… a Kona King Kahuna!

Kona King Kahuna, 29er, 19″ frame

Here are the specs:
Frame sizes: 16″, 18″, 19″, 20″, 22″
Frame tubing: Kona Race Light Scandium Butted
Rear Shock: N/A
Fork: Fox 32 F29 RL 80mm
Headset: FSA Orbit DL
Crankarms: Shimano SLX
Chainrings: 44/32/22
B/B: Shimano SLX
Pedals: Shimano M520 Clipless
Chain: Shimano Deore
Freewheel: Shimano Deore (11-34, 9spd)
F/D: Shimano SLX
R/D: Shimano XT Shadow
Shifters: Shimano XT
Handlebar: Kona XC/BC Deluxe Riser
Stem: Kona XC/BC Deluxe
Grips: Kona Race Light
Brakes: Shimano SLX Hydraulic Disc
Brake Levers: Shimano SLX Hydraulic
Front hub: FSA XC-290 Wheelset
Rear hub: FSA XC-290 Wheelset
Spokes: FSA XC-290 Wheelset
Tires: Maxxis Ignitor 29×2.1 Kevlar
Rims: FSA XC-290 Wheelset
Saddle: WTB Rocket V Comp Cromo
Seatpost: Kona XC/BC Deluxe
Seat clamp: Kona Clamp
Color: Grey Metallic/Pearl White

Fox 32 F29 fork and FSA XC-290 wheelset

The King Kahuna is the top of the line Kona hardtail. It is spec’d to be light weight with a scandium frame and durable, yet higher end, SLX and XT shimano components. The rest of the cockpit are Kona spec parts save for the saddle which is a WTB Rocket V Comp.

The Kona components are definitely not the normal black, silver or even white color. It is a reflective grayish-blue that definitely sets you apart from the norm. I’ve only got a couple of night pictures of the bike. When I get out on the trail, I’ll post up more pictures, especially pictures of the Kona spec components.

Some cockpit components (stem, handlebar, seatpost, grips) are by Kona. Going to get some looks!

We’ll be riding this bike throughout the tame winter months here in Southern California to give you a complete review.

In the meantime, check out the Kona King Kahuna here.

Popularity: 7% [?]

We recieved the Selle Success RTM saddle recently. The RTM is a sweet looking red saddle with titanium rails and a carbon fiber under. It weighs in at a pretty competitive 206 grams.

Selle Success RTM Red

Saddles are a very subjective piece of equipment. My background in saddles are all WTB. I started off riding a WTB Pure V and enjoyed that immensely. I then moved onto a more slimmed down WTB Rocket. That is the current saddle that sits on my bikes now. The Rocket, in comparison to the Selle Success, is almost portly! It has quite a bit more padding and has a whale-tail design while the Selle Success is reminds me more of a Fizik Arione with the wings.

Installation onto a Thomson Masterpiece Setback seatpost was pretty easy, but I did run across one issue: the titanium rails on the saddle were a little bit wider than the rail guides on the seatpost. That was a bit weird. So I also pulled out a Ritchey Pro post and sure enough, the titanium rails on the Selle Success were a little wide compared to the rail guides on the Ritchey post as well. I was still able to easily install the Selle Success RTM seat to the Thomson post but I’ll keep this in mind if I have any failures from the seat.

Titanium rails

This past weekend I put in an 18 mile ride on the saddle and things were good. It did have significantly less padding than my WTB Rocket and that did cause my sit-bones to get a little sore, but that will just have to be something my sit-bones get used to. I do have a rather large derriere and I am solidly in the clydesdale category so I expect that if there are any issues it will be revealed during testing.

I am impressed by the red cover and the beautiful craftsmanship of the carbon fiber weave. It is really pretty. I’m looking forward to putting the saddle through its paces over the next couple of months and will bring you a full review later on.

Carbon Fiber base

The Selle Success website, www.sellesuccess.com is currently “Under Construction” and I have not been able to find any more information regarding the saddle via google search.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Who:
Ay Up Lighting was born over two years ago and has developed into a world beater. We supply the lightest and coolest looking lights on the planet. No corner has been cut to provide a safe, reliable lighting system to suit the average Joe and the Elite racer. With weight, functionality, long burn, light output and low cost at the top of the design spec it took many months to evolve into what we have today. It will not stop there. We will continue to evolve the system for ever more. With a lifetime of engineering design, manufacture and systems experience behind us Ay Up Lighting can only get better. Our light has been designed to be a multi purpose unit.

