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Honzo Build Thread - post your builds here

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#1 · (Edited)
Kona Honzo Build

2012 Kona Honzo Med.
2012 Fox F29, 120mm, RLC, Tapered, 15mm TA
Stan's Flow Wheelset with 3.30 front hub, 3.30 Heavy Duty rear hub
Maxxis Ardents: fr/2.4exo, rr/2.25
Thomson X4 70mm zero rise stem
Thomson Elite seatpost
Easton Monkeylite xc lo-rise carbon bar 27 inches
Specialized Henge Expert Saddle, ti rails
Odi Rogue lock-ons
Avid Elixirs R 185/160
Sram 991? chain
XT cranks
XT med. cage derailleur
Shimano 12-36t cassette
Niner 32t front chain ring
XT rear shifter
BBG bash
N-gear Jumpstop
Cane Creek Headset / inset top, external lower

27 lbs. 13 ounces

Here's my review after my first ride today:

Just got back from ATT and I'm really, really, happy with the bike.

First of all, I expected the front end to wander on steep climbs, but it stuck, no wandering. This has a lot to do with the steep seat tube. It felt very efficient without any discernable bottom bracket flex. I expected this because the tubes Kona uses are fatter than my old Niner MCR 9. This frame weighs 5.75lbs. where the Niner 853 steel frame weighed 4.5lbs. and doesn't have sliding dropouts. For my weight, about 200lbs., the MCR 9 was nooodly, but comfortable. I felt it absorbed a lot of my pedaling power and the head tube was extremely flexy. The Honzo is a stout frame, and I don't think you can achieve that without it weighing more. I don't notice the weight, but I do notice the power transfer and SOLID feel of the frame. Also, I expected to dab the more technical sections because I'm not tuned to this bike yet, but I cleaned them all.

After reaching the top we lowered our seats and headed back. The words that comes to mind descending on this bike are INSANELY FAWKING AWESOME. Because of the short chain stays, the bike corners like a roller coaster doing a 180. The Honzo's geometry positions you over the rear tire and the pivot point of the bike in the turns. I'm not much of a downhiller, but I was flying and not worrying about any ruts or rocks because the fork and frame just swallowed them up, very confidence inspiring. The chain stays also make coming off jumps more intuitive. With Niner's geometry I always felt like I was waiting for the rear tire when popping off curbs and jumps, but the Kona feels right on.

This is the best bike I have ever owned, period. If you're worried about frame weight, you could save about 1/4-1/2 lb. going with a Canfield Nimble 9. The geometries with 120mm forks are almost identical, but the Nimble 9 has a slacker seat tube, which may affect climbing, and it does not accommodate a tapered fork, two things I really love about the Honzo.

PS - check out this video of the Honzo in action: House of the Big Wheel Part 1: Honzo and Satori on Vimeo

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#987 ·
@hjulier,
Is your seat at full pedal height?
The reason I'm asking is I'm 6'6" as well and I run my Reverb with substantially more post showing.
Unless you have really short legs and a crazy long torso then carry on as you were.

Or maybe does your 22L frame really have a 22" seat tube?
I was led to believe that the 20R and 20L frame sizes had the same ST length, 20". It was just the TT measurement that was different between the two sizes. And, that the 20L came with a 22 size sticker on the frame.

Just curious.
 
#992 ·
Oops, meant to write 20 long.

I'm 6'5" with a 35 ish inseam... nothing too goofy about my proportions. The reverb is indeed at full height. You're probably just a little taller and like your seat a little higher! I could run mine higher, but find it put too much strain on my neck and hands. I always go for my handlebars just above my saddle height.

Eventually I will post some more pictures that show the bike on level ground.
 
#991 ·
A new addition.

I picked up a KS Lev 150 to swap with my Reverb. The Reverb is going to my wife's HT.
I've only had one ride so far with the Lev. And it works as advertised.
The extra inch of drop is very noticeable in having the seat further out of the way. I kinda had buyer's regret because I started thinking that 1 inch wasn't worth the price. But that thought went away the moment I dropped the post down for the first time while out on my ride.
It definitely is worth it!

I guess riding the Reverb and only having 125mm of drop had me used to riding with seat just a little too high when dropped to really feel comfortable to fully send drops and jumps.
Now with the seat an inch lower I feel that it is solidly out of the way not to be worried about knocking it or getting caught on it when sending it.
It's only a small difference in height, measurement/number wise, but it is a surprising change when actually riding the bike.

