Can the Kona Bass handle downhill and shore

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Can the Kona Bass handle downhill and shore
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Posted: Dec 20, 2008 at 17:50 Quote
i'm looking at buying a 2009 Kona Bass and i'm wondering if it can handle downhill and shore riding

Posted: Dec 20, 2008 at 18:06 Quote
off the website:

PRICE* $2699 CDN
HIGHLIGHTS
Kona 4” Travel Slopestyle Competition Frame • Marzocchi Dirt Jumper 1 100mm Travel Fork • Marzocchi Roco Air TST Rear Shock • RaceFace Evolve DH X-Type Crank/BB • Maxxis Minion 26 x 2.35 Tires

my thoughts:

it is built lighter and with a different purpose in mind, its not ideal. if you are a light/smooth rider, i could see it being a good choice. if you are an average joe 150+ lbs, ide look at something else, definitally. its biggest drawbacks are the 4" rear suspension, you would want more like 7 - 9", the fork is short travle, and lousy in general for shore/dh riding. not good. the valving is set up more for single large hits than really fast hits in a row. but thats just an "i think". im not sure on the valving. and i imagine the geo would...take some getting used to on the shore.

basically all the big things are wrong for dh/shore.

but it you want it for 4x/dj/whatever, and your worried about trashing it if you take it to the shore/dh, i think it would do fine. obviously not as strong as other bikes, but its not your grandma's city bike either Big Grin

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Posted: Dec 20, 2008 at 18:13 Quote
It could, it wouldn't handle very well, but you could do that kind of stuff on it.

Posted: Dec 22, 2008 at 4:19 Quote
You could do whatever you wanted on it... you might die though...
If you want a muck about bike that's nice and compact then I would go for it, but only if you want to upgrade the fork too (assuming the spec above is what you're looking at)

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Posted: Dec 22, 2008 at 5:28 Quote
it could if you are a smooth rider, well even if your not. But it wouldn't be ideal. Something like the Nomad would be perfect or somewhere in the 6-7inch bikes. Whoever said 7-9 must not know that most shore trails involve pushing your bike to the top and a heavy full-out dh bike wouldn't be that fun pushing every run.

Posted: Dec 22, 2008 at 10:29 Quote
ciszewski wrote:
it could if you are a smooth rider, well even if your not. But it wouldn't be ideal. Something like the Nomad would be perfect or somewhere in the 6-7inch bikes. Whoever said 7-9 must not know that most shore trails involve pushing your bike to the top and a heavy full-out dh bike wouldn't be that fun pushing every run.

I've been riding on the shore for years, i know exactly what it is Big Grin

take note that the OP asked about a fr/downhill bike. i think somewhere between 7 and 9 would be ideal for a bike used for disiplines.

a shore bike would be on the shorter travle side, DH on the longer side.

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Posted: Dec 22, 2008 at 10:41 Quote
u dont live in vancouver so you wont need to worry about it handleng the shore

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Posted: Dec 22, 2008 at 15:35 Quote
derekt wrote:
u dont live in vancouver so you wont need to worry about it handleng the shore

holy snaps, your right...man you live in winnipeg you definately don't need a dh/shore rig or even a freeride rig. The bass will do you fine. and ok from some points a 7-9" travel bike is good, but coming from a 120lbs rider, pushing a bike half your weight, well not half, up a hill takes away from going down.

Posted: Dec 24, 2008 at 13:29 Quote
i also go to BC every year and have some trails at my cabin

Posted: Dec 24, 2008 at 13:30 Quote
I'd look into something with more travel if I were you.

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Posted: Jan 1, 2009 at 15:48 Quote
if used my howler for both and i weigh 160 it does fine i just go faster and skip over more of the rough stuff

Posted: Jan 1, 2009 at 16:05 Quote
if ur looking for a short travel fully mayb look at the bottle rocket or a banshee wildcard. the br has 5.5 inches so it can still dj, but can also handle bigger stuff if needed, and the wc has adjustable travel from 5- 6.5 inches so u can dj or fr/dh it

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Posted: Jan 1, 2009 at 16:16 Quote
but they are retarded expensive for wha tyou get

Posted: Jan 1, 2009 at 18:40 Quote
a 06-07 norco shore it has 7" of rear travel, made for the N.shore and you can use it for dh tootup

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