pieces don't help anyone.
I want to tell you how much I appreciate your channel. A few months ago I switched my interest to a quality hard tail. I started with a cross country bike and evolved to the Kona Honzo ESD. Subsequently, I just placed my deposit on a Honzo ESD @ Glacier Cycles in Whitefish, Montana. Your passion, compassion and attention to detail as it relates to a review makes your channel unique. Let Kona know I purchased the bike because of your review. It simply reaffirmed what I assumed, in extraordinary detail. Lastly, my deposit was associated with the last open spot on a large, so I heard. Thank you for the invitation to the party in the mountains !
Thank you so much for the kind words and for taking the time to send Kona a message. That means so much. Congratulations, the ESD is a fantastic bike. I think you're going to love it. I've ridden whitefish, and it would definitely be a top choice for that area. Enjoy!
That place is gnar... Youre crushing it. I have ridden a Commencal AMHT 27.5 for 6 years and loved it. Finally looking for something more trail oriented at 54 years old in Florida and the Carolinas.
Another great review, I was waiting for this one to drop. I think I’d like this bike from what you have said. I’m keen to ride one should it make it’s way to Australia.
I used to own a 2005 Norco Rampage in large with a Marzocchi 66VF2 at 170mm - about a 66-67 degree head angle, 425ish chainstays... It was an absolute beast back then and was way too much bike for me, but I loved riding it no matter what or where - from XC to commuting to light freeride and downhill... Its one of 2 frames I regret selling, the other being a 2003 Iron Horse G-Spot in medium but realistically both were too small for me. The Rampage was as close to the perfect bike for me as I've ridden and whilst I do remember struggling on the climbs to get used to the slack head angle and all the travel I would own it again in a heartbeat. I love the idea of slack hardtails and trail bikes in general - I run an 05 Mongoose Teocali with a 150mm Z150 - but that Rampage will forever be the favourite...
Thank you so much for this review!! I will definitely be tossing you some dough on the patreon, you are doing a huge service to this community!!! And as a result of this community, hard tails will progress even faster. ANYWAYS, may I suggest you also request from Kona (or do a geometry review) the 2021 Kona Honzo Steel Frame? Geo was updated this year to a 66* HT Angle and a 140mm fork. I believe that that combo is much more reasonable for your every day rider that does not have as steep of terrain, and is therefor actually a much more versatile bike than the ESD. It could even be shortened to a 130mm fork but keep the HT angle with an angle set headset. Let me know your thoughts, thanks again!!
“Where’s my bonus line?” #nope “Hang on I gotta concentrate this is a big roll” #nope again, minutes later “alright now we’re at the double black” 😂 Your content is the best, have a great weekend
I would like to see a video from you geared towards us full suspension riders looking at getting back into hardtails. Whether you should be looking at same geo, tire sizes, etc. as the full squish bikes you’re comfortable with or not because of x, y, or z.
Agree with what you say about fork travel on a hardtail. I’ve tried pretty much everything from 180-100mm and 130mm feels like the sweet spot. I’m considering trying a taller crown race on my Pace to raise the front slightly without increasing fork travel.
Something you may want to look at for the shorter travel forks. Look at the RS Pike/Yari 29+ specific forks, the 120 version has a 542mm a to c. It gives you more length to keep the BB higher, but reduces that dive you're wanting to avoid. Also the Yari can be updated to basically a Lyrik with a damper change. ;)
So glad you finally got to review this bike Steve!! I’ve watched this several times already. I just emailed Yeti and Nukeproof so I hope it helps get you a couple more rad bikes in!!
Just bought this bike and took it for my first ride today! So far (one ride) its been awesome! The geometry gave me a huge amount of confidence going down hill and you can put your weight waaaaaaaay back while still keeping tonnes of grip on the front tire. Id say it feels better than my 2015 kona process 134 DL on everything ive ridden so far, though take that with a grain of salt as i have only done a couple hard downhill sections. Also the tires seem to have unlimited grip and were a good choice for the bike. I did notice the dumb hub noise, but its just a very minor annoyance. I havnt done any real technical climbing (just simple blue stuff), but what I have done has been pretty easy. It did cost a small fortune to buy, but that's future me's problem.
Glad to see the hardtail party getting bikes that we not only want but NEED and deserve. Hardtails deserve these sort of updates and design considerations just as much as the Full Squish does. My Staton is on backorder due to steel shortages but I cannot wait to get her on the trails in spring or traveling south to ride if I have too for a vacation in a warmer climate!
thank you! learned and confirmed a lot watching this. I recently built a ‘20 Nukeproof Scout and over forked it a bit with a 150 DVO Sapphire. Didn’t realize that the 1 degree slacker head angle combined with more travel would take so much getting used to. Front wheel kept sliding out on me and I feel the front diving down; you echoed exactly what I felt which was that you can’t be lazy, you need to stay over the front and be aggressive with it. On the other hand, it makes you a better rider. Great stuff!
Recently discovered this channel and I'm already a massive fan, your passion for mountain biking is apparent in every video and I love it! Recently built up a Chromag Rootdown frame and finally got to take it out the other day, coming from a 67° HTA this thing is definitely slack but I loved it on the descent and the climb was still totally manageable and even enjoyable. Proud to be a part of this hardtail fan club!
Just bought my ESD last weekend. Your comments are spot on. At first it felt full on chopper bike, there's so much front wheel out front. Then again, I'm coming off a GT Peace 9r full rigid ss, so anything is going to feel different. I'm with you on getting a 130 travel fork. I'm looking into a different air cartridge for the Bomber that does just that. Also thinking of a slightly larger chainring, since I'm used to mashing the pedals. Overall, like you say it's gonna take some saddle time to get used to it and change my riding style, but I'm pumped so far. I've spent time in the past with the older Fisher X Cal and had a Carl Strong custom built around a long travel fork, this bike brings back some of those memories. Looking forward to your follow up review! Thanks.