I also finally got my ChargerPro rear wheel up and running. SunRinglé sent me parts for warranty of the freehub but more issues arose and they eventually sent me an entire new hub.
I unlaced the old hub and relaced the new hub using the original spokes and rim.
I didn't do too bad of a job if I do say so myself! Considering I don't have use of a truing stand. I used my frame, fingers and eyeballs to true the wheel.

And, I tried to set up my tires tubeless. It didn't work.
I've just recently set my park bike up tubeless on Spank Spike Race28 wheels. It was my first time going tubeless and it was a breeze to set those wheels/tires up. I had no trouble using just a floor pump to get the beads to seat and hold air.
I thought with that experience under my belt that setting up rims that are made specifically by NoTubes and tubeless specific tires it would be a breeze.
Uh, nope.
After a while of struggling to get the tires to try and kinda sorta hold air to seat the beads and no luck I went back to tubes.
I don't have ready access to a air compressor and I'm not about to go to the only gas station in town and pay to use their air compressor.
I find it ironic that the rims and tires I set up tubeless aren't tubeless specific and they set up super easy. Whereas the tubeless ready rims and tires didn't set up at all!
Oh well.

I'm now running the Hans Dampf on the back as well. I changed out the Ardent 2.4 for the HD. The HD is definitely a squeeze but there is room. I have to make sure my wheel stays true so not to get any rub on the frame. Again I've impressed myself with my wheel build to end up with a true wheel and no rub from a large tire!

Here's a couple of pics with the seat at pedal height and at fun height.



 
#995 ·
My Honzo is still the stock 2013 build except I added my old Gravity Dropper seatpost. I'm not happy with the stock chainguide, it always rubs more than I would like at both extremes. I have been running 1x9/1x10 on my full suspension bikes for years but this my first hardtail with that setup. I don't have the clutch rear derailleur, so what is the minimum chain guide setup I can get away with? Is something like the Blackspire Stinger enough by itself, or maybe in combo with the Wolf Tooth chainring? Anyone try the Wolf Tooth ring by itself with a non-clutched rear derailleur?
 
#997 ·
I'll let you know after I ride Durango, Fruita and Aspen on mine in late September. Lots of singletrack climbing and descending.

I don't see why the Honzo couldn't be used for general XC riding. Sure it's a little slacker than an XC race bike, but if you're not racing....

With a 120mm fork up front you can gain back some steering quickness (as opposed to those us gentlemen that prefer 140) and you could even move the rear wheel back in the dropouts for more stability though i'm not sure why you'd want to.
 
#998 ·
It's fine for XC. You may not be as competitive as others on their plastic bikes. As far as the Taro goes... I've never ridden one. I owned a banshee paradox before the honzo. Aluminum may be lighter, but its a rougher ride than steel so put that into consideration. Loooonnggg rides on a stiff aluminum frame could be a bit much for the taint.
 
#1,003 · (Edited)
Yeah, the white rims were a bit of a vanity purchase for my matchy-matchy colour scheme.
Regardless, I very much like how they look on the bike with all my other bits and frame colour. They've withstood my hard riding. The back rim has a few dings/dents in it but nothing too serious. Considering that they're a 28H rim and being ridden by a heavy aggressive riding giant they've performed admirably. It's just the freehubs that have been lacking. But that has been the case for pretty much every freehub I've ever ridden. I replace freehubs twice, if not three times in a season.
My wheel build/spoke tensioning turns out to not have been so spectacular. The wheel developed a solid wobble after a slightly angled landing. Because I'm running the HD there was a ton of tire rub against the frame. I love the Hans Dampf tire but on the Honzo your wheel has to be perfectly straight and tensioned to run that tire without any rub.

The biggest difference between the HD 2.4 and the Ardent 2.4 is the side knobs, other than the GRIP! The HD side knobs stick out considerably further than on the Ardents. The tires are close to being evenly matched for sidewall width volume. It's just the HD's side knobs stick out that much further.
Another big difference is that the cornering grip and braking grip is exponentially better on the HD's compared to the Ardents. Although, the Ardents do roll faster on the smoother harder packed trails and on pavement/road.

I've never had an issue with the Ardents. I just like the HD's better. The Ardent is a great rear tire. I will never ever put an Ardent the front of my bike! In the region I live in there is a serious hate-on for the Ardents front and rear. I understand the hate for running it as a front but totally don't understand the vitriol for the Ardent as a rear. Most of the hate comes from the fact that most of our riding time is spent in mostly damp to wet riding conditions except for about two months during the height of summer (the Ardent performs quite poorly in the wet on roots, rock and off camber stuff - but as a rear I can deal with that). This summer has been exceptionally dry.

