While Thomas Elson’s steel Honzo is custom built from scratch, its impeccably color-matched parts could fool the casual viewer into believing this very cool bike was purchased off the shelf.  Thomas has taken the bronze color in the downtube and run with it, sourcing more than a couple of the parts from legendary UK brand Burgtec.

I wanted to do something different with this bike as it’s my first steel bike. I have always wanted to build a steel bike and when I saw this beautiful color scheme I couldn’t resist. So I put my all into this build. I wanted to try and find something to match the color of the Kona writing and I found the Burgtec Kash Bronze stuff. I love SRAM shifting so GX does the job fine. The new SLX brakes are just amazing I have always loved Shimano stopping power. So far this bike has been amazing and man does it rip. “

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SRAM’s affordable and burley GX series cranks are matched up with a Burgtec oval chainring and One UP Chain Guide.
Out back the cranks are paired with more reliable parts from SRAM, A GX series cassette, and rear derailleur look after shifting.

Custom bronze Rock Shox Pike Ultimate 140mm decals match the curtains to the drapes.

There’s more Burgtec up here in the cockpit, the Shimano SLX brake levers are mounted on a set of Burgtec alloy bars and the grips are Burgtec’s Greg Minnaar signature edition Bartenders. Plus there is also a Works -1.5 degree headset to get that BB back down a little lower after installing the 140mm Pikes.

Those Shimano SLX levers are matched to SLX calipers and 6 bolt Shimano rotors. Keeping the UK theme going Thomas has chosen to base the wheel build around a set of Hope Pro 4 Evo hubs.
The Hope hubs are laced to a set of DT Swiss EX511 rims with custom bronze decals.
Oh, we skipped over the stem before, you guessed it more Burgtec, this time it’s their Enduro MK2 stem. And to keep that SRAM/Shimano cockpit perfectly tidy, Tom’s installed Wolftooth’s handy ShiftMount.
A Burgtec The Cloud saddle sits on a classic Rock Shox Reverb and completes Thomas’ brand loyal Honzo St Build..

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