Kona's Process CR/DL is a rowdy wagon wheeler
Does big hoops plus big travel equal big fun?
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Carbon, alloy, two wheel sizes and new platform - let us at it!
Process 153 CR 29 addition to the lineup
Kona unveils its first mountain bikes since being reclaimed by its original owners.
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The market for long travel big wheelers has been expanding rather rapidly of late and Kona has joined the party with their Process CR/DL 29 that sports 160mm up front and 153mm of bounce at the back for all manner of trail and enduro fun.
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This particular model sits right at the top end of the range with a not-insignificant £5,499 price tag thanks to a load of top end kit and a frame that's all carbon fibre save for aluminium chainstays. It's certainly quite a chunky looking monkey, with a big solid composite rocker link over the trunnion mount shock and broad tube profiles that should boost stiffness when the going gets rough.
It's also good to see plenty of standover clearance from the frame, allowing a long travel RockShox Reverb dropper to be used and the SRAM component theme is continued throughout the bike with a 12-speed X01 Eagle groupset paired to carbon Descendant cranks plus Code RSC brakes with 200mm discs at either end.
Front suspension duties are handled by a RockShox Lyrik with 160mm of travel and the three-way adjustable RC2 damping cartridge. At the back, there's a piggyback-equipped Super Deluxe RCT shock to push out 153mm from the linkage driven single pivot design that's said to be very progressive for extra support when pushing hard. It's also a single ring only design to help boost back end stiffness.
The WTB i29 wheelset is shod in Maxxis DHF 3C rubber at either end, with a 2.5" diameter up front and a 2.3" at the back.
Geometry wise, the Process is a smidge longer in the reach than many rivals, with a large frame measuring 475mm and the medium 450mm - there's no small option. It's also decently slack at 66-degrees at the head tube and the seat tube is heavily offset but measures a steep effective 75.8-degrees, so it'll be interesting to see how it rides uphill.
We'll be hanging on to this one, both literally and figuratively so check back for a full review soon.
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