The World's Best Hardtail 

Finishing EWS Whistler on a hardtail would be a very very rough day. Good luck Josh!

Great bike. I built up the 2021 frame with a pike, i9 305, axs gx, 5Dev 165mm raw cranks. It climbs great and the downhills are buttery smooth

I picked up the regular steel Honzo for a single speed build and I love it. The ESD is a bit too much for my trails. Can’t say I miss the full suspension at all, and the simplicity of maintenance is a nice perk

Sweet bike, you got the second best aggressive hardtail after the Chromag Stylus. 170 fork and 62 degree head angle, whoa. Hardtails are a blast on the flow trails that are becoming so common. Can ride any trail on them if you don't mind a little vibration and bone rattling.

Welcome to the hard-core hardtail life dude. I'm running a Zeb @160 on my Honzo, you'll love it.

Love seeing your content. Just a down to earth fella looking to have a good time. Can’t wait to see what you do on this hardtail. Best of luck!

I also have an ESD and absolutely love it. Took windrock like a champ

Awesome. Looking forward to the race videos!

Oooh. This is my dream hardtail, and Galbraith is the perfect mountain to ride it on! As a BC boy, I love PNW bike companies (including PNW!). Glad to see a new upload and look forward to seeing footage of both races

Very nice 👍. Can't wait to see the videos. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Exciting times ahead! Hope you get a chance to share some of these races!

Thanks for following up on the hardtail, Josh! Can't wait to see you race!

look forward to the race videos you do on that bike!

Love your vids man 👍

Excited to see how this bike treats you. I built up a red ESD last year. By far the most fun I've had on two wheels. Sheds everything from boring ol xc trails to whatever Mt Bachelor can throw at her. I found with even a 150mm fork I had a hard time keeping weight over the front making the bike difficult to rail turns. I now run it 140 with a +0.5 spacer from Problem Solvers. I don't feel hindered by the 140 travel. Steve from Hardtail Party explains why overforking a hardtail is sometimes not to your advantage. Good luck with your races! (I see from the results you already crushed it at Galbraith. Really impressive!)

Welcome to the gang gang I been riding my new 22 esd Large for 2 weeks now its just crazy!

Hi here in the Philippines, since most of us cant afford a fullsus bike, we settle for a hard tail trail/enduro bike. Same as yours I ran slacker head angle and 160mm fork. So far I am happy with my current setup. Good luck on the EWS race. Great vid!!!

I bought my esd as a secondary bike to pair with my FS but i liked it so much i sold my FS. This bike is truly amazing!

Surely the “hello Dave” would be a top contender? Good video!

that "except the grim donut" is on point 😂

Just got a new trail hard tail and it’s really fun on everything.

Love it! More Hardtail enduro stuff :)

Looking forward to the ride videos! It was 104 degrees here yesterday, getting hard to get out and ride.

I'm riding this as my daily rider and it absolutely shreds! Although I built it from a frame as more of a trail XC build with keeping it as light as possible.. Definitely the best climbing mtb I've ridden here in the Southwest.

I know it sounds odd, but I found a lot of success in mullet hardtails. I have a 140mm travel fork up front with a 29er and a 26er in the back. Its super slack but because of the rake, when it gets near bottoming out it just straightens the bike out. Try a 27.5 in the back, you might like it! I know old school DH bikes utilized smaller wheels!

Top stuff that I will be following for sure. I own a Titus Loco Moto Ti Hardtail and its a blast to ride. Its a long bike and sits low with a 62° head angle. I love it. Following you for sure to see the outcome. I have done a small urban DH on mine and it was amazing.

Very cool bike! Good luck at EWS! That's going to be crazy gnarly.

I love it haha I just built a marino around a 180 fork and it’s unreel.good luck with the racing

Cool, can't wait to watch your trifoxbike SDY20 video😁😁

congrats on the podium finsh on the galby enduro!

Hardtail madnezzz🔥🔥🔥

Finally back to the MTB content

Depending on what you ride, 170mm travel would be massive advantage on rough stuff. Great content bro, all the best!! 👌👌🙌

Nice! Its a huge bike, I have the large and kind of wish I'd have went with the medium.

great choice on the kona, another hardcore hardtail the commencal meta ht am

Love hardtails! It’s all we had growing up and it’s crazy how low and slack some of them are now.

