Our European office built up one very rad Ti Honzo for the fine folk at Singletrack Magazine to review a few weeks ago. Last week they posted up a full photoset as part of Fresh Goods Friday number 303 and got pretty emotional to boot. It would be rude of us not to reuse their post it in its entirety for todays Ti Tuesday.
Who does not like Titanium? Seriously, who are they, and where do they live?? We’d like to find out and show them the Honzo Ti, because if any bike is going to win you over to the wunder-material, it’s likely to be this one. Taking the successful Honzo recipe and mixing in 3-2.5 Titanium tubing, the Honzo Ti maintains the lovely classic lines of the metal frames, while delivering a magical blend of lightweight and vibration damping. It’s also highly corrosion resistant and has excellent fatigue life, so it’s likely to outlast Trap music. Mind you, that’s not really saying much. An unclaimed chocolate eclair on a communal table at a diabetic convention is likely to outlast Trap music.
Adjustable dropouts mean you can run the Honzo Ti as a singlespeed. Or if you’re running gears, it also means you can tweak the chainstay length to alter the handling. Nice beefy bolts lock down the dropouts to the gorgeous titanium tubing. And for the BOOST-haters, you can rest assured that the Honzo Ti uses good ol’ 142x12mm dropouts. So there.
You like grips? The Kona Honzo has got them – two of them in fact, so that is likely to satisfy even the greediest grip-lovers.
The Honzo Ti is only available as a frameset, but conveniently ours has come to us as a complete bike. Which is ideal, because we were a little concerned about how running around the woods and holding a Titanium frame above our heads would contribute to the review. In its rideable state, this Honzo has got a chunky RockShox PIKE fork and fat Maxxis tubeless rubber.
Mmmmm-mmm! Have a gander at that lovely chainstay yoke. That clever arrangement is there to maximise tyre clearance while running hella-short 415mm chainstays. Bonus anti-pitchfork points for the threaded bottom bracket shell.
Lovely curved tubing helps to deliver a little more ‘give’ from the Honzo’s derrière.
There’s a 12mm RockShox Maxle to lock down the rear hub into the Honzo’s dropouts, creating a rock-solid junction for the rear wheel. The rear brake mount is part of the dropout, so no need to adjust the brake calliper if you change the chainstay length.
A subtle gusset sits between the top tube and down tube to reduce twisting on the Honzo’s front end. There are a few little clues like this on the Honzo that should give you an indication of how this Titanium beauty is meant to be ridden. With pedals. Definitely with pedals.
Just in case you need reminding while you’re aboard. Heck, I’d have “Titanium” tattooed onto my forehead to remind me every day in the mirror if I owned a Ti bike. It would certainly make for a much more pleasant visual experience.
More of that big-arse PIKE fork on the front. This guy has 120mm of travel, and he enjoys being pummelled into rocks and roots.
Ok, some more glamour shots ‘cos we can. Definitely impressed with all of that curvy tubing, which isn’t a cheap process when you’re talking about Titanium that initially began its life as a round tube.
Is this the dance move you do after nailing a sweet descent aboard your Honzo? Or is this in fact, “the Honzo” move itself??
More gusseting. This one helps to deliver extra strength to the top of the exposed seat tube, otherwise it would feel quite lonely and naked on its own up there. It does mean that Kona can build the Honzo Ti with heaps of standover clearance, and don’t you just love the line the top tube takes down into the seat stays? Nope? Just us? M’kay then.
