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Reviews

Kona BASS

Author: Chris Armstrong | Created: 2008-11-21 08:00:00 | Location: Whistler, BC

The bike park world is changing. Slowly over the last few years the long travel, heavy dh bikes have morphed into 8” racing machines, and the 7”all around bike have gone to single crowns. Immerging in the mists of all the changes was a slope style specific chassis that has been gaining momentum in the last year via support from several different brands. Intense has the SS, Norco has the Empire and Kona has the Bass.

The Bass is essentially modified Cowan DS from yesteryear. Featuring gyro tabs on the head tube, eccentric bottom bracket and sliding dropouts the bike has many different setup options from geared to single speed, without the need for a chain tensioner. Because the main pivot is based around the bottom bracket there isn’t any chain growth when the bikes moves through its travel, thus rendering a single speed dual suspension rig.

Kona BASS rear end. Notice the adjustable dropouts.

With the sliding dropouts making changes to how the bike acted was pretty easy. We tried pushing the wheel all the way forward for a tighter, snappier feel. That was great for technical riding and jumping but for opening it up and letting the bike go we preferred to have a little longer footprint.

The Bass features a DHX Air shock in the rear with a Marzocchi DJ1 in the front sporting custom graphics that matched the rest of the bike. We pumped up the DHX making the bike very firm and acting more like a hard tail, but still had some squish for the larger landings.

Kona BASS Marzocchi DJ forks. Custom stickers!

The spec is a good mix of effective products that can stand up to the beating a slope style bike is going to take, it is also a mix of Paul B’s sponsors.

Frame sizes	Small (15"), Medium(15.5"), Large (17.5")
Frame tubing	Kona Clump 7005 Aluminum/4" Travel
Rear Shock	Fox DHX AirR 5.0
Fork	Marzocchi Dirt Jumper 1 20mm dropouts 100mm
Headset	TH w/Big Nut
Crankarms	RaceFace Evolve DH X-Type
Chainrings	36T
B/B	RaceFace Evolve DH X-Type
Pedals	Kona Wah-Wah
Chain	Shimano HG53
Freewheel	Shimano Deore (11-32, 9spd)
F/D	RaceFace DH Guide
R/D	Shimano XT Shadow
Shifters	Shimano Deore (rh only)
Handlebar	RaceFace Evolve DH OS
Stem	RaceFace Evolve DH OS
Grips	Kona LOG
Brakes	Hayes Stroker Trail Hydraulic V6
Brake Levers	Hayes Stroker Trail Hydraulic
Front hub	KK Disc 20mm
Rear hub	Shimano Disc M525
Spokes	DT Stainless 14g
Tires	Maxxis Minion 26 x 2.35
Rims	Sun EQ 2.9SL
Saddle	WTB Laser V Race
Seatpost	RaceFace Evolve DH seatpost
Seat clamp	Kona QR
Colors	Gold/Brown

Geometry : Bass
Frame sizes	S(15”)	M(15.5”)	L(17.5”)
Head angle	69.7°	69.7°	69.7°
Seat angle	73.7°	73.7°	73.7°
Top tube	22”	23”	24”
Chain stay	16.7”	16.7”	16.7”
Head tube	4.7”	4.7”	4.9”
BB height	13.1”	13.1”	13.1”
Standover	30.7”	30.9”	31.9”

Handling. The Bass was super fun to ride, with the short chain stays it showed us new lines on trails that we hadn’t seen before. Being able to pump it through doubles on Crank It Up then switch it up with transfer lines in the dual slalom course. It was a blast on tight and technical trails like Ninja Cougar & Karate Monkey, but with being a short travel bike you could feel the larger bumps go through your body.

Opinion: The Kona BASS is a great all around jumping bike for park riding or the DJ’s

Plus: Transformer from single speed to geared in a blink of an eye.
Minus: hard on older, tired bodies.

MSRP: $2699 Cdn. Website: http://www.konaworld.com/08_bass_c.htm

Rating: 4.5/5