2006 Coilair

PB Forum :: Kona
2006 Coilair
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flag Fueledbysean
Posted: Sep 7, 2009 at 6:07 Quote
I'm looking to buy a bike for many purposes. I like to ride DJ's, trails, tech trails, wood trails, and FR/DH like whistler trails. I'm not sure if i want a full on DH/FR bike like a morewood izimu or stinky. So i was thinking about a kona coilair i had an offer for.

It's 2006 great condition with raceface componenets, e13 chainguard, fox front and rear shocks for $1200-1400, not sure of the set price yet.

I was wondering your guy's opinions on the bike itself, and the rear air shock because I've been told the rear air shock blows out easily. Also, how much can they handle? Thanks

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flag knobzy
O+
Posted: Sep 8, 2009 at 9:29 Quote
the dhx air should be fine for now. I'd be more worried about the single track rims. You start DHing or even DJing them, they won't last long.
flag pbuser102331
Posted: Sep 8, 2009 at 9:39 Quote
totally agree with what knobzy says,i would invest in a decent wheelset first.

a coil shock will always give a better feel and more reliable if you have to change.
flag kickstand1
Posted: Oct 15, 2009 at 8:05 Quote
can't help with the air shock question, but I just picked up a 2008 coiler. Seems to pedal pretty good, obviously doesn't climb as well as my hard tail does. As for jumps and such I weigh 180 and don't do a lot of big jumps I prefer faster trails or very technical trails but I still do take some pretty hard hits and it appeared to soak every thing up pretty well as far as I could tell. This of course being my first full suspension.

What I did notice is that I "had" to take drop offs or rock faces much more aggressively with the added 2" of front suspension travel then I did before with my hardtail xc style bike or I would endo, so things I used to ride down before (say 3' and bigger 85-90* rock faces with "flatter" exits) I had to jump off of with the coiler otherwise the front shock would soak up the landing and I would be more prone to endo.

As to the big jumps and such I did do what my old body considered decent sized bridge jumps and drop offs that I had done in the past on my hardtail, and with some more time on the bike I would probably be more comfortable going a little bigger. Most drops I did were in the 4-8ft range with a decent transition for the landing and anywhere from 20-30 ft or more of "gap" until getting to the landing, some 3-6' drops to flat and the bike soaked it up fine.

I say "I did" because my local trails don't really have anything comparable to a trip I recently took. I was a fair amount faster where bigger bumps and drop offs were involved on the Kona than on my previous trek on the same trails, I was not able to climb some of the stuff as well on the kona though. On the downhill style trails I was overall faster on the Kona. On the XC trails with more downhill stuff I was still faster on the Kona, on pure XC trails with mild downhills I am faster on my trek hardtail. The kona feels a lot better in the air and while attacking tech sections downhill, and is also balanced better for riding logs, stunts, etc.

For the type of riding I am able to do somewhat locally the coiler is as much bike as I would want, but I would still feel totally comfortable doing a DH race on it or taking a trip to whistler or similar.
flag Fueledbysean
Posted: Oct 15, 2009 at 18:38 Quote
Thanks, but i got a 2008 giant reign x2 Smile
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