Kona Dream Builds: Bradley Herbert’s Favorite All-Time Bike

The story of what is probably my favorite all-time bike begins with a bunch of good friends pestering me for years to take on the wonderful insanity of single-speed mountain bikes. I was not only regularly told about how much they enjoyed it, but also about how much they thought it would be a perfect fit for me. While I entertained their conversations, I never really gave it much serious thought until an opportunity arose for me to borrow a 2015 Trek Superfly SS from my buddy Ian Margrave, also known as Pedal Medic. I borrowed his bike and immediately signed up for the Palo Duro Canyon Mountain Bike Marathon. After one test ride and then a win in the SS class of the race the following weekend, I was in love. Ian had no desire to part with his Superfly permanently, but I was destined to end up with an even better rig anyways.

Soon after that race, I added another Kona to my stable with the purchase of a complete 2020 Kona Honzo ST. Sun Adventure Sports introduced me to the Kona brand years before this and were confident that a Honzo ST was perfect for me. While I have thoroughly enjoyed my two Hei Heis, my Process 134, and my Libre… The Honzo holds a special place in my heart. It was immediately converted to a 32-18 single speed setup. This gearing is the most common I run as it puts me right about the limit of where I can climb the toughest of local trails in Palo Duro Canyon. While I might have broken the chain three times doing so, and ended up having to freewheel back down without a chain. I have also climbed to the top of Osha Pass outside Angel Fire NM on this setup.

The second major change was to swap out the SRAM Level brakes for a set of much stouter and much needed for me Guides. The long list of parts swapped out kept trickling in over the months and years to come. These continued as I was able to fund the build and figured out how I wanted it. It has run four different forks, two different droppers, two different wheelsets, three headsets, two different cockpits, two different frames, countless saddles and chains, and tires…etc… I believe the only thing still leftover from the original bike is the crankset. Finding a 2018 frame in my size in that beautiful purple (I’m pretty partial to purple with all three of my current Konas being purple) was one piece to the puzzle that took me the longest to complete.

While it was still rocking the 20 Grey frame it was lovingly known as the Lead Sled. It is now the Purple People Eater. If you count both frames as just the evolution of one bike, I now have far more miles on this machine than any other mountain bike I have ever owned and even more miles than all but one road bike I have ever owned! It is key to my test rides while building trails with Six Pack Outdoors, my go-to race rig for just about anything, and my trusty transportation while performing race director duties for 24 Hours in the Canyon.

2018 Kona Honzo ST frame (build originally started with a 2020 Honzo ST is the basis for the build. The only thing left from that bike is the SRAM NX cranks, it runs on a SRAM 32t front chainring and 18T rear single speed cog. The wheels Bontrager Kovee Elite’s with upgraded rapid drive 108 hub and custom “Why So Serious” decals.

Bradley upgraded the brakes to SRAM Guide RS’s

As far as the cockpit goes, the bike has since been upgraded to a Raceface Turbine Kashmoney stem and Raceface bars. The bars are sporting a Rockbros Classic bike bell, Wolf Tooth dropper lever, and Wolf Tooth fat paw grips, it all spins on a Hope headset. Out the back, you’ll find Fox Factory Transfer 150 dropper which is held in place with a Hope seatpost clamp, a Fizik saddle completes the cockpit.

Fox 34 Step Cast fork with custom decals keep things comfy up the front, while Maxxis combo of a Rekon 29×2.6 front tire and Ardent 29×2.4 rear tire keep things planted. A set of Crank Brothers Candy pedals complete the build.

Not in the pictures… But one of the greatest customizations I have ever done is adding a Do Little front mount kid’s seat for my little shredder.