HARDTAIL GANG! I tried to get my hands on one of those, and ended up going with On One Hello Dave. The long steel hardtails are out of this world fun times! Enjoy!
I'm looking at this or the Dave ....one thing that puts me off about the Dave is the cables going down the downtube and underneath the BB and getting damaged from rock strikes etc.
Went down the “hardcore hardtail” rabbit-hole this winter. Just put the finishing touches on my Cotic BFE Max. Gotta have a good hardtail in the stable!!
I feel sorry for good riders that have never ridden a modern geo hard tail.😂 That ESD is all grins all day, some of my pr's are on the HT vs my sentinel fs. I ran my stays all the way short for about a year and only recently moved them 3/4 back and it made the bike even more fun. Nice review!
Beautiful vid! I just bought a large purple ESD last week! I'm very new mtbing. Please post more videos. Also I'd be interested to see the whole process of shortening the chain stay and how you are adjusting your fork.
Good to see some film at Beacon Hill, planning to get up that way this spring and summer on the dropbar to test myself a bit more. Hardtails are my favorite as well, something about the unforgiving nature of picking a bad line instead of allowing you to plow through brings line selection at speed up a level.
Great to see a video with the ESD where someone adjusts the chainstay length. I've seen a lot of reviews and nobody seems to touch therm. You'd think that would be a huge selling point of this bike compared to other hardtails.
I agree that 175mm crank arms seem a tad long for that bike. If it were me I would consider swapping to 165mm when it comes time to make the change. I know you said you prefer 170mm, but for a bike with a BB as low as the Honzo ESD that is begging to be ridden in chunky technical terrain, I'd think long & hard about going even shorter.
i lvoe your videos mate, they are so underwatched! especially the build videos. i do this thing where i save the best "recent uploads" too last 😂😂like Berm Peak and u and Matt jones and stuff. i save you till last 3!
Jim - you're the one that convinced me to buy my Commencal Meta HT! It is awesome. I'm in Missoula. Where is this video filmed? Is it Spokane? Other? I'd like to ride these trails! Thanks!
Hey! Nice video!! I think I'm gonna buy one but I need to understand if I'm buying the correct size. You said the bike size is Large but what's your height?
If you are thinking about buying one of these and are here because you are on the fence: BUY IT. Flat out the most fun you can have on a bike. It looks crazy, but it doesn’t ride like you would expect (just by looking at it).
Great vid, I was looking for a useful review on the ESD and I'm super happy I found yours. That's some very impressive riding that you're doing there on the ESD, hats off mate. Great to see how you worked with the bike and the geo to find the sweet spot. I'm currently on a Chromag Doctahawk size L, which is comparable to the large ESD (the reach is 10mm longer though), and considering to add another Kona to the stable. Which frame size did you go with, and how tall are you? Which adjustments / upgrades did you make since you posted the video? Cheers mate, happy trails.
i built one of these up last summer after waiting for 7 monsths for my Honzo ST frame to come in, freaking love it. went 140mm(its the fork i already had) and for 3 months there i had it set up as a single speed. Freaking machine likes getting rowdy thats for sure. Love it on the steep tech and the loamy stuff i have in my area
Interesting how you could feel the chainstay. Longer chainstay must compensate for the huge front-center/wheelbase ratio. Triple combo of low bb, long wheelbase, 175mm boost crank makes for petal strike madness, if there's any tech pedaling. For down charging and gaps without much pedaling it's right on . I'm thinking the Honzo ST with shorter cranks.
As you said, the ESD is crazy hard to get a hold of. When the first gen came out we had customers calling up about them for months and we couldnt even backorder the next years model for them becuase they were all gone. Super crazy bikes!
Best of luck Bruddah Love the content I’ve been battling back from two crashes and pretty major injuries Always stoked to follow and it’s kept my fire burning through a lot of hard rehab and down time Respect
Love the HONZO ESD, the best North American designed hardtail period. The steel frame gives it that solid tortion you want in a bike. No give just solid. Sick choice for a HT bomber sled.
It did! It was totally throwing me off. It was a combination of the short chainstay and me not riding over the front enough. I think I have it figured out now though lol
That’s a great bike ! I have been thinking off replacing my frame of my SantaCruz Chameleon with one of these frames and rebuild it with this frame and my 150mm Domain fork. Would you recommend maybe doing the frame option and building it as a do it all hardtail?
Definitely! If I could have built mine from a frame...with a bike like this, I think that's the best way to go. Its a confidence inspiring bike for sure!
@@TheShredist that’s great to know ! I am strongly considering replacing my SantaCruz Chameleon V7 frame for one of these Honzo ESD’s , my local shop said they could get a frame so I am highly considering it. You think I should go for the gram up build ?
Damn, I got this bike in Nov and was hoping I'd have the only one in spo lmao you're going to freaking love this bike! I'm still falling in love months later. I slammed my chain stay which made the long wheel base more manageable
@@TheShredist haha all good! I made that comment about the chainstay before seeing you're preference. But i think its pretty cool that the adjustable dropouts cater to everyone.
