Reviews
Kona BASS
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.
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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.
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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”)
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M(15.5”)
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L(17.5”)
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Head angle |
69.7°
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69.7°
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69.7°
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Seat angle |
73.7°
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73.7°
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73.7°
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Top tube |
22”
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23”
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24”
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Chain stay |
16.7”
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16.7”
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16.7”
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Head tube |
4.7”
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4.7”
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4.9”
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BB height |
13.1”
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13.1”
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13.1”
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Standover |
30.7”
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30.9”
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31.9”
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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
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