Product Tested:
Ay Up MTB Kit

Ay Up lights: Pink has intermediate beam, Yellow has narrow beam

Website’s MSRP:
$ 465

Specs:
Twin light and helmet mount
Light neoprene storage belt pouch
Twin light and handlebar mount
Light neoprene storage belt pouch
One spare handlebar mount
Four spare light mounting bands
One 6hr on / off switched battery complete with neoprene mount anywhere pouch
One neoprene 6hr battery attachment strap, prevents movement
Two 3hr on / off switched batteries complete with neoprene mount anywhere pouches
One 110V - 240V Adaptor in neoprene pouch, to suit dual channel charger
One 12 Volt Dual Channel Lithium Polymer Charger – charge two batteries at once
One 12 Volt Adaptor (Cigarette Lighter Plug)
One extension cable 1200mm long, enables battery to be placed in backpack or pocket
One roll up pouch, all items fit snugly inside
One handlebar rubber packer kit to suit Diameters 25mm & 32mm bars
Handful of Ubeaut cable ties
Optional extra’s are -
Both sized batteries
Additional charger & accessories
Additional mounts

The whole MTB Kit

About Me:
6’1” 210lbs, 28 year old male. I’m a mountain biking enthusiast who enjoys XC riding.

Testing Grounds:
Local trails & streets of Southern California

First Impressions:
Small and a bit overwhelming. My first thoughts was: Would these lights be powerful enough to light up the trail? The lights themselves were small and they wouldn’t be putting out a lot of light power, 300 lumens to be exact. To give you some perspective of really how small these lights are, below is a picture of one of the lights next to my Motorola Razr, a universally recognized phone if there is one. The Ay Up light’s length about the width of my Razr!

Length of light about the same width as my Razr

I was a bit overwhelmed with the number of pieces involved in this MTB Kit. There are easily 30+ pieces including zip ties, spare mounts, chargers and various other pieces. Sorting them all out took some patience comparing pictures from the internet to what was being provided. But once I figured it all out, the assembly was a snap.

Strengths:
The first thing I have to start with is size & weight. The Ay Up lights are small. As I mentioned before, the length of the Cree light set is about the same width of my Razr. The width of the lights is slightly wider than my stem’s width. This is a small light system. The 3-hour battery is not much bigger. The battery fits comfortably on my stem with room to spare. Having a short wire between the battery and the light is also nice because it means that there is less chance of entanglement (from stem to handlebar) or getting ripped off by a tree branch (when mounted on the helmet).

Out on a group ride with the Ay Up lights

I mostly rode with the 2 x 3-hour batteries. One went on my helmet connected to the narrow beamed lights and the other 3-hour battery went on my stem connected to the wide beamed lights which went on my handlebar. Ay Up claims that the battery plus the lightest come in at about 130 grams (light – 60grams & battery – 70grams). And although this is a significant weight, it doesn’t feel like much once you get used to it. In fact, I normally just mount the light & battery to my helmet at the trailhead even if I know I might not have to use it until an hour or so into the ride. I found that the weight seems to disappear after a few minutes and never bothered me. You also have the option of running the extension cable from the light on your helmet to a back pocket if you don’t like the battery on your helmet.

I found the lights to be very tough and the finish to be excellent. I’ve done everybody a favor here and crashed hard with the Ay Up lights. When I got up from my crash I was expecting to see some damage to the lights. Afterall, the bike got a few nicks, even on the handlebar. To my surprise, the lights were shining as brightly as ever. There was not one scratch on the shell or the lens of the light. I was pleasantly surprised.

Not turned on, but already mounted to my helmet, the Ay Up lights are that lightweight

I’ve also been pretty harsh with these lights. I toss them in my bike stuff bucket after I’m done riding, taking only the batteries out for recharging. I keep a variety of bike stuff in my bike stuff bucket including a shock pump and an aluminum hand pump. My bike stuff has been rattling around with the Ay Up lights for the last three months and the Ay Up lights still look brand new, or in ebay terminology: mint condition.