Loved the review mate, what a great place to demonstrate what the bike can do. Great honesty to both positive, and negative. As always something new to learn, awesome info as a potential candidate for my 1st bike.
Sick! I am in love with my 65° HT hardtail. A very small bike for someone my height, but definitely preferable to my longer full suspension bike in a LOT of cases. When it comes to bike geometry/sizing, nothing is necessarily BETTER or WORSE, just different. "Whatever bike I'm riding that day, is my favorite bike."
Doesn't sound ideal for a single speed with the long cranks and more wandery steering, but I'm sure you'll prove me wrong. Excited for that. Great video, Steve!
Best MTB review I've ever seen. Very thorough and you demonstrated instate all the points. New subscriber. Just back into MTB with a new C'dale Trail SL3. certainly a different bike for a different purpose but I'd love to see you review one.
I feel like this is the spiritual HT brother to my Marin Alpine Trail. Short chainstay, slack front end, long front center and reach, but really manageable in climbs and trails of all kinds. Maybe one day...
Great review mate , keep up the great work 👍 I bought one about a month ago & absolutely love it 😍! So much fun 🤩 and way more capable than I thought it would be ! I came of a Scott Ransom 920 ( 170mm F&R ) Enduro bike , jumped on the Honzo and instantly loved it more than the Scott ! Not sure what the geometry comparison is but there both Medium With the Honzos reach being a little longer and I actually enjoy the extra room in the cockpit 👍 I agree with 99% of what you say about the bike & understand exactly what your saying about the 150mm shocks changing geometry 📐 when dipping low but I think for jumping it’s bang on especially nosing a landing on bigger jumps 🤔? I guess no bike can be perfect for everything/ everyone & I personally do a very wide range of riding & find it perfect 🤩 for me ! The one thing I did change was the dropper, swapping the 170 for a 210 One Up Components as I love slamming that seat out the way & the BMX feel , also it’s the same as I have on my Scott keeping the 2 bikes as similar as possible 😎 Cheers 🍻
I had a Trek Roscoe 8, sold it last year and bought a Kona Rove ST and never had such a fun bike. I started thinking maybe I should get a full suspension bike. Started looking again and keep coming back to this bike. Even though it is a hardtail but this bike looks like a blast. Plus I "HOPE" the steel frame is forgiving enough for me... I live in Edmonton Alberta so our trails are full of roots and a few rocks. I would like to go to the mountains do do some riding but not sure if I will get out there much. Thank for the review but you are making my thought process harder.... LOL
Seems like we were all looking forward to this one. Great, informative and honest review, as always. Good to hear your thoughts and insight on fork travel. Currently pricing up a Pipedream Moxie but my feeling was the 160 DVO that can be bought as a frame/fork package was too much and I was more inclined toward a 140 Pike. You've really helped me out.
Awesome review, very cool bike too. I recently got a meta (65 deg head angle) and I agree with your points on 'slack bike handling'. I was worried about the capabilities when I ordered it. Taking a bit to get used to how it steers, but it still works for everything. And as for climbing, my 'slack bike' is wayyy better at climbing than I thought it was going to be. Can get up anything that an XC bike can, just slower.
Awesome! Thanks, for another great review. Im really looking forward to the underforking experiment... Should result in a similar BB height to my current hardtail, but with more stable 'trail' friendly geometry.
hey Hardtail Party. I've just discovered your channel and I love the optimistic and well researched approach! I've watched a bunch of your videos now including the phases of buying a bike. I have been riding the same Yeti built Schwinn Homegrown hardtail since I bought it new in 1999. It's been a rigid single speed for over a decade. I don't ride much these days because I moved to a region where the trails are super rocky and techy and not flow trails. The fully rigid SS is less fun than trail running so I run a lot more. I'm in the market for a new bike and thinking a lot about frame geo. The new Honzo 29 DL aluminum has sliding dropouts and could be ridden as a SS -and is more slack than my old school cross country race bike like I have now. I'm comparing that vs. the Kona ESD and the RSD Middle Child - both have much more extreme frame GEO. If you could have one bike for single track in East Coast rooty, slippery, and muddy terrain what would you choose?
I'll be reviewing that bike later this year. At the moment there are only 2 el roys on the planet. I fear the el roy won't fit me, but I'll review it regardless.
Great review Steve!! Excellent take on riding this bike on blue or XC trails mostly compared to black trails!! Really looking forward to see it under forked and single speed conversion and your take to see if it’s the right frame for the job!! Can’t wait for more videos, one of the best youtubers out there!!!☝️☝️☝️👍👍👍👍💪💪💪
@@sebi_palgino8875 The purpose of a fork is to absorb bumps and give me more control on this terrain. If I start messing with it, trying to get it to not use its full travel as it was intended, I'm going to compromise its ability to give me more control. if you watch the video closely, you'll see that the Z1 rides pretty high in its travel. If I added compression, it would make the ride harsher. I don't want a harsher ride, I just want less travel. Yes, I could make it ramp up sooner with more tokens, but I think a shorter fork is the right way to solve this problem.
@@hardtailparty definitely makes sense! My RS recon doesn't have a lot of mid stroke support and I can definitely feel my geo change when braking and stuff but since I don't ride super technical terrain it's fine.
But if you put on a shorter travel fork, won’t you just be starting at a steeper HTA? And won’t you be at the same HTA at bottom out as for the longer travel case?
I totally agree with you, you have to give these modern geometry bikes time to adjust. Im a big guy and like big bikes generally. I got a hello dave a couple of months ago and at first thought id made a mistake because it is huge compared to bikes of old, but after riding it and adjusting to it over a few rides im totally used to it and it feels natural, right. I love it. Another great review
I've been thinking that that bike would be sweet with a 130, so I'm glad to hear that you're trying that. You might want to shorten those cranks all the way to 165 when you do though. That would fix both your issues at once.
