I’ve been into mountain biking since I was a kid and to this day still have some sort of working relationship in the industry. From hanging out at local shops to working at local shops to managing a local shop, then repping top products and now owning a company that deals directly with most of the major and not so major brands. I’ve always loved the Canadian manufacturers and Kona was always the bad-ass brand and just seemed to fit me just right.

Back in the day I splurged for a 26er Ibis Ti Mojo that I loved and rode in every condition. I fell in love with the durability of Ti but the suppleness of steel. A friend of mine still has that bike and rides it with his kids.

With some old school Tomac influence I put a drop bar and some Retroshift / Gevenalle brake levers on a steel 650B 1×9 mountain bike and answered discovered that yes, it is possible to have two bikes in one.

Keeping my eyes out for something unique in Ti bike and something I could utilize for all riding seasons I came across a Ti Humu Humu in the Kona booth at Sea Otter Classic and new I just had to have one. I had a steel Kona Unit at home with sliding dropouts built up as a sweet XC machine. I quickly got a hold of legendary Kona sales rep Dik Cox and found out if I could get one of these bad boys. Within a couple weeks I had the frame delivered to my local shop. It took some tinkering and swapping parts and pieces out, but it all came together.

The bike pulls triple duty now, some days it’s a cool cruiser to kick around the city and commute to work on, in the spring its a gravel bike until the trail dry up then its a full on XC trail machine for the summer months.


It’s so cool to have such a fun riding iconic looking bike with up to date specs and a wheel size that does it all. All this wouldn’t have been possible without the simple and elegant design of the frame and its sliding drop out and single speed or geared hanger.


The Cruiser set up uses Kona Project 2 fork, Stans Arch MK3 rims set up with purple Hope Pro4 hubs mounted with Maxxis skin wall Ardent 29 x 2.4 tires and a single speed conversion kit. The cockpit has a Kona stem, Humuhumu cruiser bar and Key grips. The Race Face Next SL carbon crank is used for all options and they are paired with the sweet light weight Wah Wah II composite pedals. The build is wrapped up with a Easton EC90 Carbon post along with a traditional Brooks b17 saddle.

The Gravel set up gets a unique set of very light Holzfelgen wheels, they are a wood rim inlaid with carbon and they are laced to DT Swiss 240’s with a 29 x 2.0 Tufo XC2 plus to make the ride smoother than melted butter on the roughest terrain. An Easton EC70 carbon handlebar and Retroshift CX brake levers and shifter allow me to run a single speed or 9-speed cassette. Recently I picked up a Dura ace 11 speed bar end shifter for more gearing in the future.

The Mountain Bike set up gets a Fox 32 Anniversary edition with beautiful top cap. A Shimano XTR 1 x 11 drive train and brakes with the Crusier Stan’s and Hope wheel setup and a Ritchey carbon Bull Moose one piece bar for nostalgia with the EC 90 carbon post and Chromag saddle.