Playful and snappy handling meets surprising levels of competence on downhill and bumpy terrain in the all around trail hardtail, the Kona Honzo. Read on to find out why so many hardtail enthusiasts swear by the Honzo.
Pros
- Playful, lively handling
- Excellent maneuverability
- Modern, slack geometry
- Solid climber
- Competent on descents
Cons
- Brakes a bit underpowered
Bike specs
Frame
6061 butted aluminum
Geometry
For size large frame
| Spec | Measurement |
|---|---|
| Reach | 480mm |
| Chainstay | 425mm |
| Head tube angle | 66.5° |
| Seat tube angle | 75° |
| Wheelbase | 1205mm |
| Bottom bracket height | 315mm |
| Bottom bracket drop | 60mm |
| Standover height | 728mm |
Suspension
Front fork
Rockshox Recon RL Solo Air 130mm
Brakes
Brake calipers: Shimano MT410 Hydraulic
Brake levers: Shimano M4100 Hydraulic
Front brake rotor: Shimano RT30 180mm
Rear brake rotor: Shimano RT30 160mm
Tires
Front: Schwalbe Nobby Nic TLE 29×2.4″
Rear: Schwalbe Nobby Nic TLE 29×2.25″
Drivetrain
Shimano Deore 11 speed
Seatpost
TransX Dropper + RAD Internal with Shimano lever
Bike weight
32.5 lbs
Handling and overall bike impression
The Kona Honzo has long been a favorite of aggressive hardtail enthusiasts, and when you ride one it becomes clear as to why. The Honzo is a trail bike that can handle a lot, and is super fun to ride through all sorts of trails and terrain, offering a great ride quality at a price that doesn’t break the bank.
The 2023 version of the Honzo has stepped up its game over prior models, adding a longer travel fork (130mm RockShox Recon RL Solo Air versus 120mm in prior models).
This year’s model has also steepened the seat tube slightly, positioning you a little more forward on the bike. In addition, both the chainstay length and wheelbase have been increased by 5mm, adding just a bit more stability without sacrificing maneuverability.
While riding, the Honzo has a playful and lively feeling, enhancing the fun factor of your rides not only on fast technical trails but even relatively flat smooth trails. Its easy to manual and lots of fun to pop little bunny hops on.
The bike’s short chainstays help it to zip around corners with ease, making it a speed demon on tight and twisty singletrack and easy to throw around at will.
The Kona Honzo comes standard with 29 inch wheels sporting grippy Schwalbe Nobby Nic tires. While being a hardtail means the Honzo lacks rear suspension, being a 29er helps it to overcome this by allowing it to roll more smoothly over obstacles and reducing impacts. The knobby tires help to keep your tires firmly gripping the trail surfaces even while executing tight turns.
Climbing
The Kona Honzo is an excellent climber. By being a hardtail with no rear suspension, there is no issue with your pedal strokes losing energy as a result of the rear shock bobbing up and down.
The Shimano Deore derailleur and drive train keeps the gear shifts smooth as you downshift before and during a climb.
The steep seat tube angle helps to keep your weight forward, keeping weight on the front wheel as you go uphill and preventing it from floating around on you and getting off line.
The knobby tires also do a good job of keeping traction while climbing helping to prevent you from spinning your wheels on those steep inclines.
The Honzo comes equipped with a TransX dropper post which allows you to raise your saddle up nice and high for riding uphill, which helps to both keep you more stable while climbing while also allowing you to get your body into an efficient position to pedal from.
Compared to full suspension trail bikes, the Honzo also is relatively light, measuring in at 32.5 lbs in size large. This is especially helpful when pushing through long climbs or riding on trails with lots of uphill sections to tackle and helps to keep you feeling fresh for longer while you ride.
Descending
The Kona Honzo holds its own on descents, especially considering it’s a hardtail.
The bike has no problem getting rowdy on descents, and is able to maneuver around obstacles and bunny hop over them with relative ease. It also feels stable at higher speeds, with its stability bolstered on the 2023 model with an extra 5mm of wheelbase and chainstay length.
