# Trek, Kona or other? It's so hard to choose when you want the best.



## MountainBikeReturn (Apr 6, 2012)

Ok I have been looking at two bikes. The 2012 trek 6000 19.5" and the kona kahuna 18" i think 2011. And ill tell you I took a ride on both of them and didn't notice a difference with one being a 29er. But what I did notice when I rode them is that the the forks on the kona felt better but the shifting wasn't as smooth, felt like it was ghost shifting. I have been reading and I guess the weak point of the trek is the fork. 
Also just so you can get an idea of what kinda use my bike will be getting, ill be doing single track riding, and riding it my cities trail system. Want to take it to the mountains on occasion as well. And if I get brave enough will take some small jumps with it and try some small drop offs. Both those bikes are in my price range of around $1200. 

If you have any other mountain bike suggestions let me know.

Thanks for the help.


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## Ken in KC (Jan 12, 2004)

*Test ride more...*



MountainBikeReturn said:


> Ok I have been looking at two bikes. The 2012 trek 6000 19.5" and the kona kahuna 18" i think 2011. And ill tell you I took a ride on both of them and didn't notice a difference with one being a 29er. But what I did notice when I rode them is that the the forks on the kona felt better but the shifting wasn't as smooth, felt like it was ghost shifting. I have been reading and I guess the weak point of the trek is the fork.
> Also just so you can get an idea of what kinda use my bike will be getting, ill be doing single track riding, and riding it my cities trail system. Want to take it to the mountains on occasion as well. And if I get brave enough will take some small jumps with it and try some small drop offs. Both those bikes are in my price range of around $1200.
> 
> If you have any other mountain bike suggestions let me know.
> ...


Test ride more bikes in your price range. They'll all be good bikes. At some point, one of them will speak to you....

Based on the two bikes you listed, if the Kona "felt" better when riding, that's a better bike for you. The drive train/shifting issues will be easily resolved.


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## S_Trek (May 3, 2010)

My choice would boil down to good fit and customer service(LBS)


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## MountainBikeReturn (Apr 6, 2012)

Too be honest its been a very longtime since I have ridden a bike. And I never really thought about a mountain bike fit, so I have a hard time figuring out what feels fits me right. 
I'm not sure if anyone knows what I'm talking about. I have always just jumped on a bike and if I can ride it without falling off id say it was a good fit. And cant seem to get the feeling of a bike in a short test.
Does the feeling of a bike change as it gets broken in?


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## Eric Z (Sep 28, 2008)

i agree with riding more bikes. i know what you mean about almost all bikes "around" the appropriate size feel good. so many felt good to me, i got a 19" gf cobia and i'm 6'4- it was an amazing deal but the bike was too small after i rode it for a bit. i still made it work but really knew what i liked after i rode it for around 3 or 4 months. i knew i wanted a bigger bike but rode a handful and figured what top tube length i preferred.

is there any way you can test ride a bike on some trails, or for more than just a few minutes. i'm sure you would feel a difference if you spent 20 minutes (even riding around the shop neighborhood) on each.

as ken said, don't worry about the shifting, that's something the lbs should fix before you taking the bike. 

in your price range, check out the trek cobia and i've seen 2011 xcals for around that price too.

good luck!
ez


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

I noticed the other day that Kona tends to spec better forks and cheaper drivetrains at the same pricepoint.

The thing is that while a cheap drivetrain is amenable to good tuning or one or two choice component swaps to get it performing better, a lot of the forks on entry-level bikes need to be thrown out and replaced in their entirety.

This particular Kona's fork isn't "all that." But there are different spring kits available and it has a (probably) functional rebound damper. So you can actually tune it to do something for you - you'll probably be a lot happier with it. I don't know how long people ride their XC32s. It's also a new fork. It seems like it should be good for at least a first season, probably longer for some riders. I'd choose "felt better" and talk to the shop about the shifting. They maybe just didn't tune it adequately before sending it out for test rides.


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