Dressed to Kill - Kona Stinky Deluxe Review

Mar 8, 2007

A little while back I was sitting in the house, looking at the snow fall and rain constantly coming down. Just wondering to myself “when am I going to ride again?". As soon as I said "in the summer...” I was offered a deal I couldn’t turn down. To ride a bike that’s not mine, in the snow, rain, dirt, mud, and rocks? How could I turn down such a deal? Exactly, I couldn’t. So, a few weeks passed, and a root beer brown, medium, 2007 Kona Stinky Deluxe was climbing off the truck and into my arms. Now, I don’t want to bring some "OC" into my write up, but it was like love at first sight. Most probably because it was a brand new bike, and I’d get its first ride. I was extremely excited. We went for walks on the beach, and sat out in the rain when we were bored, had a nice candle light dinner, and then retired to watch movies. It was love at first sight, dressed to kill she was. So, like a night with a very attractive woman, I'm going to break it down on how it all went. From top to bottom, left to right, this is how it went, except mine wasn’t a one night stand, it was much, much longer!

Bikes are constantly evolving, day by day, and ride by ride. Whether we’re adding .5 of a pound to our high speed compression, or clicking that rebound dial down a little bit more, everything we do to our bikes in our day to day life is helping evolve the sport. The goal of the manufacturing world is to create a bike that riders enjoy riding, and that they don’t have to fiddle with the dials on every ride. From the start of the race Kona has been striving for that direct idea. With their ride range of bikes, and a controlling team, Kona has been running the main-stream bike competition. Combine some of the worlds top riders, with some of the most dialed geometry, and a big bike name, and what do you get? You get a company based out Ferndale, Washington, and Vancouver BC that knows how to do their thing, and they do it well.

Bikes have been evolving for years now. It’s hard to believe that we started off riding bikes with no such thing as suspension, or gears for that matter. Single wall rims, made of steel and a limited amount of technology in the drive train. Some people ask how we got from there to now. Its companies like Kona that helped progress the ages. Kona has been making bikes since the dawn of time. Between then and now the dinosaurs may have died off, but the bike scene has lived through it all. Kona has been near the top of the food chain for a long time, creating such bikes as the Stab, Coiler, Kikapu, and the all popular Stinky. The Stinky has been leading the mid travel department of the Kona line up for years now. Creating such bikes as the Stinky primo, deluxe, and just plain Stinky, Kona has given a line up of bikes to the general public most people can’t turn down. Kona didn’t skimp out with the 2007 Stinky Deluxe. Not only does it introduce a lot of new products to the market through production, but it’s a well cut bike for most riders.



To kids now a days what’s one of the most important things when purchasing a new bike? The squishies of course! The suspension line up of this bike definitely squished, consisting of a 2007 888 RCV, with 170mm of travel, and a 2007 Roco TSTR. The 888, when I received it was an extremely soft fork. I’m guessing that at the factory they had put in the lightest spring they had, and the oil was light to match. With the turn of a dial and a flick of a switch it was dialed in to my preferences (minus the “I Dream of Genie”-BING!). Due to personal preference, I ride my front end softer than my back, which helps me keep the front end steady in the steeps, but I found that the 888 didn’t have any issues holding a solid line. With 170mm of travel and the patented ATA system Marzocchi has given us for years, the 888 RCV is a wicked fork for this bike. Consisting of a 20mm drop out for added strength, and 35mm stanctions, the 888 is a solid fork, with no flex, and not to many bells and whistles. The Roco TSTR was on the same level. Marzocchi has stepped up in the rear shock world with the TST system (Terrain Selection Technology). This simple dial changes compress, rebound, and bottom out control. It has a 5 setting system, going from soft to lock out, including climbing dampening. The only downside I found with the Roco, at the end of its travel, it had a slight clicking feeling at the beginning of its life, but after some abuse it broke itself in and started to really work. The Roco is a well balanced shock consisting of rebound control, and the TST system, another solid back shock from Marzocchi. But what would a suspension line up be if we all rode the same geometry? It wouldn’t mean anything. That’s why companies spend so much time to dial the geometry of their bikes. The Stinky had an excellent geometry for this fork, with a the head tube angle sitting sideways at 66.5 degrees, it felt quite tucked, and comfortable.


