We haven’t seen a whole bunch of Dream Build Honzo ESD’s just yet, that could be because the stock build is just so good or it could be that our frame only ESD’s hit dealers a little later than the complete’s. Whichever it is, it just makes it all the better when one pops up, Jon’s Ska inspired ESD is a case in point, this thing is SPECIAL.

“I manage a bike shop in downtown Denver that doesn’t sell Kona. I worked for years at Savagetti (RIP) and am pretty familiar with Kona products. In fact, my very first MTB after coming to bike shops with a lot of road background was the very first Honzo. Over the last ten years, I’ve become primarily a mountain bike rider. Colorado’s steep, loose, long descents are just too good. Our preseason bike boom left me without a trail bike at peak season. Like many of us, bikes are my mental health therapy in addition to being my career. I had a new trail bike on backorder but it was going to be quite a few months out.  I dug through my parts bin and realized I had a whole bike’s worth of nice parts and began the hunt for an awesome steel hardtail with progressive geometry that would work with my Lyrik fork. None of our partners sell steel hardtails and there aren’t a ton of steel hardtails that will play with a 150mm fork. The Honzo ESD had just been released, a GX shifter, derailleur, cassette, a headset and a BB later, I had myself a Rippin hardtail.”

Jon has stuck with the red theme and spec’d a 150mm Rock Shox Lyrik Ultimates up front. He’s sporting a 200mm rotors front and rear and a set of SRAM’s powerful Code RSC stoppers.
You’ll find a Ska inspired Occam Designs Fender deflecting mud from the 2.6″ Minion DHF front tire.
A Renthal Apex35 33mm stem kicks things off in the cockpit, it’s mated to a set of Renthal 30mm rise Fatbar35 handlebars, a Cane Creek 40 ZS headset keeps handling on point and a Cinelli MASH headset top cap gives a shout out to Jon’s fixed gear history.
The wheels are Stans Flow MK3 rims laced to DT Swiss 350 hubs (with the 54 tooth ratchet ring upgrade), both front and rear wheels feature CushCore Pro tire inserts and valves.
The dropper post is the legendary BikeYoke Revive 185 seatpost, and sitting on top of that is the Fabric Magic Elite 50to01 saddle.
Lezyne’s Flow Storage bottle cage houses a multitool and Co2 Adaptor and the Occam Designs Apex strap holds a Co2 canister and a tube.
How rad is that BOA Occam Designs strap!

And we should probably mention the drivetrain eh? Jon’s ESD is propelled by a set of HT T1 pedals connected to a Race Face NextR crankset with a CINCH PowerMeter and Cane Creek Preload ring, the crankset is sporting a 34t oval Race Face ring. Out back you’ll find a SRAM GX Eagle Lunar cassette and 12-speed derailleur.

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