Bike
I had 2 Kona bikes back around the turn of the century. A 1996 steel Kona Explosif followed by a 2000 aluminium Kona Pahoehoe, the later accompanied me on my first South American cycle-tour. Not only do I have a sense of nostalgia for the brand, they're actually good bikes with characteristic playful handling. I remember in 1989 seeing one of the first Kona Explosifs in London, a year after Kona was established in 1988 in the Pacific Northwest. A new kid on the block; unique in that it had an extremely low step-over sloping top tube at a time when mountain bikes like road bikes had high horizontal top tubes. And attractive in an odd light green with multi-hue splash.
In 2025 I can choose from a cornucopia of non-suspension bikepacking bikes with fat go anywhere tyres, including many models from Surly. But, as well as familiarity with Kona, the UnitX was a bargain at £1280 for a new bike; whereas, similar cost from £600 to £800 for the frameset alone. With a complete bike upwards of 2K.
The UnitX like most in this class has a cro-moly frame in an industrial red: a shade resembling steel primer paint. It has a Reynolds 520 decal at the bottom of the downtube; a sticker denoting the famous Reynolds steel tubing company. The components are mainly Shimano Deore. The stock wheels are Shimano hubs with 29er WTB rims. And for the tour I upgraded the tyres to Schwalbe touring tyres. The only other upgrade is a dropper seat post for the reason that I was riding it as a normal mountain bike on bike park trails with usual steep drops ; see, it's a normal capable offroader and allround versatile bike.
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2 months ago
Yeah steel lasts a lifetime combined with it being a Kona, which has lots of cool model names connected with volcanos such as Cindarcone and nice colours.
2 months ago