Ride Review of Upgraded Kona Mahuna XC Budget Build

A few months ago I posted a blog about upgrades I made to my 2018 Kona Mahuna.  You can read about those upgrades in detail here Kona Mahuna XC Mountain Bike Upgrade , but I basically swapped out the coil fork for an air fork, and the 3x9 drivetrain for a 1x12.  Since then I also upgraded to a tubeless setup with Maxxis Ikon tires.   I wanted to give an update of how the bike performs compared to the stock version, and my opinions if the upgrade was worth it.

So I’m glad to report that the result of these upgrades is a significantly more capable mountain bike.  The biggest improvement in performance is the difference between the stock coil fork and the Manitou Machete Comp air fork.  I’m able to much more easily traverse rock gardens and rocky ledges.  The bike is also lighter and the tubeless setup softens the chatter on the trail.  The drivetrain is more stable since the derailleur is not slapping the chain against the frame, and is simpler to operate since it is only one front chain ring.  Overall it’s a much better ride experience and as I mentioned above a more capable bike.

It’s not all good news, and there are just some things that component upgrades can’t fix.  The first is the geometry of the bike is somewhat dated.  The head tube angle is a steep 69 degrees, so going over rocky ledges or especially down steep descents can still be a little sketchy.  The Mahuna is also not very responsive in cornering.  On twisty, flowy single track it is very slow and sluggish.  Also, the frame is really stiff.  The fork and tubeless upgrades have helped, however when riding on my local trails, which are fairly rocky, I get pretty beat up.  Lastly, although the upgrades saved some weight, at over 28 lbs it is still pretty heavy for a hardtail.  I’m not a weight weenie, but I thought I should mention that it is not as light as a high end XC race bike.

So all this begs the question:  Was the upgrade worth it?  

And the answer is:  It depends.  

It was worth it from the standpoint of I got to work on my bike and pick out all the components.  At the end of it all I got a much better performing and more capable mountain bike.  If all I ever wanted to do is just go on some rides on the weekends or whenever on my local green and blue trails then this bike is all I would ever need.  However, I have ambitions of racing in some XC races and riding some more technical trails in the area.  So unfortunately I don’t think this bike can take me where I want to go.  The geometry, the stiff frame, and the sluggishness in corners are shortcomings that can’t be overcome by component upgrades.  If you have an older mountain bike that you want to upgrade just keep that in mind.  You can make it much more capable, but the bike will always be limited by its frame attributes.

I hope this update helped provide some insight on upgrading entry level mountain bikes.  

Thanks for reading.