Thanks for the review. The Honzo ESD is the first Kona I'd be keen to own. Unfortunately I just got a 2nd aggressive HT in a Cotic BFeMAX and even I can only justify so many MTBs. My custom Daambuilt has short-ish CS and I intentionally got a 2nd HT with longer front and rear centres in the Cotic to see what that's like. I have been a short CS person the last 8+ years and I wanted to make sure I gave the alternative geo a fair shot. If for some reason the Cotic doesn't rock my world after this winter I could see myself swapping the parts over to this Honzo frame.
I would have told you HTs were silly for Coastal BC trail riding until I got the Daambuilt and experienced the "modern aggressive" HT geo for myself. I kept riding that bike more and more until I was riding 95% of my normal FS bike trails and loving it.
As I explained to a friend...I don't ride a HT or a SS bike because it's "better" than FS or gears. I ride HT/SS because I love the experience of riding them and they also happen to have some interesting benefits I can point to which is a bonus.
Sept. 24, 2020, 7:09 a.m. - Vik Banerjee
Thanks for the review. The Honzo ESD is the first Kona I'd be keen to own. Unfortunately I just got a 2nd aggressive HT in a Cotic BFeMAX and even I can only justify so many MTBs. My custom Daambuilt has short-ish CS and I intentionally got a 2nd HT with longer front and rear centres in the Cotic to see what that's like. I have been a short CS person the last 8+ years and I wanted to make sure I gave the alternative geo a fair shot. If for some reason the Cotic doesn't rock my world after this winter I could see myself swapping the parts over to this Honzo frame. I would have told you HTs were silly for Coastal BC trail riding until I got the Daambuilt and experienced the "modern aggressive" HT geo for myself. I kept riding that bike more and more until I was riding 95% of my normal FS bike trails and loving it. As I explained to a friend...I don't ride a HT or a SS bike because it's "better" than FS or gears. I ride HT/SS because I love the experience of riding them and they also happen to have some interesting benefits I can point to which is a bonus.