The Honzo’s slack head angle of 66.5° helps to keep the front wheel feeling more out in front of you than underneath you which makes it well suited for handling even steep descents, and inspires the confidence you need to crush them.
The 130mm Rockshox Recon RL Solo Air does a great job at soaking up a lot of the bumps in the trail as you descend, and the extra 10mm of travel it has over the prior years models definitely helps it hold up better over rougher terrain.
With that being said, being a hardtail trail bike means the Honzo does have limits to what it can handle. While the fork does a good job handling small and moderate sized obstacles, when things get really chunky you may need to slow down, and pick lines around some of the larger obstacles rather than over them.
The bike is also somewhat limited by its Shimano basic hydraulic brakes. With only a 160mm rear brake rotor, you won’t be able to stop the Honzo quite as quickly as some higher end trail bikes, meaning you’ll need to manage your speed and keep an eye on what’s coming ahead on the trail.
Rough terrain, jumps and drops
Rough terrain
If you think hardtails can’t handle rough terrain, you may be surprised by what the Kona Honzo is capable of.
The bike’s agility allows you to maneuver around and over some of the bigger obstacles, and it’s 130mm travel in the fork does a good job of soaking up the small and moderate ones. The 29 inch wheels also help to soak up a lot of the chop you encounter.
The Honzo also feels very stable, even over rough terrain, thanks to its slack head angle and longer wheelbase.
It will never be as smooth or capable as more expensive, longer travel full suspension bikes over really chunky terrain. That doesn’t mean its not still a blast to ride through this type of terrain though.
Jumps and drops
The Kona Honzo is right at home when you decide to get it airborne. If you’re in the market for a quality trail bike that excels at hitting dirt jumps you may just have found your match in this bike.
The Honzo feels very stable at speed and while approaching jumps. And as you come into the face of the jump, you don’t have to worry about the compression and rebound of a rear shock because the Honzo doesn’t have one. This simplifies jumping and helps to make the Honzo a consistent performer when taking flight.
The bike also handles drops quite well thanks to its slack head tube angle, 29 inch wheels and grippy tires. It can even handle fairly large drops as long as there is a proper transition/landing area that is descending.
Larger drops to flatter landing areas can be a problem for the Honzo because these can blow through the front fork’s travel and can make for a very hard landing, especially in the rear axle and wheel given there is no rear shock. Some of these types of drops shouldn’t be done on the Honzo and will require a more aggressive full suspension bike to do safely.
Frequently asked questions
The Kona Honzo is a do-it-all trail bike that can be ridden on a wide variety of terrain. It’s a hardtail, meaning it has a suspension fork in the front, but no rear shock. This makes it good for climbing and gives it a playful and fun feel. It also makes it well suited for dirt jumping.
The Honzo DL is a more premium version of the Honzo. It has a higher end fork with more travel, the RockShox Revelation RC DebonAir 140mm. It also has a slacker head tube angle at 65.5° and reliable Shimano brakes with lighter, higher end brake rotors.
The Honzo DL also comes standard with the super grippy Maxxis Minion DHF tire in front and the Maxxis Dissector for its rear tire.
All of these upgrades the Honzo DL has over the regular Honzo make it more capable at handling rougher terrain, while still feeling playful and fun to ride.
The Kona Honzo with a large frame weighs in at 32.5 lbs.
Mountain bike review criteria
When reviewing mountain bikes, these are the things we look for:
- Frame quality
- Component quality
- Bike weight
- Bike style and aesthetic appeal
For a detailed breakdown of how we assess each of these criteria, see How We Review Mountain Bikes.
Conclusion
If you are looking for an all-around trail bike that is fun to ride on a wide variety of trails and terrain, the Kona Honzo might just be the perfect bike for you. Its sharp handling and overall trail ability makes it a great choice for anyone who enjoys aggressive hardtails and also would make for an excellent entry level mountain bike that doesn’t break the bank.