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kona operator 2013???

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Chimp
Jun 29, 2013
1
0
hi what do you say about the 2013 operator?
kona had a breakage history so i kinda scared to get those bike...

does anyone have any idea if the 2013 operator are good?
will it break on me or did kona got their **** together??

please answer me..
 

demonprec

Monkey
Nov 12, 2004
237
15
Whonnock BC Canada
seen lots of guys riding them and they all love them have not heard or seen any issues , myself i have a 2013 Entourage that i will be building up in the next week and am really lookin forward to ripping the trails up on it .
 

weedkilla

Monkey
Jul 6, 2008
362
10
Bought a 2012 frame and built it up. May be a little heavier than 2013, but same geo and suspension. Was tearing my hair out trying to get it to play nice with a fox, bought a double barrel and decided it was amazing.
It needs way more high speed rebound than you would imagine, I'd only look at a Double barrel, Vivid or a custom tuned shock myself.
But then there is the carbon one - apparently due for early release 2014.........
 

Kevin

Turbo Monkey
Bought a 2012 frame and built it up. May be a little heavier than 2013, but same geo and suspension. Was tearing my hair out trying to get it to play nice with a fox, bought a double barrel and decided it was amazing.
It needs way more high speed rebound than you would imagine, I'd only look at a Double barrel, Vivid or a custom tuned shock myself.
But then there is the carbon one - apparently due for early release 2014.........
Never really been a Kona fan, but last week I got to check out the 2014 collection at my buddies office (Kona Headquarters Europe), and I must say the new bikes look awesome...
I would have no problem at all rocking that black and green carbon Operator next year!

I also rode their 29er trailbike, the "Satori" for a week in the French Vosges, and I had a blast...
Seems like they are really getting their **** together!
 

TGR

Monkey
Jan 9, 2006
263
3
Have been riding the 2013 operator since a couple of months now. I have so far changed the wheelset (521 on hope pro 2 evos), 800 mm gravity bars, integrated stem and a cane creek double barrel rear shock.

The bike rides amazingly well, it is slack enough to feel comfortable on even the gnarliest trails and it just loves to get loose on the rough stuff too. The bike feels pretty bombproof, big frame tubing, big bearings everywhere and an overall clean look.

The only problem I got with mine is that I blew two shocks within a month on it... The stock rock shox kage rear shock ended up snapping at the shaft where the bottom d/u goes (I was running proper spring/hardware, blabla) after 6 runs on the first day of lift access. I didn't really think that the frame was a problem since everything seemed aligned and did not feel any friction from the pivots or shock. I bought a cane creek double barrel (brand new, 2013, bigger shaft, problem solver bla bla) again set it up with fitting hardware, proper spring/sag, etc. Apart from the traditional double barrel spring rub and the long time it really takes to set it up properly, it ended up snapping at the same place as the rock shox after two days of lift accessed riding... Frame and shock are now boxed back to kona to see where the problem is.

It kinda sucks but I'm stoked to have it back soon, warranty is pretty fast! Because I fuwcking love that bike.