I had the same thought. Unfortunately, I don't have any 165 cranks to put on it. I'd like to do a video on crank length one day and test everything from 150-180mm, but that will get expensive fast.
@@hardtailparty Yeah, cranks aren't cheap, but a single shorter pair might be worthwhile given how much you like to ride low bikes over chunky terrain. How would Tess feel if one of her bikes suddenly had no cranks?
This makes me thinking about getting one of these instead of a Ragley next year🤔 But still excited what they will come up with😁 Very good review as Always! Thanks a lot to Kona to send you one and thanks a lot to you for your honest opinion! Thanks to you i will also put 170cranks on my current low budget build for more ground clearance🙂 To me this hub also sounds weird af! If my hub would sound like that i would be worried LoL
I'm surprised with the drivetrain - I have the same hub and cassette and both are silent. The hub did make a little noise at first when going really slow (basically just when walking the bike around), but now it doesn't seem to make any sound at all. Glad you liked this bike overall, though, as it looks pretty sweet.
Building a "budget" HT Ragley Big Al & bought the Z1 fork in 140mm. I've read several reviews that the fork needs volume spacers & lower pressure to keep it supple without blowing through its travel. If you play around with the fork setup let me know! Love your review & honesty about Shimano! Thanks fyi you're the only channel I let the advertising play though. lol
I set my air pressure up to the recommendations and it felt spot on usually I run my rebound pretty close to open (2-3 clicks from open) on most forks, but I had to turn the rebound knob in quite a bit on this fork. It's not he first time I've been in the middle of the range for rebound.
@@hardtailparty Thank you. This is my 1st build. Can't wait for it to be finished so I can ride in Sedona! Of course I timed it well in the middle of a biking pandemic with no parts available. lol
@@hardtailparty I found adding a little compression helps in the chunk with the Z1. My lever is about at the 12 o'clock position and I found that to work for me.
Loving this channel man! Already improved and cleared some sections I use to struggle with on my hardtail with what I've learned here. But man, that double black diamond trail.. hiking that trail I would probably be like, "nope, this can't be right, this isn't supposed to be an obstacle course!?" Lol 😂
It's fun talking to the hikers on the trail when we ride that one. They all think we're crazy. Most of them avoid the black diamond section even as hikers.
Thanks for the comment on shimano. I thought it was just me. My SLX does creak on my Marin Alpine Trail 7. My hardtail has the advent X and I don’t have that issue. It’s a little loud on the shift but it’s pretty quiet most of the time. Thanks for the review.
Great review. I have a grande Marin El Roy on order... a little afraid of how massive it is but so curious I couldn't help myself (I am 6'1 with ape arms) but see similarities with this bike which has me stoked. Great job on that Hiline descent too. Thanks for the great review.
Late to the party, but I just ordered a 2022 Honzo ESD based on your review. It's going to be interesting, as it's my first ever mountain bike. I do lots of trail riding on a gravel bike and wanted to give something at the opposite end of the spectrum a try.
@@hardtailparty It's awesome! Your reviews sure are useful for dealing with the limited bike supply. Buying a bike without being able to ride it first is risky, so reviews are essential.
Thanks Steve! Thanks Kona, for letting HardTail Party review this! After the review, I think what I'd do is order the frame, and spec it myself. Thing is, I ride w/ my daughter on some loooong climbs here in CO., not sure if this is the bike for that kind of thing. Thoughts on how it might feel after a 2+ hour struggle fest up 5k feet? I find that a slacker headtube angle tires me out a bit faster, due to my seated position. This might not be the bike for those longer CO days though.
Thanks for the review and thoughts. This is a pretty extreme geo! Would you take this over the BFe? Did you know the 650b BFe has a 428mm chainstay? Viewer request: Do you think you could do a tech talk on frame materials, like Reynolds 853, 4130 chromoly, 6160 Aluminum, etc?
I asked the same thing about materials. He has a vid a short while ago basically saying it depends on the manufacturer building in flex or not and that carbon can be more supple than steel. Also, frame size matters and Norco for example uses different tube wall thickness for different sizes. Lastly, frame design matters. Triangles are stiff and those seat tube gussets and triangles can really stiffen things up. Also he didn't review the 650b BFe so how is he supposed to recommend that. He does say he would extend the chainstay on this honzo for more stability so maybe that's your answer (do you want more stability or more playful). Cotic does make their bikes to go warp speed but they have their own vids of people doing tricks on the 650b BFe. He does say here this bike feels as fun going slow as it does going fast opposed to the Solaris max. Maybe he'll chime in.
Great review (as always ). Have you tried a BTR ranger ? A UK brand so probably hard to find in the USA. It sounds like exactly what you want in that it's a slack 63 degree hardtail but is designed to run a 120/130mm fork.
Casually rides down a double black while chatting to a audience
Thanks Kona, really stoked to see Hardtail Party's opinion on this bike.
Do you need help deciding which bike to purchase next? I offer a one-on-one bike consultation service through patreon. It's how I put food on the table for my family, and how I'm able to provide custom bike advice for my vieewrs. Become a patron today for access: sign up for the monthly bike consultation tier, and cancel at any time. Most people sign up for a month or two, and we work together to discuss their needs, riding style, etc. to narrow down the list of all the great hardtails out there. When they get the info they need and they no longer have any questions, they cancel. Become a patron today: patreon.com/hardtailparty.
If my videos have saved you time or money, consider supporting this channel for as little as $5/month. Support individual content creators over garbage tv or sponsored content disguised as reviews.
A few more things...
