

First Look The Hei Hei has been kicking around Kona’s line-up for just shy of an eternity now. In 2016, however, the company give it a major overhaul—ditching the previous rear suspension design and borrowing a bit from their Process models’ low-slung and capable geometry. In April, Kona leaked this all-carbon, early-release 2017 version. We featured aat the time. In the months since, we’ve been rallying around on the thing. It’s time for the review.

Kona Hei Hei DL 29 Details



• Intended use: XC/Trail

• Wheel size: 29

• Head angle: 68°

• Carbon front and rear triangles

• Sizes: S, M, L, XL

• Weight (as shown, size L w/o pedals): 27.6 pounds (12.51 kg)

• MSRP: $4.699 USD (€4,999)

• www.konaworld.com.com / @konaworld • Intended use: XC/Trail• Wheel size: 29• Head angle: 68°• Carbon front and rear triangles• Sizes: S, M, L, XL• Weight (as shown, size L w/o pedals): 27.6 pounds (12.51 kg)• MSRP: $4.699 USD (€4,999)

2017 Kona preview As I noted in thata few weeks back, the Hei Hei line is growing leaps and bounds--from two Hei Hei models in early 2016 to a total of eight models for 2017. Prices run from $2,499 to $7,999. It’s a much more diverse range for 2017 that includes straight-forward XC race bikes, more aggressive 29ers (such as this one), and some 27.5-wheeled, trail-bike Hei Heis boasting an additional 40 millimeters (1.5 inches) of rear suspension travel.

The chain and seatstay pivots are, er, not there. Kona's Fuse Independent Suspension design eschews them entirely. The Hei Hei frame has ports for internally routing both the rear derailleur and dropper post lines. The rear brake line is externally routed.

Frame Details

If you love front derailleurs, you get no love here. The price you pay for those shorter (16.9-inch) chainstays. If you need to get a lower granny, it's easy to swap rings on the Race Face crank. Note the flattened seatstay sections. While the lack of seat or chainstay pivots may seem freaky, the concept goes back, at the very least, to the late 1990s Ibis Bow Ti models.

Suspension Design

Geometry



When I said that the new Hei Hei is something of a simpler, lighter 2014-2016 Process 111, I wasn't exaggerating. Same head and seat tube angle and, same chainstay length. The Process had 13 more millimeters in the top tube (though only five millimeters more in actual reach since the Hei Hei sports a longer stem). The Process 111's longer top tube gave it a longer wheelbase, but otherwise, from a geometry perspective, the bikes are nearly identical.



What does this mean in practical terms? For a bike that resides in XC and trail bike land, the Hei Hei DL 29 is a rowdy little thing, with geometry that's similar to what you'll find on an Evil Following (set in its

Specifications

Specifications Release Date July 2016 Price $4699 Travel 120 front, 100 rear Rear Shock Fox Float Performance Fork Fox Float 34 Performance Air 120mm Headset FSA No.57B Cassette Shimano XT 11-42t 11spd Crankarms RaceFace Aeffect cinch 1.x Bottom Bracket Shimano Deore PF92 Rear Derailleur Shimano XT M8000 Chain KMC X11 Front Derailleur None Shifter Pods Shimano XT M8000 Handlebar Kona XC/BC 35 Riser bar Stem Kona XC/Road 35 Grips ODI Ruffian MX Brakes Shimano XT Wheelset WTB KOM i29 TCS w/Joytech hubs Tires Maxxis Ardent 2.25 front/Ikon 2.2 rear Seat WTB Volt Seatpost KS Lev Integra w/Southpaw Lever 31.6mm Compare to other All Mountain/Enduro/XC

Set-Up

Can a slacked-out XC bike still keep up on the climbs. Yes, yes it can. The Hei Hei DL 29 is no slouch when it comes to gaining elevation, though there is a bit of pedal kickback in the mix.

Climbing

There's only 100 millimeters of rear suspension out back--you realize that every once in a while because the Hei Hei DL is the kind of bike that encourages you to ride at your limits.

Descending

The 120-travel Fox Float 34 Performance Air is more fork than you normally see on an XC bike. It's a good deviation from the norm. The KS LEV Integra dropper post worked flawlessly and its Southpaw lever tidies up the handlebar nicely.

