kona kikapu

[hasbeen]

Hey. after months of research, i wanna get a kona kipaku....

www.konaworld.com

any comments before i dive into it

it is just good $$ for money

i was tossing up between the Giant VT3 and GT idrive 3.0

the GT was somewhat poorly made and heavy.... plus i was a bit worried about the warranty issues with the GT

the Giant was only offering 12mths warranty and it was almost double the price

any feedback would be appreciated

thanks in advance

[cam-o]

Really depends on what you want to do with it Rob.
I have a mate who's got one and I think they are pretty good for the $$$, but they are a fairly XC oriented beast. If you are after a general trail tool they are pretty good, if you want more DH/freeride then I'd maybe give it a miss. Depends also on your budget, if you can afford more readies I'd say look at other stuff but if your budget is under $2k then the Kikapu is hard to beat.
If you do buy one check out the spring weight. My mate's one was horribly undersprung in the rear compared to the forks. Depending on your weight your LBS should be able to sort it for you at little cost if you make the change at time of purchase. Alternatively if XC is your bag then I'd consider upgrading to a swinger air shock. From memory that'll set you back about $300 but gives way less bob.

EDIT: Sorry, just noticed this post was in the XC forum so obviously you don't want to DH it. Yes, for the money and for XC the Kikapu is great. If you can afford it go the shock upgrade and you'll be stoked with it.

[hasbeen]

i suppose what i'm wondering is, what can a XC bike take?.... surely it can handle small (2-4ft) drops and gnarly rocky single trails... my hardtail had no probs with it

i could go with a Kikapu Deluxe, but tha is almost $1000 more than the kikapu, but it has hydralic disc brakes (vs mechanical) and the SPV rear shock.... lots of $$ for essentially the same frame....

if i go with the deluxe kikapu, i might as well go with a Dawg

[hasbeen]

does the kikapu need pro-pedal... considering the frame design and limited 3.5inch travel on the rear?

[Cúl-Báire]

Apparently the kikapu is a really active bike, meaning the assend will suck up everything, but I will more than likely bob liek hell if you get out of the saddle and mash the pedals.

The forks probably let id down abit too. You could always buy the bike and upgrade later or layout the dough for the Kink Kikapu which I would think is the better bike... But then you just got to justify the extra cost, to yaself; I never have trouble with that one :lol:

[GordonG]

I've got a Kikapu Deluxe (2003 model) and while I don't race it, it does everything I want it to do - including carrying my ageing 82kg body around without tipping it off too often.

It was raced in last year's RRR here in Cairns by Russell Millard, and he's already asked me if he can have it again this year, so it can't be too bad.

I've had the wheels re-spoked, because I kept breaking rear spokes. The factory seat was like sitting on a park bench. The tyres are crap. I had three punctures in the first week so I put (heavy!) thornproof tubes in it and haven't had a problem since. The bottom bracket has just been replaced - the bike has done just under 4,000km. Oh, and I had the brakes swapped over to rear/left - the first time I hung on the brakes I went straight over the bars. Duhhhh.... :)

[hasbeen]

if that is the case... then it seems a VT3 for $700 more is better value... got the fox R SPV..... more travel less bob?

in kona, i would've had to go to a kikapu deluxe or the Dawg

last time i checked it out it was lighter

i was really hoping not to succumb to the big "Giant" firm :?

i hopefully will be test riding the kikapu tommorow......

[jjh]

I am pretty sure I am cam-o's mate he is talking about up there.

The kikapu is great and I am loving it since I got a stiffer spring put on there, but doing that has killed alot of the suspension travel in the rear. I only do XC on it though, so the softer (600lb) spring it comes with might suit you a lot better than it did me.

Even with the 800lb spring I've got on there now it is still much better than a hard tail for endurance riding. For comparison I weigh about 75kgs.

I would love to have pro-pedal or similar, but as you've mentioned, price is kind of prohibitive and you may as well get a fancier bike if you can afford it.

if you only want to spend around $1600 though, I don't think you can beat the kikapu, I've just completed the 12hours of darkness on it and I plan on taking it to the MONT 24hr in a 2 or 3 person team.

[hasbeen]

thanks for the info and feedback

i ended up getting a giant VT3.... $2250

very happy with it and surprisingly light for the travel u get