1) Don't have time to watch the whole review? Skip to the summary at 20:34.
2) This is a fantastic bike, one of my all-time favorites for steep terrain. It needs steep terrain. If you don't have trails that are so steep that they're hard to hike/walk down, you don't need something this slack.
3) Yes, slack bikes can climb extremely well.
4) When I say the fork is "diving", I don't mean it's diving under braking, or it's not supportive. The Z1 is a fantastic fork and it felt great. What I am feeling is after multiple successive hits of 12-24" ledges, I feel the front end changing geo over and over, and it's a bit like a bucking bronco. A shorter travel fork does this less.
5) This trail is steeper than it looks on video.
6) I love how quiet this bike is.
7) In the beginning, shimano cassettes creaked, and a little disc/washer would quiet it down. But that was months ago. This is an SLX cassette on an SLX hub. If it requires a disc to quiet it down, that's bad. And if it DOES require that, it should come with them, I shouldn't have to add it as an aftermarket.
8) I still don't know why this came with 175mm cranks with a -63mm drop.
9) I LOVE the external cable routing. Listen to how silent this is.
10) I love the sliding dropouts.
11) This bike could absolutely be my only bike. It's super fun to goof around on in the parking lot.
12) The price is spot on with this bike. Aside from the crank length, there's nothing else that really needs to be changed. It's specc'ed extremely well.
13) Feel free to share this video with friends who would enjoy it.
14) These review videos are a ton of fun to make, but they're extremely time consuming. I don't have a bike sponsor (so I can remain neutral in these reviews), which means I rely on my patrons to support this channel. If you learned something from this review, and you benefited from it, consider becoming a patron today at patreon.com/hardtailparty
Are you going to review the cotic bfe (27.5) and if so any progress
@@davidjennings3462 I don't have any plans to review it right now. Maybe one day.
@@hardtailparty would be great if you could. Also did you prefer the bfe max or the honzo
Esd
Great review 👍🏻
How about if you added an angleset to steepen the HTA and add a small amount of BB height?
“That’s why I mountain bike”, best line I’ve heard in a while.
I’m super glad that Kona hooked it up by sending it to you! You deserve a connection to all of the brands because you’re filling a huge hole in the MTB segment in my opinion.
It feels like all publications have “moved on” with full suspension and outside of known bike parks and gnarlier trails hard tails are just as important as the full squish bikes. I just don’t get it, but you know it’s great that there’s this gap in segment, because it gives you an in as a hard tail enthusiast to fill the gap and reignite the hard tail excitement.
Keep up the solid work mate. The footage and your editing are top notch.
I’m waiting for the eventual invite from Seth from Berm Creek to shred his backyard trail, that would be a super solid collab.
Shred on!
Thanks so much for the kind words. I agree, not all of us live 5 min from whistler where we can take advantage of a 180mm zeb. I think hardtails are more relevant than ever. There's so much need for hardtail content.
Plus we can't all afford these $5k FS with similar parts. I'm not sure I even want to afford that.
@@hardtailparty Yes! To me hardtail is life😍
As long as a HT will be fun on most of the stuff i ride there will be no reason for a crazy expensive FS.
Duuuuuuude! It's finally happened. You've ridden the Honzo ESD!
YEAH BABY!
I’ve had this bike for 3 years now and still love it. Run overforked with a 160mm Lyrik Ultimate, being a bigger heavier rider (6’4” 240lbs) it gives me the mid travel support I like, the longer fork and putting a taller bar on it shortens the reach up and raises the bottom bracket slightly (because it needs it where I ride). Being from British Columbia it loves the slow to mid speed steep trails and can handle everything I throw at it, the only issue I have with it with the rear wheel tucked up underneath it makes it jump a little odd compared to my full suspension but that’s easily adjusted too, just need to remind myself of that
I have a 62° head angle and 77° seat tube angle on my Hello Dave. She climbs super well considering that everybody told me it was going to be awful, but I can't see myself going back to anything over 64° now! Waiting for this review for a while, great video, thanks 👍
Pink Bike's Grim Donut is the bike for you, dude!
@@jasoniannone9675 crikey, thats rad.
No bike ever climbs well with a 62..no chance....it’s physically impossible....but, the mind can play tricks on us...it’s called marketing
@@gearbox1858 well I'm still climbing faster than any of my friends on their full sus. Its not nimble by any means, nor is it built to climb. Its for going quickly the other way innit
frellis _ whatever makes you happy 😃. All depends on where you ride. It’s just not possible for a slacked bike to climb properly....if they did the best in the world would use them to race...
Very excited for this review. Thanks Kona for sending this out for a review!
Steve's evolution: Full suspension -> aggressive hardtail -> singlespeed aggressive hardtail -> dirt jumper -> fixie -> unicycle.
Wolf tooth components makes an extended lower headset cup. Adds 10mm. Used one on my chromag.
Picking up my ESD today, in large part because of this video. Excellent content!
Congrats in a fantastic bike
10:04, 'Thats so much steeper than it looks'. To me it looked like almost vertical
Irs pretty vertical.
Loved how you're talking normal while shredding! Respect!
I have a 2014 Honzo with several upgrades. I have loved the bike but I am ready for something new. I was looking at full suspension like a stumpjumper but I think you just turned me right back around to the Honzo. Deep down, I will always be a hardtail guy! Awesome review.
Full suspensions are great too, but I'm a sucker for a modern hardtail.
I'm in exactly the same position with my 2013 upgraded Honzo. Was thinking of going FS, but this pushes the need for FS back a few years 😍
Great review! I think it’s great that you’re not afraid to talk about the bikes shortcomings. I watch a lot of reviews and sometimes I feel like the reviewer might as well be a companies spokesperson. Hard to trust reviews like that.