Component Check

Pinkbike's Take:

The Hei Hei DL 29 is a testament to how much more versatile shorter-travel bikes can truly be. Sure, it's a lightweight and efficient pedaling machine, but it's also as competent a descender as some trail bikes boasting more suspension. That said, the Hei Hei doesn't afford you the same safety net for riding blunders that you'd get with a heavier, longer-travel bike. The Hei Hei DL 29 is a crazy-capable switchblade of a bike, but it is still a switchblade, not a bazooka. - Vernon Felton

About the Reviewer

Stats: Age: 44 • Height: 5'11” • Inseam: 32" • Weight: 175lb • Industry affiliations / sponsors: None In 1988 Vernon started riding mountain bikes—mainly to avoid the people throwing cans of Budweiser at him during his road rides. At some point, roughly when Ronald Reagan was president and Hüsker Dü was still a band, he began loving mountain bikes on their own terms. Vernon Felton spends most of his time riding bikes, thinking about bikes, thinking about riding bikes and then riding some more around Bellingham, Washington. If it has a greasy chain and two wheels on it, he’s cool with it. Except for recumbents. Well, okay, maybe those too. Nah, forget it. No recumbents. Age: 44 • Height: 5'11” • Inseam: 32" • Weight: 175lb • Industry affiliations / sponsors: None

