KONA FIRE MOUNTAIN – FRAME TEST
Added By Mike Bradley - 04 November 2010

We have decided to do the upcoming 24 hour race at Ixopo on single speeds as a team. To get into the whole single-speed idea, we entered St Mary’s Classic at Bartlett estate on our bikes. Conrad, Ian, Kelvin and I, took on the 38km’s that would have a fair bit of climbing, descending and some flat jeep-track riding.
Riding a single speed bike – that is a bike with only one chain-blade upfront and 1 cassette sprocket at the rear - may seem daft , especially as new technology now brings us 3 x 10 gearing, but is actually quite fun. The climbs provide a challenge and as you have only got one gear, you have to crank it up hill, (and you hope you have the gearing combination), downhill’s are as fast as you want to go, but it is the flats where having gears comes to a distinct advantage, as a single speeder will simply run out of gears.
So whilst riding, I realised one thing that made we want to write this blog about, not the actual ride but the bike I rode, or more specifically the frame I used. I converted a Kona Fire Mountain Deluxe into a single speed, transferring my American Classic wheelset, Fox F80RL, SLX brakes and XTR crankset onto the frame from my Kona Hei Hei.
Kona’s description of the bike is “...Absolutely the best mountain bike for the money in the world today. Geometry born from Kona's long heritage in racing, with components that make this bike worthy on a universe of trail conditions. A Rock Shox lock-out fork for efficient climbing, sweet cranks, super strong oversized stem and handlebar, as well as disc brakes and you've got yourself a steed Vulcan himself would love to rip....”
The Fire Mountain Deluxe is a very well priced entry-level bike. It comes with mechanical disc brakes, 27-speed Shimano Deore drive train and a Rock Shox Dart 2 fork (with lock out). Of course I stripped all this off the bike.
The American Classic wheelset is superstiff and extremely light weight, so would provide a great platform to roll on – and quite frankly are the wheels I spend most of my time on. The Fox F80RL upfront would serve the purpose it was intended, giving me a super plush ride, whilst the SLX brakes, although heavy, would provide ample sopping power if I needed it, and did I need them – hell yeah.
Now I am very accustomed to a soft tail bike, so climbing onto a hardtail was going to pose other problems – how would I feel during and after the race, would my butt take a beating, etc. Well I was pleasantly surprised. The bike was very response to acceleration from the start, and with the Fox fork locked out, it climbed as hard as I could push it. The 20” frame never felt too cumbersome, and I never felt stretched out on the bike, like on other brands. The standover height allowed for easy control whilst climbing and descending. In descending the bike handles like a dream. Steady, sturdy and stiff. I never felt out of control or as if I was going to pitch over the front. I like standing with my weight directly over the BB on descents – not behind the saddle like many people will tell you is correct form. This posture assists with the easy acceleration of the bike, and this is where the Fire Mountain really comes into its own.
Where the frame geometry really comes in to play is the comfort factor. 38km’s and I could have gone another 20km’s without a problem. No wrist, back, neck, butt strain, no discomfort just a really great ride. 
So as per Kona’s own words above..” Absolutely the best mountain bike for the money in the world today” – I could not agree more. The components are not what makes the bike, it’s the way the designers engineer a bike to feel good, respond to what the rider demands and provide hours of endless fun.