Foldable Bikes Party: Kona Hei Hei Trail DL first ride review

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Kona Hei Hei Trail DL first ride review

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The Hei Hei name has been around almost as long as Kona and a look at how the bikes with the Hei Hei moniker have changed over time is extremely telling as to where our sport has been, and where it’s going.

Kona Hei Hei Trail DL highlights

New pivotless carbon fibre rear end
Full carbon fibre frame with 27.5” wheels
140mm of travel from Fox Factory shocks
Single ring specific design

Kona Hei Hei Trail DL spec overview

Frame: Kona Race Light Carbon 140mm travel
Fork: Fox Factory 34 Float Air, 140mm tapered, 110mm spacing
Shock: Fox Factory Float DPS
Shifters: Shimano XT
Rear derailleur: Shimano XTR
Chainset: RaceFace Aeffect, 30T
Cassette: Shimano XT 11-42t 11spd
Rims: WTB Ci31 TCS
Hubs: Hope Pro 4, 15x110mm/12x148mm
Tyres: Maxxis Tomahawk EXO TR 27.5x2.3"
Brakes: Shimano XT, 180mm/160mm
Handlebar: Kona XC/BC 35
Stem: Kona XC/BC 35
Saddle: WTB Volt Comp
Seatpost: KS Lev Integra

Kona Hei Hei Trail DL frame and equipment

Originally a rigid forked, titanium framed hardtail, the intervening 25 years have seen it move into a range of lightweight, carbon fibre framed machines, none of which share the same wheel size as the original. This is the Trail version of the Hei Hei, which means you get smaller 27.5” hoops and 140mm of wheel travel rather than the big 29” hoops and shorter 100mm rear travel pairing of the non-Trail line of bikes.

While all Kona bikes have traditionally used a linkage driven single pivot ‘faux bar’ design, all the new Hei Hei bikes now use the Fuse system, which deletes the seatstay pivot and instead relies on the inherent flex of the carbon fibre back-end as the bike cycles through the travel. Thanks to tweaked main pivot placement, there’s a bit more anti-squat designed into the bike rather than when compared to the longer travel Process 153, meaning the suspension will stiffen up slightly when you pedal. While there’s a 30T ring fitted to this model, the system is designed to run with up to a 34-36T ring.

As befits a modern trail bike, the Hei Hei gets a metric sized shock with a trunnion mount and there’s Boost 148 hub spacing at the back too. There’s some rather clean internal cable routing, with the main cable port cover at the bottom bracket junction also hiding a spare derailleur hanger inside it.

Unlike many super-swoopy carbon frames, the outline of the Hei Hei is clean, with very straight top and down tubes connected together by a broad headtube junction. That does mean the top tube isn’t dipped for extra standover clearance, but even riding a Large frame and being about 5’8 tall, I didn’t find that too much of an issue.

Kona Hei Hei Trail DL 2016 ride impression

You can read more at BikeRadar.com

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