The KS Lev has been working great.
I've only had one moment of WTF. I had left my bike outside in the direct sun for a couple of hours in my yard and when I got on the bike to ride it the seat wouldn't lower. It took about 20 minutes for it to start working properly. And, there hasn't been any issue with it since.
I think because of being in the sun for a long time and everything heating up the mechanism stopped working or the air pressure got too high for it to work. I'm just guessing but there you have it.

@hjulier
I have a season and a half on the Hans Dampf as a front tire.
I think they are a great tire for all of the terrain in the regions that I ride in - Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton.
If you need a visual of the type of terrain that I ride check out this video of the Enduro World Series stop in Whistler. All of the trails outside of the bike park on the Enduro course I ride regularly on my Honzo (the lower part of Stage 1, all of Stages 2,3,4). The HD handles my direction changes, cornering and stopping with ease.
My Revelation fork, on the other hand, doesn't really do any of that with ease!
The little time that I had with it on as a rear tire the HD was a welcome change to the Ardent. Fantastic grip! Just make sure your rear wheel is seriously true and tensioned properly as to not get any frame rub from the tire.

Here's the link to the vid: DirtTV: Crankworx Enduro - NSMB.com Mountain Bike Reviews, News, Photo and Video

TL;DR version:
White rims - good
Ardent 2.4 - okay to good rear tire
Hans Dampf - good to great tire
KS Lev 150mm - well worth the purchase price
Honzo - if you have balls big enough you can ride a lot of gnarly terrain
 
#1,002 ·
Update to my Honzo

Bicycle tire Wheel Tire Bicycle wheel Bicycle frame


Update on my bike: I went from an SS setup to a 1x10 Zee setup with an XT 11-36 casette. I kept the Wolftooth up front. I was a bit dissapointed to learn that the shifter isn't I-Spec compatible, while the brakes are. A bit silly I think from Shimano to not make brakes and shifters from the same product line I-Spec compatible. Shifting is great though so far.

My Renthal Kevlar grips slipped from time to time, so I tightened them but I overdid it...needed to get them off for attaching my shifter, the bolts were so tight that my allen key damaged them so I couldn't losen them anymore..had to drill them out. Luckily I had a set of ESI Chunky grips laying around. I did prefer the feel of the Renthals though, especially on bare hands (when riding street towards/from the trails).

Now I'm saving up for a KS Lev dropper...
 
#1,004 ·
Thanks for the long explanation!
I'm running Continental MK 2.2 rear and 2.4 front, but I don't think I could tell the difference if I put on another tire, my riding level is still too noob for that.
I did already put a wobble on my rear wheel, so I'm glad I have only a 2.2 tire on there, room enough for a slight wobble.

How do you even destroy a freehub?
 
#1,005 ·
How do you even destroy a freehub?
The way I destroy freehubs is where the pawls insert into the body of the freehub. I distort or crack the body around the insertion point of the pawls so it doesn't spin or doesn't spin freely in the hub shell.
It is a function of the amount of weight and power that I can put into a pedal stroke. Also the lesser engagement hubs blowup faster on me because of the dead space between dropping the power down on the pedal and the pawls engaging. I find that with the Honzo because it is a single ring up front that it accelerates the damage that I can apply to freehubs.

Most, if not all, freehub bodies are made of aluminum. Which are relatively "soft".
What I need is a high engagement steel freehub body. They are out there but most of those types live in the expensive end the bike part world.
 
#1,008 ·
Thinking about getting a Honzo. Miss having a 29er. Sold my Raleigh XXIX over the winter. The bike was a large and a bit to small, plus I need some squish in the front. Looking at an XL Honzo. I am 6'3" with a 34" inseam and a 36.5" sleeve. Currently on a Cannondale 140rz full suspension 26". This is a great page. I have enjoyed reading the posts.
 
#1,015 ·
I have to share it right now! I rode my Honzo since the last winter... I sold my XC double and planed to buy a new 27.5 when opportunity comes but I just bought a new 26 double cause I got a awesome deal. I really love it after 2 rides but the last weekend, I came back with THE Machine and rode the same trails.... The difference about the feeling of handling, the speed, the climbs and the dhills, the smile ... and the pain ... Was incredible! I just love to share this with you! Long live to the Honzo
 
#1,016 ·
Just came home with the 2014 Honzo model this weekend. Changed out the pedals to Speedplay drilliums and hit the trails. The bike is awesome! Yeah it's probably heavy but I'm a big boy so the components are not too bad. I'm more at peace with the Shimano components for the '14 build and of course they are lower level components but they work well. I may upgrade a few things later in time but if anyone decides to pull the trigger on the 2014 model I think you will be very content.
 
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