Mounted via zip ties. Very simple design, and easy to fix if anything ever happened

The Ay Up lights are powerful. I never desired more light output from these lights. I’ve cruised up to 25+ mph on the trail and well over 30+ on the street with these lights and I never wished for more reach. The light is plentiful, clean and clear. In fact on just about every ride I went on someone complimented the Ay Up lights. Even when I was on a solo ride, I passed two riders who went gaga over them commenting on how the light output of the Ay Up lights was drowning out their own set of lights as I overtook them on the trail.

I’m impressed with the neoprene sleeves for the different batteries. The battery always stayed in the battery sleeve as this made them quick and easy to mount. They battery sleeves are soft, durable and the velcro is easy to use. The battery sleeve also has a loop on the back for a velcro strap to mount to your bike’s stem. I see the battery neoprene case lasting a long time.

Neoprene sleeve holds the battery and the wide velcro strap keeps it in place on the stem

The lights can be adjusted separately. Each light is able to rotate 270 degrees for more beam coverage of the trail or pointed along the same angle for more power. I personally went with the latter as I found the beam coverage to be more than adequate. But if you prefer more beam coverage, the benefit of the two lights is that you can point one just in front of your front tire and the second light can be pointed further down the trail spreading your beam out.

Weakness:
I am a bit underwhelmed by the neoprene packaging for the whole light system. The neoprene sleeves for the batteries are great, as I mentioned above, but my thoughts on the neoprene packaging for the whole light kit differ vastly. The neoprene packaging that you “store” the whole light kit is difficult to use. It is especially difficult if you do not remember where everything goes. I could not, for the life of me, repackage everything back together so that it looked as nice and clean as it did the first time I received the lights. After a while I ended up just storing everything in an empty shoe box.

I also didn’t particularly like the handlebar rubber packer. This is the protective sticky rubber strap that sticks to your handlebar so you can mount the handlebar mount. The handlebar rubber packer left a bit of residue and began moving around underneath the handlebar mount. After a while, I removed the handlebar rubber packer and took cut a piece of tire tube and zip-tied the tube to my handlebars. I then mounted the handlebar mount and this worked perfectly for the rest of the testing period.

Handlebar Rubber Packer replaced with a tire tube zip-tied to the handlebar

Summary:
The Ay Up lights are an exceptional piece of equipment. They are light enough for the pro racer while also simple enough for the novice mountain biker to use. If you’re looking for an excellent blend of weight, simplicity, durability, beam output and price, then look no further than the Ay Up lights. They’ll be the ones for you.

For more info on the Ay Up MTB Kit, click here.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Who:
The Kona Bicycle Company designs, manufacturers and distributes more than 60 models of purpose-built, high-performance mountain, road and urban bicycles. Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Ferndale, Washington, USA, Kona bicycles are distributed worldwide in more than 60 countries through independent specialty bicycle dealers. Kona funds several professional road, mountain and cyclo-cross racing teams that include World Cup Champions, World Champions and National Champions.

Product Tested:
2008 Kona Hei Hei

Website’s MSRP:
$ 2,999

Posing in the San Gabriel mountains

Specs:
Frame sizes: 14″, 16″, 17″, 18″ ,19″ ,20″, 22″
Frame tubing: Kona Race Light Scandium Butted, 2.5″ Travel
Fork: Rockshox Reba Race 85mm
Rear Shock: Fox Float RP2
Headset: FSA Orbit DL
Crankarms: Race Face Evolve XC X-Type
Chainrings: 44/32/22
B/B: Race Face Evolve XC X-Type
Pedals: Shimano M520 Clipless
Chain: Shimano HG53
Freewheel: Shimano LX (11-32, 9spd)
F/D: Shimano XT
R/D: Shimano XT Shadow
Shifters: Shimano XT
Handlebar: RaceFace Evolve Low Riser XC
Stem: RaceFace Evolve XC
Grips: Kona Race Light
Brakes: Hayes Stroker Carbon V6
Brake Levers: Hayes Stroker Carbon
Front hub: FSA XC-300 Wheelset
Rear hub: FSA XC-300 Wheelset
Spokes: FSA XC-300 Wheelset
Tires: Maxxis CrossMark 26 x 2.1 Kevlar
Rims: FSA XC-300 Wheelset
Saddle: WTB Rocket V Race Carbon
Seatpost: RaceFace EVOLVE XC
Seat clamp: Kona QR
Color: Ball Burnished/White

About Me:
6’1” 210lbs, 28 year old male. I’m a mountain biking enthusiast who enjoys XC riding.