I’m so glad your followers got Kona to step up and send this bike out to you. I’ve been so on the fence about this frame since I find get one to even sit over. But where you gave this bike high scores is what is important to me for my next Hardtail so I’ll be ordering a frame the next time I’m in the shop.
I love that you are going to experiment with the bike. I will be following closely.
Thanks. Yeah, if a "reviewer" isn't willing to explore the negatives or shortcomings of a bike, it's not a review in my opinion. Fluff pieces don't help anyone.
"There's a party in the mountains and your invited" such a great slogan! 👍😀🚴♀️
I want to tell you how much I appreciate your channel. A few months ago I switched my interest to a quality hard tail. I started with a cross country bike and evolved to the Kona Honzo ESD. Subsequently, I just placed my deposit on a Honzo ESD @ Glacier Cycles in Whitefish, Montana. Your passion, compassion and attention to detail as it relates to a review makes your channel unique. Let Kona know I purchased the bike because of your review. It simply reaffirmed what I assumed, in extraordinary detail. Lastly, my deposit was associated with the last open spot on a large, so I heard. Thank you for the invitation to the party in the mountains !
Thank you so much for the kind words and for taking the time to send Kona a message. That means so much. Congratulations, the ESD is a fantastic bike. I think you're going to love it. I've ridden whitefish, and it would definitely be a top choice for that area. Enjoy!
That place is gnar... Youre crushing it. I have ridden a Commencal AMHT 27.5 for 6 years and loved it. Finally looking for something more trail oriented at 54 years old in Florida and the Carolinas.
This is great, dyude. Shared it on our JRA Cycles shop FB page. We just got these in and we're psyched!
Thanks so much! It's such a fun bike. I think they're going to sell a boatload of these. What a fun bike.
I love you explain examples of what you mean when you say things like “steeper trails”.
Another great review, I was waiting for this one to drop. I think I’d like this bike from what you have said. I’m keen to ride one should it make it’s way to Australia.
I've built my Honzo up rather nicely but this monster is ridiculous!! Thanks for the review, as if I needed another reason to get this bike!
Just contacted my local shop! Can't wait to shred this thing around Tahoe. I'll make sure to tell them Hardtail Party sent me.
This would be a fun bike for tahoe/truckee.
Omg that climb just killed me just watching in the video.
You did amazeballs 👊
I used to own a 2005 Norco Rampage in large with a Marzocchi 66VF2 at 170mm - about a 66-67 degree head angle, 425ish chainstays... It was an absolute beast back then and was way too much bike for me, but I loved riding it no matter what or where - from XC to commuting to light freeride and downhill... Its one of 2 frames I regret selling, the other being a 2003 Iron Horse G-Spot in medium but realistically both were too small for me. The Rampage was as close to the perfect bike for me as I've ridden and whilst I do remember struggling on the climbs to get used to the slack head angle and all the travel I would own it again in a heartbeat. I love the idea of slack hardtails and trail bikes in general - I run an 05 Mongoose Teocali with a 150mm Z150 - but that Rampage will forever be the favourite...
Thank you so much for this review!! I will definitely be tossing you some dough on the patreon, you are doing a huge service to this community!!! And as a result of this community, hard tails will progress even faster.
ANYWAYS, may I suggest you also request from Kona (or do a geometry review) the 2021 Kona Honzo Steel Frame?
Geo was updated this year to a 66* HT Angle and a 140mm fork. I believe that that combo is much more reasonable for your every day rider that does not have as steep of terrain, and is therefor actually a much more versatile bike than the ESD.
It could even be shortened to a 130mm fork but keep the HT angle with an angle set headset.
Let me know your thoughts, thanks again!!
Gotta say you're the real deal dude! Those lines were super hardcore for a hardtail!!! Nice work.
“Where’s my bonus line?” #nope “Hang on I gotta concentrate this is a big roll” #nope again, minutes later “alright now we’re at the double black” 😂 Your content is the best, have a great weekend
Had a really fun time at Windrock on my ESD. This thing can take some gnarly stuff
That would be the perfect place for it.
I would like to see a video from you geared towards us full suspension riders looking at getting back into hardtails. Whether you should be looking at same geo, tire sizes, etc. as the full squish bikes you’re comfortable with or not because of x, y, or z.
Great idea! I'll put a note to start thinking about that one.
Agree with what you say about fork travel on a hardtail. I’ve tried pretty much everything from 180-100mm and 130mm feels like the sweet spot. I’m considering trying a taller crown race on my Pace to raise the front slightly without increasing fork travel.
Something you may want to look at for the shorter travel forks. Look at the RS Pike/Yari 29+ specific forks, the 120 version has a 542mm a to c. It gives you more length to keep the BB higher, but reduces that dive you're wanting to avoid. Also the Yari can be updated to basically a Lyrik with a damper change. ;)
So glad you finally got to review this bike Steve!! I’ve watched this several times already. I just emailed Yeti and Nukeproof so I hope it helps get you a couple more rad bikes in!!
You rock adam, thanks.
Just bought this bike and took it for my first ride today! So far (one ride) its been awesome! The geometry gave me a huge amount of confidence going down hill and you can put your weight waaaaaaaay back while still keeping tonnes of grip on the front tire. Id say it feels better than my 2015 kona process 134 DL on everything ive ridden so far, though take that with a grain of salt as i have only done a couple hard downhill sections. Also the tires seem to have unlimited grip and were a good choice for the bike. I did notice the dumb hub noise, but its just a very minor annoyance. I havnt done any real technical climbing (just simple blue stuff), but what I have done has been pretty easy. It did cost a small fortune to buy, but that's future me's problem.
Congrats, it's a killer bike
@@hardtailparty Thanks! Your recommendations and bike reviews really helped narrow down the choice.
I just saw an offer for this bike today and later saw this video even though i was never looking for any of them. Sometimes things line up strangely.
