Metal Goes Plastic: New Carbon Honzo

July 4th, 2016

Metal Goes Plastic: New Carbon Honzo

Hot dang it’s a carbon Honzo! We love the steel and ti versions of this bike so it’s gotta be better in carbon right? Well it looks pretty darn capable in the hands of Kona’s endurance racing gun Rhys Verner, and looks like it’s doing 100km/h standing still.

Ever get that feeling – the fleeting sensation that you have been somewhere or done something before? Translated from French the term déjà vu literally means “already seen” and is a relatively common occurrence, just like endurance racer Rhys Verner is discovering on his new carbon Honzo. Developed with an aggressive trail geometry, 120mm of front end travel, and with modern trail appointments like Boost spacing and Stealth dropper post routing, the new Honzo is built for riding infamous Pacific Northwest trails. The new carbon frame has also been proven on increasingly challenging XC courses where weight and power transfer are vital. With one ‘race’ and two ‘trail’ configurations to choose from, the new carbon Honzo is so overly capable that, much like Rhys, you too might experience déjà vu when the start gun goes off at your next race or when you drop into a new trail.

When we met up with Rhys at the Bear Mountain round of the Canada Cup, he was in the process of destroying the pump track section of the course. Rhys was doubling up the jumps in his race run. This was tall seat riding at its most stylish.

When we returned the next day though, Rhys handed out a masterclass in hardtail riding. Maneuvering the carbon Honzo through the air with massive amounts of style and some serious airtime. He even tripled two step-down lines that we didn’t even know existed.

The carbon Honzo is just as at home on XC race courses as it is shredding technical all mountain trails. The frame features a 600-gram weight saving over its alloy brother and a well thought out parts spec, the versatile Honzo simply devours terrain.