I literally just last week building up a custom parts build with this frame, I’m eager to shred this thing

AGRESSIVE HT FOR THE WIN!!!

I own a 2022 Kona Honzo ESD adjust the rear wheel all the way forward. It changes the bike and makes it even more poppy and better

Cool! I raced a hardtail in the CDC Galbraith Enduro too! I didn't race the hardtail class though, just in my Sport age bracket - I didn't think I could handle the mileage of the Expert course. Someone in the parking lot pointed out "the guy in the taco suit" as you.

Damn, love it, I have a Nukeproof scout 27,5 with 160mm travel so I completely understand.

Congratulations. I have the same bike. I built from frameset though with a 160mm Fox 36.

The ‘on one hello Dave’ is a 62° head angle aggressive hardtail out of the box 👍

Lol @ the Grim Donut reference!! And yes, you got GMBN correct too!

i run a norco fluid ht2 which i threw a 160mm fox 36 and mullet on and love it, super fun and playful bike but is very stable and takes whatever i throw at it

I love my ESD! My one complaint is that the bottom bracket shell didn't have a drain hole in it, so it collects water, which will destroy your bottom bracket. However, it's a quick fix, just take a small drill bit and some paint to keep rust away and you are back to riding!

Inhave been riding a 160mm hard tail for several years and it is quite fun and the advantage of no susp in winter.

i have a honzo ESD frame waiting to be built. cant wait to hear what you think about 150mm vs the 170mm

Josh !!!!!!!! ALSmooth it's been a minute I'm not concerned about the bike I just want to know that you're doing well bro I know you got real responsibility now and you have to be a grown up but it's great to see you making videos again bro!!!! Remember you're the reason I started doing RU-vid from the beginning lol

"G m b n or something like that" 😆 rad bike!

I've got a single speed 160mm pipedream moxie and have done a race on it. I placed last but pretty sick bike overall lol

Nice bike friend

I rode the ESD and was very impressed but found I preffered the ride of the torrent S1 a little more. It seemed to handle all the same drops and gnarly tech as the ESD but seemed to be a little more composed and absorbed the buzz a little better. Love both bikes though!

Hey man ive been wanting to grab a marzocchi z1 or z2 fork but have heard some things about having to rebuild the dampening system because its much worse than fox. I was just wanting the recommendation of a well trusted youtuber who inevitably gets to ride more than me. Thanks in advance keep up the good vids

The EWS on the ESD is sure to ignite some ASMR. Let'er rip, bud! I'll be cheering from YT sidelines.

Just want to see another Crabapple Hits hardtail run, Josh!

I have the same bike it’s amazing

When he said it’s one of the only bikes that comes complete at a reasonable price and go and absolutely shred it, I wasn’t thinking it was going to be a $4000cad bike… lol I’d build something before picking one up

Makes me miss my On One Hello Dave I just sold in favor of a full squish. 62 degree head angle with a 150mm fork. Insane bike, but with the low specs it was freakishly heavy, (34.5 pounds) wasn’t all that fun being a hardtail on my chattery local trails but too extreme to make it around the tight single track here. Beautiful rig tho, I’ll miss it

My Ragley Mmmbop is fun on downhills, it’s pretty slack but only 150 travel. It’s a lot more fun than my 2014 Fuel ex that’s for sure. It fits the pump track and and small trail system near me.

LOL - A Downhill Hardtail!! That's cool, and something I never would have thought about. I've taken my X-Country hardtail on a couple of downhill trails at Breckenridge and Keystone, and didn't have nearly as much fun as I did on my FS Bike. That said, my hardtail is nowhere close to yours for front travel and headtube angle. I guess I need to add another bike to my collection - a Downhill Hardtail!!

My ferrum ht has a 180mm fork 62.5 head angle love aggressive hardtails

I got a ESD a couple of months back .....quicker than alot of people of full Suss and even DH bikes on a Uplift day with Natural and steep trails .

