West Coast Kona

It’s been over ten years since I seriously rode a mountain bike. Longer still since I was in a shop purchasing one, and even longer than that since I sat salivating in front of my parents old tube T.V. watching New World Disorder. Needless to say I grew up in the age of Barrecloth falling from the skies, and Cowan cruising through the air.

Rushing out after school to saddle my blue Kona Shred with my best buddy beside me on his Kona Hoss, we would spend hours exploring the enchanted woods near our houses. We rode with the same enthusiasm and dedication that we watched Vanderham posses from behind the screen. Both our bikes were repeatedly dropped, smashed, crashed and slammed, yet they were still patiently sitting there in our garages eagerly awaiting the next beating.

Now, ten years later, my buddy is till riding that same Hoss and I sadly parted with my blue Shred. Looking up new bikes to buy became a never ending strife. Threads meticulously explaining head angles, tokens, and the dreaded e-bikes littered my web history. Something seemed to be missing as my eyes and wallet began staring at four thousand dollar “entry level” bikes.

In efforts to save more money and buy my dream rig, I put off purchasing a bike for another three years. I became engrossed with the grumbling forum threads, scrolling through endless images of shimmering bikes, and all the while my buddy was out riding on his Hoss. I would ask him about a component which he would distantly nod to, all the while seeming superfluous to him. He was engrossed with riding the next trail faster and getting back out onto the trail as soon as possible. Looking at pictures of riders, I would shout out what bike they were on, while he would me mesmerized by the trail itself.

It finally clicked when I saw a guy hauling ass down a back road on an old Kona Stuff. The prices and full suspension bikes had gotten in the way of why I wanted to ride again, and what I wanted to ride. I immediately became infatuated with the Kona Honzo. As I began looking into them I noticed an enlightenment within the mountain bike industry beginning. The resurgence of those like me who cared about going back to their roots of mountain biking. Riding hard on hard tails.

Perhaps this resurgence was spurred on by the same type of people who are meticulously handling a new vinyl they just picked up while sipping some ethically sourced kombucha. However this back to the roots idea simply made sense to me.

Now, heading out on my Kona Honzo, there’s always that other rider who comments on it being a hardtail while a nostalgic glaze shimmers over their eyes. Telling me how they used to have a hard tail like that, and how it had initially been how they fell in love with mountain biking. The glaze clears and they pick up their shimmering, bike careful not to damage their investment, and push off onto the trail.

Going back to my roots of hard drops, sore knees, and pumping turns. I have taken the long road to get back onto the trail. However mountain biking was never about the newest bike, nor was it about the most expensive bike. It was me and my buddy out on our hardballs having fun. That blue Shred was $600, and that was a lot of money for my parents to fork out when I was a kid. Even now having a $2000 steel hardtail, I have not ridden it nearly as hard or enthusiastically as that blue Shred was ridden. I haven’t done bigger drops steeper descents, or bigger gaps.

I may be the guy rubbing his knees in the parking lot at the end of the trail, but I’ll always have that big goofy smile on my face while doing it.