I can't wait to ride one of these or even own a Honzo ESD. that bike is sick and glad to have your approval on it
Glad to see the hardtail party getting bikes that we not only want but NEED and deserve. Hardtails deserve these sort of updates and design considerations just as much as the Full Squish does. My Staton is on backorder due to steel shortages but I cannot wait to get her on the trails in spring or traveling south to ride if I have too for a vacation in a warmer climate!
I'll have a stanton review coming in the near future.
Totally agree about the crank length. I love my Honzo but I pedal strike all the time!
Just picked up my ESD yesterday. I’ve taken it on two rides so far. Man this thing shreds. It definitely prefers a STEEP trail.
I saw when Kona shared this on their IG. Finally I'm home and can watch it. Nice review!
thank you! learned and confirmed a lot watching this. I recently built a ‘20 Nukeproof Scout and over forked it a bit with a 150 DVO Sapphire. Didn’t realize that the 1 degree slacker head angle combined with more travel would take so much getting used to. Front wheel kept sliding out on me and I feel the front diving down; you echoed exactly what I felt which was that you can’t be lazy, you need to stay over the front and be aggressive with it. On the other hand, it makes you a better rider. Great stuff!
See my video on how to ride a modern bike it's got some good pointers on it.
What a great frame! I'd love to build that up as a basher.
Recently discovered this channel and I'm already a massive fan, your passion for mountain biking is apparent in every video and I love it! Recently built up a Chromag Rootdown frame and finally got to take it out the other day, coming from a 67° HTA this thing is definitely slack but I loved it on the descent and the climb was still totally manageable and even enjoyable. Proud to be a part of this hardtail fan club!
Welcome to the party. Thanks for the kind words. The rootdown is a rad bike.
The first rocky climb is EPIC. Man, you have some serious skills going Up!!!
Thanks. Sedona has definitely made me a better rider.
Just bought my ESD last weekend. Your comments are spot on. At first it felt full on chopper bike, there's so much front wheel out front. Then again, I'm coming off a GT Peace 9r full rigid ss, so anything is going to feel different. I'm with you on getting a 130 travel fork. I'm looking into a different air cartridge for the Bomber that does just that. Also thinking of a slightly larger chainring, since I'm used to mashing the pedals. Overall, like you say it's gonna take some saddle time to get used to it and change my riding style, but I'm pumped so far. I've spent time in the past with the older Fisher X Cal and had a Carl Strong custom built around a long travel fork, this bike brings back some of those memories. Looking forward to your follow up review! Thanks.
Great revue on the Kona. Party hard in the mountains and be safe.
Loved the review mate, what a great place to demonstrate what the bike can do. Great honesty to both positive, and negative. As always something new to learn, awesome info as a potential candidate for my 1st bike.
Sick! I am in love with my 65° HT hardtail. A very small bike for someone my height, but definitely preferable to my longer full suspension bike in a LOT of cases. When it comes to bike geometry/sizing, nothing is necessarily BETTER or WORSE, just different. "Whatever bike I'm riding that day, is my favorite bike."
I would argue that some sizes are better/worse for given terrain, but in the end, we're not curing cancer, we're just riding bikes.
Great review and video. Can't quite stretch the funds for a Honzo right now but currently 90% certain on a Blast 2021.
thanks for the review! i'm a big fan of 11 speed XT, cheap and works great
same here!
Very excited for this review!
Doesn't sound ideal for a single speed with the long cranks and more wandery steering, but I'm sure you'll prove me wrong. Excited for that. Great video, Steve!
who knows, we'll see. That's the fun of all these experiments.
Best MTB review I've ever seen. Very thorough and you demonstrated instate all the points. New subscriber. Just back into MTB with a new C'dale Trail SL3. certainly a different bike for a different purpose but I'd love to see you review one.
I feel like this is the spiritual HT brother to my Marin Alpine Trail. Short chainstay, slack front end, long front center and reach, but really manageable in climbs and trails of all kinds. Maybe one day...
Great review mate , keep up the great work 👍 I bought one about a month ago & absolutely love it 😍! So much fun 🤩 and way more capable than I thought it would be !
I came of a Scott Ransom 920 ( 170mm F&R ) Enduro bike , jumped on the Honzo and instantly loved it more than the Scott ! Not sure what the geometry comparison is but there both Medium With the Honzos reach being a little longer and I actually enjoy the extra room in the cockpit 👍
I agree with 99% of what you say about the bike & understand exactly what your saying about the 150mm shocks changing geometry 📐 when dipping low but I think for jumping it’s bang on especially nosing a landing on bigger jumps 🤔? I guess no bike can be perfect for everything/ everyone & I personally do a very wide range of riding & find it perfect 🤩 for me !
The one thing I did change was the dropper, swapping the 170 for a 210 One Up Components as I love slamming that seat out the way & the BMX feel , also it’s the same as I have on my Scott keeping the 2 bikes as similar as possible 😎 Cheers 🍻
I had a Trek Roscoe 8, sold it last year and bought a Kona Rove ST and never had such a fun bike. I started thinking maybe I should get a full suspension bike. Started looking again and keep coming back to this bike. Even though it is a hardtail but this bike looks like a blast. Plus I "HOPE" the steel frame is forgiving enough for me... I live in Edmonton Alberta so our trails are full of roots and a few rocks. I would like to go to the mountains do do some riding but not sure if I will get out there much. Thank for the review but you are making my thought process harder.... LOL
You should def review the Honzo DL, love to hear your thought on it. Currently into the ESD and the DL. Thank you! Great video!
Seems like we were all looking forward to this one. Great, informative and honest review, as always. Good to hear your thoughts and insight on fork travel. Currently pricing up a Pipedream Moxie but my feeling was the 160 DVO that can be bought as a frame/fork package was too much and I was more inclined toward a 140 Pike. You've really helped me out.