The cockpit on this bike was quite comfortable. Kona's geometry on this bike is dialed, as it usually is. It has a perfect stand over height, and the bent top tube helps to get the feet over when things get squirrelly, or when you’re getting your trick on. The head tube angle, 66.5 wasn’t to slack, but it was comfortable while descending. While rolling on 26" wheels the head tube could have been a little bit less slack for you kids that like to rock the 24" rear wheel, but I felt quite comfortable while descending on this bike.

Frame size	Medium 15.5", with DOPE Floating Brake system
Rear Shock	Marzocchi ROCO TSTR 7" rear travel
Fork	2007 170mm Marzocchi 888 RCV
Headset	FSA PIG
Crankarms	Race Face Ride DH X-Type
Bash Ring	Race Face
Chainrings	Race Face 24T and 36T
Bottom Bracket	Race Face Ride DH X-Type
Pedals	Kona JackShit Primo
Chain	Shimano CN-HG73
Cassette	Shimano Deore LX (11-32 9 spd)
Front Derailleur	Shimano Deore LX
Rear Derailleur	Shimano Deore XT long-cage
Shifter Cable/Housing	Stock
Shifter Pods	Shimano Deore LX
Handlebar	Gravity Maximus OS Riser
Stem	Gravity Maximus OS
Grips	Kona LOG (Lock On Grip)
Brakes	Hayes HFX Nines with 8" rotors and BFL levers
Front hub	Sun Ringle Demon 20mm TA
Rear hub	Sun Ringle Demon
Spokes	DT Stainless 14g
Tires	Maxxis Minion 26x2.5
Front Rim	Sun Rims S-Type MTX 26"
Tubes	Standard DH tubes / Shrader valves
Rear Rim	Sun Rims S-Type MTX 26"
Saddle	WTB Pure V Race FR
Seatpost	FSA FR-270 DBL
Extra	Kona Seat post Clamp

The component line up for this bike consisted of a lot of 2007 parts, because it’s a 2007 bike. Starting off with the front end we had the new FSA Gravity Maximus OS Riser bar, and FSA Gravity Maximus OS stem. Combined together with the Kona Log (Lock-On-Grip) grip, Hayes Hydraulic HFX-9 HD V8 brakes, with XT shifters running the Shimano Deore LX front derailleur, and LX rear derailleur; it makes for a wicked cockpit. Wow, that was a mouth full eh? Well, to break it down, the stem and bar were a very comfortable over sized (OS) set up, and the shifting base was excellent. The brakes had special Hayes BFL brake levers on them, which to me just looked like they were lightened up by cutting extra metal off of them, and inscribing of BFL on the lever. None the less, they were very comfortable.


While most stock bikes are skimping out on drive train I didn’t have any issues with this component set up. The XT shifters kept solid shifting for the time I had it, and with the dual direction shifting it was a little bit twitchy. When I'm riding I always keep a finger on the shifter, but I found with the dual direction shifting I couldn’t do that. What’s dual direction mean? It means that for shifting down you can push forward or pull backwards to drop a gear. It was kind of odd because I’m used to just pulling, not pushing, but after I got used to it, it felt more fluid. I didn’t notice myself shifting by pushing to often though. The solid drive train was weighted down by a LONG cage rear derailleur. The day I got it I was so surprised that they gave me a long cage derailleur. I realize that when spec’ing bikes companies need to take a lot of things into consideration to cover as many bases as possible. And a long cage rear derailleur will allow a user to run that 3rd chain ring if they want to or remove a kinked link on a trail side repair. Now, components may play a huge issue on how good a bike rides, but if you don’t keep care of those 300$ shifters and 300$ derailleur built on a carbon fiber shifting base, and it will blow off just as fast as any other derailleur. This bike had a solid component line up that showed that it could show some abuse retention and still perform well. Now I don’t mean to sound harsh to everyone on short cages, but I had no problems with this bike’s shifting capabilities. Even though the derailleur hung down 5", I didn’t manage to blow it off on a rock or something like that. But I’m sure that if I were to keep this bike I would put a short cage derailleur on it for my own piece of mind. (Long cages should stay on XC bikes with 3 front rings) This bike also uses a new type of crank arms, Race Face Ride DH X-Type crank/bb. These cranks were super solid, stiff, 175mm crank arms and even have a granny gear to boot. Now, what’s pedaling without something to move the bike correct? Well if I didn’t confuse you right then and there, what wheels is this thing running? The wheels that are on this baby are 26" Sun Ringle MTX-S hoops, laced to a set of the new Sun Ringle Demon hubs with 14g DT Stainless Spokes. Combine them all, mix in a bit of tender loving care, and you got yourself some solid wheels. The Demon hubs are excellent. They’re light brown in color, coming in the 20mm version for the 888, and the 12mm through axel version for the back. My usual bike has a very loud hub on it, but the Demon has a quiet click to it, not very pronouncing, but still an excellent set of hubs for a low cost.