When Kona set out to re-design the Hei Hei, they wanted to create a race bike that could tackle more technical courses—a more versatile flavor of cross-country. They were also looking to drop some frame weight. Making a bike more capable in rowdy terrain while cleaving weight from the chassis aren’t always goals that party well together. Kona accomplished it this time around, however, by making, in essence, a lighter, simpler and slightly steeper version of the Process 111. To that end, the new Hei Hei features massive standover clearance, a longer front center, lower bottom bracket and a considerably shorter (15 millimeters) rear end than Hei Hei models of yore.The frame is a sleek, low-slung affair. Though the images here show both the dropper post and rear brake line running externally along the downtube, there is a port near the head tube that allows you to run the entire dropper-post line internally through the frame.There are no ISCG mounts on the Hei Hei, but given the bike's XC lineage, that's not a huge surprise. The bike comes equipped with a fairly pinned 2.2-inch Maxxis Ikon out back, but there's just enough breathing room in the rear end for some 2.3-inch tires, if you're so inclined. If you're in the market for a cross-country frame, it's worth noting that Kona also sells the carbon Hei Hei 29 frame (along with a Fox Float Performance rear shock) for $2,599.Though the new Hei Hei drinks heavily from the Process Kool-Aid, it is certainly not the same bike. The Hei Hei is configured around Kona's new Fuse Independent Suspension system, which has no pivots at the seatstay/chainstay junction. Instead, Fuse relies on a small amount (about 1.5 degrees) of vertical flex in the seat and chainstays. Light, simple, laterally stiff and efficient under pedaling—those were the goals with the new design.The Fuse design is, in fact, lighter than the 2014-2015 "Beamer" walking-beam design it replaced--240 grams (a half pound) lighter, to be exact. What kind of weight savings did Kona achieve by going to a complete carbon frame? Kona says the carbon Fuse frame is a full 1.5 pounds lighter than the aluminum version that debuted in early 2016. I was skeptical about that claim at first, but sure enough, even with the addition of a dropper post, this bike weighs a solid pound less than the aluminum version I tested in early 2016. Kona claims that going to carbon wasn't merely an exercise in shedding weight, but also a means of stiffening up the chassis. To that end they also moved to Boost 148 for the 2017 models.high mode with a 120 fork spearheading it), Pivot Mach 429 Trail or Ibis Ripley LS. The 68 and 74-degree head and seat tube angles (respectively), 1161-millimeter (45.7-inch) wheelbase (size Large), and 430-millimeter (16.9-inch) chainstays would have been at home on an all-mountain bike a few years ago, before everything got enduro-slack.The Hei Hei DL 29 comes out of the box wearing a Fox Float Performance rear shock and a 120-millimeter travel Float 34 Performance fork. There aren’t a ton of bells and whistles to twiddle with here on these mid-tier Fox products, so I promptly set the sag at 25 percent. Running any less in my neck of the woods is just a recipe for rattling the fillings from your teeth. Running more on a bike with 100-millimeters of travel usually feels like too much of a good thing—you’re already running out of travel faster than you’d like when that’s all the squish you have at your disposal.The bike weighs 27.6 pounds and sports a suspension design that’s supposed to lean towards the efficient pedaling side of the spectrum—the Hei Hei DL 29 should climb well. Not a huge surprise, it gains elevation easily. Suspension squat is minimal, even with the Float rear shock run wide open. In fact, traction on loose and rocky singletrack climbs suffers a bit in the firmer “Medium” mode, so I only opted for the extra compression damping when climbing fire roads.Is the Hei Hei DL 29 an absolute weapon on the climbs? If you are comparing it to the likes of the Process 111, it’s practically a rocket. It’s not simply lighter—it also accelerates like nobody’s business. But let’s get more apples-to-apples here. Compared to some bikes more apiece with the Hei Hei--say the Ibis Ripley LS or Specialized Camber--the Hei Hei DL 29 holds its own in the climbing department, but isn’t top of class. The Hei Hei displays a bit of pedal kickback when you're humping the bike up particularly chunky climbs in low gears. It's the flip side/necessary evil of all the chain growth (and resulting anti-squat) that also makes the bike such an efficient pedaler. I’ve certainly experienced more dramatic tugging on the pedals with other bikes, but the kickback on the Hei Hei DL 29 is noticeable all the same.Despite the relatively slack geometry, I had no difficulties winding the bike through tight uphill switchbacks. None whatsoever. If you’re coming off of a more traditional cross-country race bike—say, an older Epic or Scalpel—you might find your comfort zone more quickly on the more traditionally spec’d Hei Hei Race 29 model, which bears the same frame, but has a 100-millimeter travel fork up front. That bike might feel more “normal” and if you are that guy who rides around with his suspension always locked out, it might be the better choice. But I’ll be honest here: I think going shorter with the fork travel would be a loss. The longer, burlier Fox 34 fork and the slacker front end geo that comes along for the ride bring something special to this bike.My first thought when I hit the bottom of that first big downhill aboard the Hei Hei?Usually bikes that climb this well give up a lot on the downhills. Not this one. This is the kind of bike that has you pushing yourself and the limits of the components—like those skinny XC tires.I’m not suggesting that the Hei Hei's 100 millimeters of rear suspension somehow feels like 130 millimeters. It feels every bit the short-travel machine that it is—you realize that when you hit a jump or a drop…the kind you might normally not even try on a bike with this little travel.The Hei Hei DL 29 is a true trail-bike wolf in cross-country sheep clothing. Not terribly surprising, I suppose, when you consider that this Hei Hei is closer (genetically) to the Process line than to its own Hei Hei ancestors. That Fox 34 (and the slacker front geometry that it brings to the table) also deliver in spades. This, frankly, is why I wouldn’t opt for the Race version of the Hei Hei 29 with the skinnier, shorter-travel fork. The Fox 34 is a great match for the frame’s overall geometry.You, however, feel the frame reaching its limits—the Hei Hei doesn’t feel as calm in the truly hectic, high-speed stuff as, for comparison’s sake, its Process 111 sibling. You also realize that while the Hei Hei can do outrageous things that’d have dedicated cross-country rigs running away with their tails between their legs, it doesn’t afford you the same wide margin for error that you’ll get with a bike that possesses more rear suspension.In keeping with the Hei Hei's lineage, the bike's 2.25 and 2.2-inch Maxxis Ardent and Ikon tires are all about reducing rotational weight. That's great and all, but the Hei Hei encourages aggressive, risk taking and you soon outride the limits of those two tires. The 2.4-inch Ardent is a quick-rolling tire and a very different beast than the 2.25--I'd slap that on in a heartbeat. The good news is that Kona equipped the bike with light-yet-wide WTB KOM i29 rims, which will provide plenty of sidewall support for fatter treads.Quick, solid shifts....that's what you get here. According to the Kona website, this model comes equipped with a 34-tooth ring. Ours, mercifully, wore a 32. Regardless, if you need to drop down to a 30-tooth (or smaller) ring, Race Face's Cinch system makes chainring swaps as complicated as buttering a slice of bread.You don't get Kashima coating on the stanchions nor the 22 clicks of compression-damping adjustability in "Open" mode that you'd find on a Fox Factory Series fork, but the mid-rung Fox Performance Series forkfeature the excellent FIT4 damper and enough adjustability to keep most riders happy. Both the fork and rear shock are good kit.