Testing Grounds:
San Gabriel Mountains, Fullerton Loop, Turnbull Canyon, Santa Monica Mountains, San Juan and many other trails in Southern California.

Kona Hei Hei performed excellently on a 6 mile, 3000+ foot climb

First Impressions:
The Kona Hei Hei is a race bike! At first glance I wanted to name the Hei Hei “Stumpy” for its tiny rear shock. The travel on the Hei Hei is a meager 2.5 inches and in proportion to the large sized frame, the rear shock looks well… stumpy.

Visually the Kona is a sweet looking rig. The ball burnished finish on the front triangle’s front half is matched by the polished finish of the Race Face cranks. Even the graphics on the FSA wheels, which some don’t care for, I find make the Kona Hei Hei look like a fast bike even when it’s standing still. You are going to get some looks from other when you’re on this beast.

Ball Burnished front triangle offsets the white nicely

Strengths:
This is a race bike through and through. At 24.5 lbs, the scandium framed bike is very light for a full suspension. Personally, if I was going to spec my bike from scratch I would follow the philosophy Kona took with this bike. While not using very top of the line components Kona did spec the Hei Hei with high end, light weight parts with an eye on durability. You can see this with the XT shifter/derailleur’s, Race Face Evolve level cockpit parts and Rock Shox Reba/Fox RP2 suspension. Very high end, lightweight, but durable parts spec.

I am impressed with the suspension. In my experience, scandium frames have a propensity to feel a little brittle but I never got that impression with the Kona and that’s saying something since I normally ride steel. I found that the Hei Hei frame blends good frame feel and lightweight together. I also think the solid feel of the frame can be partially attributed to the four bar suspension. The suspension was exceptional for its purpose of XC and light trail riding. As long as you’re not hucking this bike off of 3+ feet drops the suspension will be choice for much of your riding.

On the trail, the Hei Hei easily devoured small rocks, climbing and descending.

I especially enjoyed how the rear suspension firmed up when the pro pedal was flipped on while on the flip side I experienced a ton more traction when I went to open the shock up. This was especially fun to experience on technical versus non-technical climbs. On flat fire road climbs, I flipped the pro pedal on and climbed easily without a loss of traction and just a tad bit of bob. When the trail became technical with either a steep grade or rocks/loose dirt, I flipped the switch to open and I immediately felt gobs of traction, at a small efficiency penalty. This penalty is worth it if it helps to keep me from dabbing or hike-a-biking.

The suspension felt particularly good on one of my last rides with the Hei Hei at Sullivan Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. I especially enjoyed how, as we were flowing through the singletrack canyon floor, the suspension ate up the trail making for a rather smooth ride for me. The trail is not difficult by any means, and I could have ridden it with a rigid, but it was so much more comfortable being able to just point and shoot through the small trail debris trusting the suspension to absorb the harshest of it.

The Hei Hei was also a winner in my book also due to its light weight. When I looked at my stable and saw the Hei Hei with a 3×9 drivetrain and full suspension then compared it to my 9 speed rigid 29er, it was easy for me to pick the Hei Hei to ride. The decision was made even easier when I compared weights and found that the Hei Hei weighed even less than my 29er. Ouch!

Small shock, but very capable of smoothing out the trail and providing a bit of traction for the climbs

Weakness:
The wheels. The FSA wheels are probably the only downside in this component group that Kona spec’d. They fell out of true quickly admittedly under a clydesdale and although still ride-able the wheels are not confidence inspiring. The wheels were not to the durability level as the rest of the components. But, although the wheels are a little weak, I am actually fine with Kona not spec-ing a higher end wheelset. The reason being if I were to purchase this bike as a race bike I’d probably go tubeless. Tubeless, theoretically, gives you less chance at flatting while also reducing weight. And although the FSA wheels can be set up tubeless, purchasing wheels designed for tubeless use will be lighter and stronger.