Awesome review, very cool bike too. I recently got a meta (65 deg head angle) and I agree with your points on 'slack bike handling'. I was worried about the capabilities when I ordered it. Taking a bit to get used to how it steers, but it still works for everything. And as for climbing, my 'slack bike' is wayyy better at climbing than I thought it was going to be. Can get up anything that an XC bike can, just slower.
Solid work Steve. Would love to see this bike built into a SS with travel taken down to 130-140
Me too. Stay tuned... I've already started the conversion.
+1 for single speeding that beast
Me too, but I'm guessing (as a SS curious only rider) that this slackness is overkill for the flatter terrain where a SS is more suited.
@@jeffreythompson6282 stay tuned for next week's video, I'll be converting this to ss soon.
Excellent! I love my 2013 honzo st in ss mode, I pick it for every other ride. Can't wait for your vid! Cheers.
Wow looks like my kind of bike! Love the short chainstays and slack head angle. Looks like that bike handled Hiline amazingly. Great review.
This bike did really well on Hiline. I can't wait to go back with a 130mm fork on it.
@@hardtailparty I can imagine! 130 mm is perfect travel for Sedona.
Nice review! I agree on the front fork sizing! Keep ‘em coming!
Awesome! Thanks, for another great review. Im really looking forward to the underforking experiment... Should result in a similar BB height to my current hardtail, but with more stable 'trail' friendly geometry.
hey Hardtail Party. I've just discovered your channel and I love the optimistic and well researched approach! I've watched a bunch of your videos now including the phases of buying a bike. I have been riding the same Yeti built Schwinn Homegrown hardtail since I bought it new in 1999. It's been a rigid single speed for over a decade. I don't ride much these days because I moved to a region where the trails are super rocky and techy and not flow trails. The fully rigid SS is less fun than trail running so I run a lot more. I'm in the market for a new bike and thinking a lot about frame geo. The new Honzo 29 DL aluminum has sliding dropouts and could be ridden as a SS -and is more slack than my old school cross country race bike like I have now. I'm comparing that vs. the Kona ESD and the RSD Middle Child - both have much more extreme frame GEO. If you could have one bike for single track in East Coast rooty, slippery, and muddy terrain what would you choose?
Lovely review and an amazing looking machine ! Would love to see a comparative review with the brand new steel Marin El Roy :)
I'll be reviewing that bike later this year. At the moment there are only 2 el roys on the planet.
I fear the el roy won't fit me, but I'll review it regardless.
Your reviews are awesome buddy, really enjoying the channel, thank you from the UK 👍
Thanks for watching!
Great review Steve!! Excellent take on riding this bike on blue or XC trails mostly compared to black trails!! Really looking forward to see it under forked and single speed conversion and your take to see if it’s the right frame for the job!! Can’t wait for more videos, one of the best youtubers out there!!!☝️☝️☝️👍👍👍👍💪💪💪
excellent video! I've got a Haro Subvert currently, but I'm picking up Kona as a brand and was really curious about this one!!!
Awesome review! Been looking forward to this one.
Your idea on having a short travel fork seems logical but have you ever tried just maxing out the tokens on a 150
That's the wrong way to fix the problem.
Or maybe a bit more compression damping?
@@sebi_palgino8875 The purpose of a fork is to absorb bumps and give me more control on this terrain. If I start messing with it, trying to get it to not use its full travel as it was intended, I'm going to compromise its ability to give me more control.
if you watch the video closely, you'll see that the Z1 rides pretty high in its travel. If I added compression, it would make the ride harsher. I don't want a harsher ride, I just want less travel. Yes, I could make it ramp up sooner with more tokens, but I think a shorter fork is the right way to solve this problem.
@@hardtailparty definitely makes sense! My RS recon doesn't have a lot of mid stroke support and I can definitely feel my geo change when braking and stuff but since I don't ride super technical terrain it's fine.
But if you put on a shorter travel fork, won’t you just be starting at a steeper HTA? And won’t you be at the same HTA at bottom out as for the longer travel case?
Would love to see you review the hello Dave as it's pretty much the most extreme hardtail with a 160mm fork.
me too. I've tried to get one in for review, but no luck.
I totally agree with you, you have to give these modern geometry bikes time to adjust. Im a big guy and like big bikes generally. I got a hello dave a couple of months ago and at first thought id made a mistake because it is huge compared to bikes of old, but after riding it and adjusting to it over a few rides im totally used to it and it feels natural, right. I love it. Another great review
now try going back and it will feel so wrong! You'll wonder how you rode that shorter, steeper bike for so long.
hardtail party ha ha yeah I totally get that
DUDE 🤯 That was some great riding ! 🤘
Such a great trail choice to highlight how incredible this bike is
The unfortunate reality is that most people interested in this bike don't have terrain like this to ride it on.
@@hardtailparty that's why we live in the desert, brother!
One of the things I noticed with this video/bike was the sound on the chunky descents. You can practically hear the grip.
The assegai/dhr2 is an amazingly grippy combo. I love it.
Awesome review as always and awesome bike! I can’t wait to see what a shorter travel fork does to it! 👍👍
I've been thinking that that bike would be sweet with a 130, so I'm glad to hear that you're trying that. You might want to shorten those cranks all the way to 165 when you do though. That would fix both your issues at once.
I had the same thought. Unfortunately, I don't have any 165 cranks to put on it. I'd like to do a video on crank length one day and test everything from 150-180mm, but that will get expensive fast.
@@hardtailparty Yeah, cranks aren't cheap, but a single shorter pair might be worthwhile given how much you like to ride low bikes over chunky terrain.
How would Tess feel if one of her bikes suddenly had no cranks?
