GPS, check! Bug juice, check! First-aid kit, check! Leatherman, check! Kona
Bear, check!!! You are ready to head for the hills, not for a two-hour SS
Minnow tour, but for an eight-hour jaunt through your local glacier-capped
peaks, and that’s only Day 1 of your adventure!

Welcome to the backcountry, where survival-of-the-fittest and
eat-or-be-eaten are the rules of the ride and where being prepared can make
the difference between the ride of your life and, well, your life.

Backcountry demands a whole new breed of bike. A bike that can stand up to
harsh conditions, mountain-thrashing, crusty downhills, drops, dips, mud,
snow, sleet, and rain, and still exit the trail in one piece. You need a
bike that can carry you up the steep slopes, past the tree line, across
alpine single track, and can outrun the odd attack of a territorial marmot.

You need a mountain bike!

The Kona Bear is a pure mountain bike at heart-not a featherweight
cross-country race machine or a downhill supercross wannabe, but a
go-anywhere-do-everything bike. Kona has taken all of its trademark finesse
and injected it into this reliable rig.

To ensure the Bear frame enjoys a long outdoor life, Kona has integrated a
number of design features to provide strength and durability. As with all
Kona dualies, the Bear sports a multi-pivot, four-bar, walking-beam
suspension designed for 4×4 travel (four inches front and rear). The Fox
Float R, which runs in line with the seat-tube, provides a smooth,
responsive suspension and features rebound adjusting to fine-tune your
ride.

The Bear’s rear also has boulder-proof cold-forged yokes and asymmetric
box-shaped chain stays leading into Forged IS disc-mount dropouts. These
alien-looking chain stays create great power-transfer efficiency and add to
the overall durability of the Bear’s frame.

Kona doesn’t leave the bomb-proofing to the rear end only. Up front,
cleanly welded to the Kona Clump XC 7005 aluminum frame, is a CNC-machined,
reinforced head-tube. The head-tube is relatively long, thanks to the
Bear’s sloping top-tube that allows for great stand-over height and better
suspension-force distribution through the frame.

The long-travel Marzocchi MXC 100mm Air up front is well-tolerated by the
Bear’s frame design, and will happily withstand the temperature extremes
and pounding terrain of backcountry adventuring.

Although the MXC 100 we had on our Bear did not have Marzocchi’s Extension
Control Cartridge (ECC), upgrade kits are available and are a nice luxury
when wanting to lock out rebound extension for climbing or negotiating
tight goat-ledge switchbacks on your local alps.

The remaining meat of the Bear is made up of a Shimano Deore LX drivetrain
and a set of Shimano mechanical discs to keep you honest on the descents. A
beefy Koski Stronghold XC stem mounted to a Kona DB aluminum riser bar also
adds to the overall toughness of the backcountry Bear. The Mavic 223D rims
with Tioga factory XC extreme tires are also a nice touch when clawing up
some of the rougher trails.

Running Bear

When you get the Bear moving, you start to get a good feel for where it
likes to play. Speed is definitely the Bear’s friend and where it tends to
perform at its best. The more speed we picked up on the Bear, either on
descents or in tight track trails, the more comfortable control seemed to
be. Slow just made the Bear feel a bit sluggish.

Although the angles of the Bear cater to the descents, Kona’s excellent
design work on the suspension system also gives the Bear great climbing
prowess. The back end dug in when needed and clawed up inclines most
hardtails would track out on, and it did it all without bouncing all over
the trail. The front end held its ground well on the climbs, not wanting to
wander even with the 100mm travel up front. You may think that 30 pounds is
a negative, but have you ever tried to outrun a Bear uphill?

All in all, this is a solid bike for the wilderness and one that will more
than likely hold up longer than you will on multi-hour rides. Chances are,
we will all be experiencing a lot more Bear encounters this summer.

Kona Bear

Price: $2,699 (Bear DEE-Lux $4,099)

Weight: 30 lbs.

Components: Shimano Deore LX, Mavic wheels, and Toga tires

Frame & Fork: Kona Clump C 7005 aluminum frame, Fox Float R, and Marzocchi
MXC 100mm Air

Geometry: 70° head angle, 74° seat angle

Sizes: 15″, 17″, 18″, 19″, 20″

Comments: Heading into the wilderness? Don’t forget your Bear necessities!
www.konaworld.com