I was also not impressed with the grips but I’ve always found this to be more of a personal preference. I found the grips to be a little too small without a great feel. But again, this is more of a personal preference. I’m sure many of you will love the grips.

Summary:
The Kona Hei Hei is an outstanding contender in the light weight XC full suspension category with an eye towards racing. It is light enough that you’re not at a weight penalty against hardtails but you also gain the benefits of rear suspension to aid in soaking up the rough trails or gripping the more technical climbs. The Scandium frame is especially comfortable and the parts spec were completed with the idea of combining high end, light weight and durable parts together.

The Kona Hei Hei is definitely a bike to take a look at if you’re going full suspension for racing, endurance riding, or ripping the trails with your buddies.

For more info on the Kona Hei Hei, click here.

Ready to rip the trail

Popularity: 21% [?]

Tyte Rack sent over their universal roof top bike rack to us for testing. Here is what Tyte Rack says about their rack:

Tyte Rack roof racks incorporate a unique design, that make them the best rack today to carry bicycles on a vehicle roof. In addition, this rack is very versatile and adapts to your other recreational and sporting activities, including but not limited to, skiing, kayaking, surfing to name a few.

(1) Can easily attach to factory racks and will attach to the car without factory racks click here to learn how it will fit both of your cars.
(2) Universal bike attachment, click here to learn why this bicycle attachment is more stable.
(3) Bike frame security without the wheel removal and without the optional wheel holder.
(4) Reduced reach requirements for bike loading and unloading (approximately 12″ ).

Tyte Rack mounted with Redline Mono 9

Impressions:
I’ve actually been driving around with just the rack on my car for a little over a week. I wanted to make sure that I could confidently carry my 29er on there without fear of having the rack fall off the roof of my car. After a week of driving it around Southern California including hitting the freeways and going umm… fast, the Tyte rack has shown to be stable. The hooks and straps have not budged and although there is some noise, the rack has proven secure.

Side view

On the first night, I spent about 30 minutes trying to understand the directions before I gave up. A day or two later I jumped on the website and saw some pictures and finally understood what to do. I always feel that a picture is worth a thousand words so we recommended Tyte Rack to provide more pictures on their instruction manual and their website. They took this suggestion and added a TON of pictures. I found this instruction page to be especially helpful, more so than the actual Instruction page. This page and the links on the left makes it much easier to understand how to mount the rack and bike.

All the materials are solid yet light weight. The bars going across the car’s roof are small and round but coated with a durable finish. The tapered seatpost attachment fits perfectly into my 27.2mm seatpost while the straps for the handlebar are strong. The only part that I had any problem with is the rubber boot on the bottom of the towers which had a tendency to fall off when it was not mounted onto the car. Just watch out for these and you’ll be ok.

Tapered seatpost installed into seatpost socket & frame of bike

Once I understood how the whole system worked, the Tyte Rack setup/tear down became VERY quick and was easy. Mount the rack, secure the straps and hooks, mount the bike and secure the handlebar and you’re all set. It takes probably about 10 minutes. Tear down was even faster.

It does seem to be universal. I mounted the rack to my Honda Accord and after fiddling with it a while, I can understand why Tyte Rack claims to be a universal rack. It has minor adjustments that can be made on the bar and the straps can be lengthened or shortened to fit many if not all cars.

Tower, rubber boot, hook and straps all secure

Since I’m still laid up (I think I’ll be riding again next week!!) I only got to drive the Tyte rack around the block a few times but I did choose to go over some speed bumps and I raised my speed all the way up to 40+mph, legally. I had my windows rolled down the whole time listening for any signs that the rack might be shifting but I heard none. Interestingly I didn’t hear any of the noise I had previously heard with just the rack on my car. I hope this bodes well for future trips.

This short first impressions could not be complete without mentioning the price. Tyte rack has aggressively priced their racks starting at $89. For a limited time though the standard rack has a $10 discount which makes it a very good value for any type of roof mount bike rack.

Handlebar straps. Two of them

We’ll be taking this rack out to the trail & back over the next couple of months to give it a good workout. Come back to check out the review.

For more information about the Tyte Rack, click here.

