I'm not able to fully qualify why a flex stay bike has the get-up-and-go that it does. In my monkey brain, it's because the "flex" is wound so effing tight that of course it wants to propel you forward faster. But there's no science behind that. Just many bananas. The Hei Hei Trail, which I believe is the ~2017 Kona you were referring to, was an odd bike that really only seemed to tide Kona over until the release of the Process 134 which was not a flex stay bike. The Hei Hei Trail was dissolved from the lineup shortly after or maybe right when the V2 of that 134 came out. I have a current generation Hei Hei and tell myself that maybe _I am_ super fit when I ride because, holy shit that thing is FAST. I guess I came here to say that I don't want flex stays to go away, because there's something weird and wonderful about how they work, so I'm glad to see more bikes continuing to use that tech.
Feb. 28, 2024, 8:18 a.m. - Lacy Kemp
I'm not able to fully qualify why a flex stay bike has the get-up-and-go that it does. In my monkey brain, it's because the "flex" is wound so effing tight that of course it wants to propel you forward faster. But there's no science behind that. Just many bananas. The Hei Hei Trail, which I believe is the ~2017 Kona you were referring to, was an odd bike that really only seemed to tide Kona over until the release of the Process 134 which was not a flex stay bike. The Hei Hei Trail was dissolved from the lineup shortly after or maybe right when the V2 of that 134 came out. I have a current generation Hei Hei and tell myself that maybe _I am_ super fit when I ride because, holy shit that thing is FAST. I guess I came here to say that I don't want flex stays to go away, because there's something weird and wonderful about how they work, so I'm glad to see more bikes continuing to use that tech.