Budget-Friendly Kahuna MTB Is Ready To Throw Down With a Capable Design and Gear

Folks, the name Kona (founded in 1988) has been present on the cycling scene since 1989 when it introduced Project Two, its first straight leg MTB production fork. That was the beginning, and today Kona designs and builds entire framesets that are capable of throwing a smile onto your mud-ridden face and being the sort of machine you can use day in and day out.

The Kahuna, on the other hand, is a bicycle that, if you ended up going grocery shopping with it and happened to secure it with a rather flimsy lock, you could very well be walking home after. Heck, look at it! That aluminum frame is shaped with a flowing down tube, curved for fork clearance, and blending beautifully into the BB.

The top tube has a slight curve to it too, but this time it's for setting the head tube angle to a solid 68 degrees and to offer adequate clearance on drops. For the medium bike, a stack of 24.1 inches (61 centimeters) is what you'll be looking forward to. Since I'm going on about geometries and all that, let me point out that a 75-degree seat tube angle is present in all sizes.

Now, 33 years later, Kona has dropped the idea of a solid MTB fork on a bike like this. That said, the front of this bugger is equipped with a RockShox Recon Silver RL fork with 100 millimeters (4 inches) of travel. Since the Kahuna is a hardtail, the rear is perfect for helping you dig into off-road tracks, and with the Maxxis Forekaster 2.35-inch cross-section tires, you should still have one heck of a time coasting over roots and rocks. Did I mention the entire bike is tuned for 29-inch rubbers?

While Kona covers an array of features with proprietary components, handlebar, stem, seat post, and even pedals, the drivetrain is handled by Shimano with a 12-speed Deore setup driven by a cassette with 10-51T. The brakes are also Shimano clamping down on 180-millimeter (7.1-inch) rotors.

However, things get a bit weird with the Kahuna. Sure, it showcases a geometry I fell in love with at first sight and is priced around a reasonable $1,400 (€1,300 at current exchange rates), but if you look closely at the seat stay, you'll notice a couple of holes that seem to be set in all the right places for cargo racks and possibly even fenders. If that's the case, Kahuna is a bit more than your average aluminum MTB.

What if you took the frame, stripped it of all its components, and figured out how to transform this machine into an adventure bike? What would your outdoor activities be like then? Since there are manufacturers that produce rack mounts for suspension forks, there may be no need to take anything off; just keep adding. Speaking of adding, the frame is dropper-post ready, so there's always that too.

At the end of the day, the attention that the Kahuna has been given and the fact that it cruises for a price most people can dish out in this economy is why this machine has secured a place in my heart, maybe yours too. Just a little something-something to consider if you're in need of a budget-friendly hardtail mountain goat.