An “RL” shot: reflection of the Tyte rack on my Accord

Popularity: 19% [?]

I recently purchased some new mountain biking shoes from Pricepoint.com. Yes I actually bought them…we don’t get everything for free!

Sette Excel MTB Shoes

Specs:

Sette Excel MTB Shoe - Enhanced Riding Performance

The Sette Excel MTB Shoe is a lightweight shoe that provides riders with enhanced riding performance. Made rugged for MTB use where it matters including: cooling breathable mesh, reinforced heel cup, rugged sole and two hook and loop straps. The Excel has an aggressive gripping outsole that includes toe studs and is SPD compatible.

I got it for $29.99! Not bad eh? I’ve already installed my SPD cleats and the toe studs for extra grip. I’ll make sure to report on how the shoe handles the trails…I still can’t get over how affordable it is!

Popularity: 5% [?]

We installed a White Brothers Magic 29″ 80mm fork on the test rig a couple of nights ago. We chose the Disc Brake only option because forks look so much cleaner this way. MSRP for this fork is: $725.00. Here are some pictures of the beautiful fork.

Sleek & Beautiful

From the top

White Brothers Cycling has been very supportive of the 29er movement providing a myriad of quality forks for riders to choose from in a variety of travel lengths. For 20ers WB cycling has an 80mm, 100mm, 100mm Thru Axle (TA), 130 TA, 135 TA & a carbon rigid.

Many people also attribute White Brothers to single handedly supporting the longer travel 29er bikes by providing the 29er builders with longer travel options. I’ve heard some rumors out there that someone is testing a 150mm TA single crown 29er fork.

2.1″ tires are no problem, wider is an option too

Since the frame that the fork is going on is suspension corrected for an 80mm fork, we decided to test the Magic 29″ 80mm.

Here are the specifications:

Model Name Magic 29/80
Dropout QR
Brake mount V-brake/Disc or Disc Only
Travel 80mm/3.1″
Wheel Size 29″
Damping IMV
Adjustments (external and/or internal) Threshhold, Rebound, Air Pressure
Spring Linear Air Spring
Stanchions 32mm
Crown standard
Weight 3.9lbs
Color(s) Black
Steerer Tube 250mm
Axle-to-Crown 483mm

Rear-view

We’ll be spending some time on this fork to give it a thorough review. Keep checking back for more pictures and the review in the coming months. In the meantime, for more information on the White Brothers Magic 29″ 80mm fork, click here.

Oh, and not to peg White Brothers for being only a 29er fork maker, not that there is anything wrong with that ;), White Brothers Cycling does make a ton of other forks. Click here to see them.

Popularity: 7% [?]

One of our loyal readers, Max, pointed us to an article he read that shows beer is great for post workout hydration.

The subjects in the study were asked to run on a treadmill at temperatures of 104F (40C) until they were close to exhaustion. Once they had reached the point of giving up, researchers measured their hydration levels, motor skills, and concentration ability.

Half of the subjects were given two half pints of Spanish lager to drink, and the other half were given just water.

Garzon said that the rehydration effection in those who were given beer was “slightly better” than those who were given only water. He also believes that the carbon dioxide in beer helps quench thirst more quickly, and that beer’s carbohydrates replace calories lost during physical exertion.

Keep Reading.

With that kind of information, Lance’s Brews Day Beer Reviews will help pick out the best choices for your rehydration beverage.

See…we knew that there was value to beer and mountain bikes in one site. Besides, we were looking out for you! Oh by the way…you’re welcome!

Popularity: 2% [?]

A while back our resident Beer Expert, Lance “Lush” Lowry reviewed a stout called Old Rasputin.

Moe gave me a bottle of this stuff to try. As I’m drinking it I’m reading Lance’s review and trying to see if I could taste what he’s talking about…Well I don’t know about the sweet oatmeal taste he’s talking about, but I do know it certainly has put hair on my chest.

The 9% alcohol is doable…But then again I’m not so great at handling spirits…

So this Old Rasputin is pretty gnarly. I like dark beers, but this like drinking alcoholic espresso! Lance was right, this thing is super thick…but its REALLY GOOD! Man, Lance knows what he’s talking about!

Popularity: 5% [?]