Probably the best all mountain do it all hardtail on the market. Long live the demon goat.

I think the dartmoor hornet is pretty similar, they also approve a dual crown fork for it

Aggressive as it comes, it seems, Kona Honzo ESD. Amazing to me as an Eastern rec. rider to think about racing in the PNW. Wow, good on you sounds beautiful. I think my Banshee Paradox V3 could almost keep up if I upped the fork from 140 to 170, but it's def a notch below the ESD. Does it rail corners? The BPV3 does rail, with a 60mm BB drop. I'm running the same RF 30 29er wheels but with 2.5 high rollers...drifty! Based on the sram TP calc, 2.5 tires on an iw30 allows for the lowest relative pressures to be run. Runnin' insert out back?

That’s awesome ! I was thinking of replacing my Santa Cruz chameleon , for this frame ! Is the Kona ESD worth it ?

♾ COOL 🚲

I own an ns surge evo and run a bos deville 170 with 26ers on it and it is sick to ride

I have a Guerrilla Gravity Pedalhead running 2.5” 29r it has a 64deg head angle. It’s a bit crazy for my terrain

Cool video! What bike stand is that and would it also work with road bike 700c tires as well as mtb 27.5 tires?

so I actually own an ESD! and I absolutely love mine, 170 is a little long, even for how slack it is, I would go 160 if it were me.

have you taken a look at the OnOne Hello Dave? mine came in a little while ago and i like it a lot so far

Sweet rig! Not that it applies to enduro, but I love the climbing efficiency and speed of a good HT. I am also your opposite; I have freakishly short legs for being 5'8". I also have T. rex arms so all my bikes have 40-50mm riser bars.

H.T.H(Hard tail Hero) you go Josh. Good luck. You can have as much fun on a hard tail as a full sus. Hahah

Serious question: how does it climb compared to a full-sus Enduro bike? Looks sick, but the trails I ride the most also have uphills you have to pedal through, curious if the fact of being a hardtail with that much travel plays positively or negatively when it comes to climbing.

"expect the grim donut"😂😂

Do you have an insert on the rear? if you get a good pressure it feels like the bike bucks you off less

I have a Schwinn Axum with 160mm fork and I have been looking at the Honzo ESD frame, but I can't find it in medium

How was the geometry when you adjust the travel to 170mm?

Respect!, but Banshee Paradox all the way!! 😊

What bike stand is that?? Looking for something that can fit my 2.6

I heard overforking the honzo esd causes it to be unstable. I ran a 150mm travel chromoly hardtail and it didn’t seem like enough. The esd is the best full build hardcore package out there.

Yeah. 140-150mm was the sweet spot for me.

Hey, so why do you have a bash guard, but no chain guide? 🤔

Might want to get a bigger rotor on the rear if you’re racing Whistler

hey josh, would you still recommend the adventx? i want to upgrade from an 11-42 but should i get the adventx or spend some more to get nx eagle

That's HAWT!!!!

Hey man you look great the last time i saw your video you some kilos. Hope i can lose weight to. Keep it up... caio from italy mabuhay from the philippines

Just ordered 180mm marzocchi bomber z1s for a hardtail... is that too much then? 😂

Got a mate who rides an ESD and he's quick (quicker) as the rest of us on our FS rigs... Maybe you'll be able to catch The Boost Master on his Enduro full-susser!?

How about going completely bonkers and adding a negative 2 degree headset?!

You should get a lower dropper! Way to much sticking outa dat toob :)

I just raced gailbreath but I got 6th :(

You only talk to us those days when you buy a new bike 🥺

Shout out to Wyn Masters

What became of this build :)

I have. 2013 Honzo steel frame and but a 160 pike on it. Much better

i ride a enduro hardtail.. for skill.... but arh? 170 mm is way to much.. i always go for 140/150 as my complete maximum.. haha so,,, hardcore hardtail is what it is yet i do some gnarly trails.. in aus.. like boogaloo, descent 13, descent 7/8/9 all on a xco hardtail to.. if you have the time have a look haha i cant remmeber his name he did a trip to australia? in to bright bassically my second home away from home

What a beautiful bike. This is a chromoly frame too, isn't it?