# Trouble deciding between Rigid or Long Travel (Light side vs Dark side)



## tractuspk (5 mo ago)

I used to have a 26+ Surly 1x1 with a puglsey fork and an alt bar attempting to emulate a Jones. That
bike was stolen years ago, and I replaced it with a 2013 Kona Honzo ST I found for a great deal. I have
come to really love the honzo. It's easily the best riding bike I've owned.

I finally have gotten around to doing some necessary upgrades and maintenance to the Honzo, and it's
making me want to build a new bike, but I'm having trouble deciding the path I want to go down.

Should I build a *Jones SWB Spaceframe* and fulfill the old dream, or go deeper down the Honzo rabbit hole and build a *Marino Cabala*?

I live in Denver. Most of the riding I do is commuting. The trails I ride aren't crazy, but they're technical. I have a pretty playful riding style. I like to pop off of things, and find 
techy lines. I like to get speed, but I don't really enjoy hauling ass.
I have a friend who's trying to get me to go the the lift park, but he broke his femur there a couple years ago, so I don't have the most motivation to really push the limits.

Spend lot's of money on a niche rigid, or build a monster truck that will be underutilized.


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## DieselSam (5 mo ago)

Build a monster truck.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

Rigid!


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## JPL65 (Jul 20, 2008)

Surly Lowside, I don't own one but I demoed one and it was great. You just want to be a hooligan on it.


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## terrasmak (Jun 14, 2011)

Best of both , build a long travel hard tail


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## Crankyone (Dec 8, 2014)

If your Honzo is a large you should sell it to me. Cheap,naturally.
I just went through the same conundrum, since I have a niche hardtail SS, and bought a mid level FS. Bikes are too expensive, but they are sooo cool. I passed on the only Honzo ST I could find. Sigh


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## tractuspk (5 mo ago)

It's a medium. I'm not selling the Honzo anyway. I love that bike. Just building another.

I just rode my closest trail this morning, for the first time since 2020. It was way rougher than I remember from when I was riding the rigid, but I'm still leaning toward that over a shred sled. 
The trail had a lot of very tight switchbacks that I could barely make with the relatively steep head angle of the Honzo. I kind of feel like a more modern geometry would actually make that harder to navigate. I could definitely see where having a longer reach than my older Honzo would inspire more confidence on some of the tech though.


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## jonshonda (Apr 21, 2011)

^I have found that if you can do everything you can to unweight your bars, putting most the weight on your saddle really helps me feel more confident in tight switchbacks. Also putting more weight on the side of the bars that corresponds with the direction you are turning has seemed to help.


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## 93EXCivic (Mar 12, 2018)

tractuspk said:


> It's a medium. I'm not selling the Honzo anyway. I love that bike. Just building another.
> 
> I just rode my closest trail this morning, for the first time since 2020. It was way rougher than I remember from when I was riding the rigid, but I'm still leaning toward that over a shred sled.
> The trail had a lot of very tight switchbacks that I could barely make with the relatively steep head angle of the Honzo. I kind of feel like a more modern geometry would actually make that harder to navigate. I could definitely see where having a longer reach than my older Honzo would inspire more confidence on some of the tech though.


IMO if you are keeping the Honzo, just get a rigid fork for it and then building the more aggressive hardtail.


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## tractuspk (5 mo ago)

I found a used MRP Ribbon 140mm for the Honzo and decided to just go for it on the Spaceframe as well. I will probably look into grabbing a Marino frame some time next year. Hopefully I'll get to try something more modern, on my trails, before then.


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