Over the weekend in Adelaide, South Australia, Gravity SA hosted a round of their 2019 Enduro Series and Kona Gravity Rider Connor Fearon showed up, but not on a Process as many would except, but on his carbon Honzo. He rode the aggressive carbon hardtail all the way to the top of the of the podium and beat long-time friend and rival Troy Brosnon.

We hit up Connor to find out exactly why he choose to race the Honzo, if there were any advantages or disadvantages and if he’d do it again.

Is this the first time you’ve raced a gravity event on your Honzo CR?

Yes, this was the first time I’ve raced my Honzo at an enduro event! I’ve raced the tracks at Fox Creek in Adelaide a lot of times over the years so I wanted to change things up and even the playing field with my friends who aren’t professional riders.

How long have you had the Honzo, what do you normally use it for?



I’ve had that Honzo CR for a year or more now, but I had a steel one before that which was sweet as well. I ride my Process bikes every day and sometimes I’m just bored of riding the same terrain so I grab the Honzo to change it up a bit. I mostly like riding it on tracks with jumps and flow.

Could you have pushed it more? Did you find the Honzo’s limits?

Yeah, there are a few spots I could have ridden the Honzo faster for sure. I hadn’t actually ridden the bike for a few months so I wasn’t that used to it. If I had more time on it I could go faster for sure.

Did you know you were in the lead at all during the day?

No, I didn’t know I was leading, but after the first couple of stages, I realized just how fast the bike could actually be. I honestly thought I would be battling for a mid-pack finish but pretty quickly I realized I was at no disadvantage!

Can you see yourself racing it again?

Lots of people think I’m racing a cross country bike but the Honzo is nothing like that. It’s built for going downhill and it was really fast. I think for a lot of the sections the Honzo was faster. It really opened my eyes to what a good hardtail is capable of.

Ready to buy your next hardtail race steed? Check out the full Honzo lineup here.