With the introduction of the new "floating brake" system, nick named the D.O.P.E. System, or more formally known as the Drop Out Performance Enhancement System. This means that the braking action is isolated from the suspension movement and also, that the rear drop outs can be changed from 12mm to a regular QR. The way the floating brake (caliper) system works is that the brake caliper is mounted on the 12mm rear through axle, and is connected via a beam (Brake Therapy) to the seat tube, and not fixed to the seat or chain stays. What this does is lets the suspension be active while under braking loads, where as on a fixed brake system the suspension also becomes engaged once the brakes are applied.


Well that’s enough about the specs. Most people at this time are asking about how it rode. Well, to be honest, it was amazing. Everything from the climb up to the local duck pond trail, to the descents down the steep, windy trails that Chilliwack’s local trails can serve up were tested. The weather was sometimes posing an issue against my will to ride, with horizontal rain and snow. But I’m a trooper and I trudged through 3 inches of wet snow and mud to ride down a sketchy, low ball trail. It was the BEST time of my life (ok riding life-odd how earning your ride makes it feel that much better). Just noticing after 2 runs that my tires were sitting at about 27 psi, I drained the Maxxis Minion DHR's down to about 20psi to get them really tacky. The bike handled really well in the wet with low psi. It tracked really well with the soft 888 up front to suck up the big hits, and the soft Roco kept me working hard. One down side to the parts I noticed was how the brakes began to perform in the cold. The Hayes HFX-9s, became like frozen, or sticky in the cold. I don’t know if it was just the terrain, but I have never noticed that with any other brakes. They bike handled really well at high speeds, with good high speed compression in the front and back for when you hit those corners really hard. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not an abusive rider, but I served up a good beating on this bike and she held through it all. Everything from the shifting to the wheels worked perfect after the day was done. One benefit of this bike was the maintenance factor. Basic tuning was done over the period that I rode this bike, tightening cables, bolts, clamps, stuff like that, but no real tune ups were needed. I believe that the secret behind a good bike is low maintenance.



On the plus side, the feeling of active suspension when braking was a much different concept to what I am used to. I usually ride a single pivot bike, and with a 4 bar suspension bike (that was running the Brake Therapy), not only was it a different suspension platform, but it produced a feeling of very responsive travel. Keeping the suspension active on a bike is a definite benefit to the rider. It helps the rider stay active, which means that you can loosen up, and go faster, which usually results in better race times, further more, producing a better ride for the rider. Now, I’m not saying that floating brakes are for everyone, as they are a little more added maintenance. To keep things on the safe and the well maintained side of things, I found myself lubing the pivots and the through axle to keep it performing correctly.

All around the bike was a very exciting bike. I found a lot of local riders and people gawking at the idea of a floating brake on such a main stream bike, but it suited the bike a lot. It was a nice change riding a bike that had such a different ride to it than my bike, 4 bar linkage compared to single pivot, big travel compared to mid travel, and weight. This bike was deceiving. It does look heavy to the eye, but it’s a very agile bike when you are ripping it up. It was a very secure and stable bike while in the air, and I noticed that compared to a lot of bikes, it didn’t tend to drift in the air. It went where you wanted it to, as long as you were prepared for what was coming. This bike was definitely designed for high speed rides, and I’m not going to lie to you guys, I was a little worried about getting it too deep in the dirt. After a little bit of convincing, I had decided that it was time to really open it up. At probably 80% speed I felt quite comfortable on this bike, even though the mud and snow was posing an issue.


A smooth component line up, a slick frame design, followed up by the nice Root Beer brown to match, and you have yourself a very nice bike. All around the Stinky Deluxe performed excellently. It was an extremely fun bike, with a lot of potential. What more would you like from a big name manufacturer? Throwing some excellent parts on a dialed frame, for an excellent price is all that we ask from bike manufacturers. Kona has definitely produced some dialed bikes, and if a big name bike, with big suspension is what you’re looking for in a bike, the Stinky Deluxe should be able to fit the bill.


Kona is able to be reached at www.konaworld.com, or through your local bike shop.