You like all bikes like this 😉
And I see many are going the slack way .
I have an RSD so can’t get this .
YET
This makes me thinking about getting one of these instead of a Ragley next year🤔
But still excited what they will come up with😁
Very good review as Always!
Thanks a lot to Kona to send you one and thanks a lot to you for your honest opinion!
Thanks to you i will also put 170cranks on my current low budget build for more ground clearance🙂
To me this hub also sounds weird af! If my hub would sound like that i would be worried LoL
Love the review, Steve! Any chance the new Honzo ST will get a redemption review?
No word yet. I'll see if I can get one, but I wouldn't hold my breath. I'll bet the rear end feels very similar.
I'm surprised with the drivetrain - I have the same hub and cassette and both are silent. The hub did make a little noise at first when going really slow (basically just when walking the bike around), but now it doesn't seem to make any sound at all. Glad you liked this bike overall, though, as it looks pretty sweet.
Looks like a rad bike! I hope you come out with Hardtail Party stem caps so I can put one on my Spot 😁
Building a "budget" HT Ragley Big Al & bought the Z1 fork in 140mm. I've read several reviews that the fork needs volume spacers & lower pressure to keep it supple without blowing through its travel. If you play around with the fork setup let me know! Love your review & honesty about Shimano! Thanks
fyi you're the only channel I let the advertising play though. lol
Thinking of getting 165mm RaceFace Next R cranks for clearance. I have a 32" inseam. Would love to know your opinion. Party On!
I set my air pressure up to the recommendations and it felt spot on usually I run my rebound pretty close to open (2-3 clicks from open) on most forks, but I had to turn the rebound knob in quite a bit on this fork. It's not he first time I've been in the middle of the range for rebound.
@@hardtailparty Thank you. This is my 1st build. Can't wait for it to be finished so I can ride in Sedona! Of course I timed it well in the middle of a biking pandemic with no parts available. lol
@@hardtailparty I found adding a little compression helps in the chunk with the Z1. My lever is about at the 12 o'clock position and I found that to work for me.
You're reviews are great! Awesome bike! You should definetely check out a dartmoor hornet! Keep it up
Great review! Looks like a sweet hardtail
Super good video and solid review.
Loving this channel man! Already improved and cleared some sections I use to struggle with on my hardtail with what I've learned here. But man, that double black diamond trail.. hiking that trail I would probably be like, "nope, this can't be right, this isn't supposed to be an obstacle course!?" Lol 😂
It's fun talking to the hikers on the trail when we ride that one. They all think we're crazy. Most of them avoid the black diamond section even as hikers.
Thanks for the comment on shimano. I thought it was just me. My SLX does creak on my Marin Alpine Trail 7. My hardtail has the advent X and I don’t have that issue. It’s a little loud on the shift but it’s pretty quiet most of the time. Thanks for the review.
That advent X is the best thing to ever happen to drivetrains. Stay tuned for my upcoming review of it.
Every mtber should own a hardtail like this
Great review. I have a grande Marin El Roy on order... a little afraid of how massive it is but so curious I couldn't help myself (I am 6'1 with ape arms) but see similarities with this bike which has me stoked. Great job on that Hiline descent too. Thanks for the great review.
Nice! I didn't realize you could order those already. I hope to get one in for review soon.
Late to the party, but I just ordered a 2022 Honzo ESD based on your review. It's going to be interesting, as it's my first ever mountain bike. I do lots of trail riding on a gravel bike and wanted to give something at the opposite end of the spectrum a try.
It's definitely at the opposite end. Enjoy. Congrats on a cool bike. Make sure to check out my video on modern riding technique.
@@hardtailparty It's awesome! Your reviews sure are useful for dealing with the limited bike supply. Buying a bike without being able to ride it first is risky, so reviews are essential.
Man el Roy or honzo man I love your channel wish you did fulls also lol
What a joy to watch!
Thanks Steve! Thanks Kona, for letting HardTail Party review this! After the review, I think what I'd do is order the frame, and spec it myself. Thing is, I ride w/ my daughter on some loooong climbs here in CO., not sure if this is the bike for that kind of thing. Thoughts on how it might feel after a 2+ hour struggle fest up 5k feet? I find that a slacker headtube angle tires me out a bit faster, due to my seated position. This might not be the bike for those longer CO days though.
It might tire you out a bit faster, but I'd do it in a heartbeat.
I love my small at 5.6 fits like 👍 🧤
Awesome review, again.
Thanks for the review and thoughts. This is a pretty extreme geo! Would you take this over the BFe? Did you know the 650b BFe has a 428mm chainstay?
Viewer request: Do you think you could do a tech talk on frame materials, like Reynolds 853, 4130 chromoly, 6160 Aluminum, etc?
I asked the same thing about materials. He has a vid a short while ago basically saying it depends on the manufacturer building in flex or not and that carbon can be more supple than steel. Also, frame size matters and Norco for example uses different tube wall thickness for different sizes. Lastly, frame design matters. Triangles are stiff and those seat tube gussets and triangles can really stiffen things up.
Also he didn't review the 650b BFe so how is he supposed to recommend that. He does say he would extend the chainstay on this honzo for more stability so maybe that's your answer (do you want more stability or more playful).
Cotic does make their bikes to go warp speed but they have their own vids of people doing tricks on the 650b BFe.
He does say here this bike feels as fun going slow as it does going fast opposed to the Solaris max.
Maybe he'll chime in.
And just like that a run on Honzo ESDs. Haha
Great review (as always ). Have you tried a BTR ranger ? A UK brand so probably hard to find in the USA. It sounds like exactly what you want in that it's a slack 63 degree hardtail but is designed to run a 120/130mm fork.
Btr makes some super interesting bikes. I haven't tried any of them yet though. They totally get the modern geo thing.