Don't Call Them Hardcore: Hardtail Design with Kona
Singletracks Mountain Bike Podcast
Singletracks.com
4.7 • 574 Ratings
🗓️ 28 March 2022
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Pat White is a longtime product manager for Kona Bicycles and Doug Lafavor aka Dr. Dew has been designing bikes at Kona for decades.
In this episode we ask:
- Which factors make a hardtail 'hardcore' or more aggressive compared to say an XC or entry-level hardtail?
- What are aggressive hardtails good for in terms of riding style or trails? What are the limits?
- How important is frame material when it comes to designing a hardtail? Is there one material that’s generally superior to the others?
- Are there higher costs involved in building hardtails from steel than aluminum?
- Where does the compliance in a hardtail frame come from?
- Do you look at component selection differently for a hardtail vs. a full suspension bike? If so, what are the key areas where the builds differ?
- Is there any lingering debate about wheel size when it comes to hardtails?
- Are sliding dropouts an important selling point?
- What do you think about Internal cable routing on hardtails?
- There seems to be a focus on making seat angles steeper lately. How do you approach seat tube angles for hardtails compared to FS bikes?
- Are there things you’re able to do with hardtail geometry that just aren’t feasible with a FS design?
- How is the balance between chainstays and reach considered on a hardtail?
- For a lot of riders cost can be a factor in deciding to go with a hardtail. What does the typical hardtail rider look like?
- Do you own a hardtail mountain bike? How often do you ride it?
- What are some tips for riders to get the most out of a hardtail mountain bike? Do we need to modify our riding style, or reconsider preferences for things like tire and fork pressure?
Photo credit: Kona
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Something unexpected has arrived in Happy Meal. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hello Kitty and friends are teaming up for the ultimate collab. |
| 0:08.3 | Joining your little ones on a fun-fueled adventure. Some fun, some food. It's all inside this happy meal. |
| 0:16.3 | Until the 2nd of February from 11am includes one pre-selected book or toy whilst it's last. |
| 0:20.1 | Hey everybody, welcome to the single tracks podcast. |
| 0:23.3 | My name is Jeff, and today my guests are Pat White and Doug LaFavor. |
| 0:28.6 | Pat is a longtime product manager for Kona bicycles, and Doug, aka Dr. Do, has been designing bikes for Kona for decades. Thanks for joining me, guys. |
| 0:40.7 | Thank you. Thanks, Jeff. |
| 0:43.8 | So, Pat, whenever people talk about hardcore hardtails, the Kona Hanso is invariably mentioned. |
| 0:50.7 | Tell us a bit about the history of this bike. |
| 0:54.1 | Well, I guess first off, the term |
| 0:56.0 | hardcore is not one of my favorite terms, but I think for the sake of getting through this, |
| 1:02.1 | I'm just going to have to deal with it. But I do understand where you're coming from with |
| 1:06.1 | that term hardcore. I was told that you didn't like that term. That's funny, actually. So yes, you confirmed it. |
| 1:12.8 | But it's a term everybody uses. People love it for whatever reason. So, yeah, I guess we're |
| 1:17.7 | going to have to deal with it. For sake of conversation, we'll stick to it. And I'll just have to, |
| 1:22.4 | I'll just have to put up with it. But yeah, you know, I think the best way to kind of talk about that would be to start |
| 1:30.0 | with the beginning, start at the beginning with the hard tales. I mean, we started out in 88 with, |
| 1:35.4 | what, four models. And we didn't even, I don't think we even called those cross country, |
| 1:41.6 | even though if you had to categorize those hardtails at that time, |
| 1:45.3 | you would, by today's standards, call those cross-country. They were just mountain bikes. |
| 1:50.1 | And then, I think, right around the mid-1990s, we saw a need for a change in hardtails to better |
| 1:57.7 | suit what people were doing. I mean, there was the shore riding was going off. |
... |
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