The 2025 Kona Hei Hei CR: First Ride

After a rocky few years, Kona’s original founders, Dan Gerhard and Jake Heilbron, bought back the brand from Kent Outdoors shortly after the 2024 Sea Otter Classic. Not only did this allow them to continue designing great bikes, but it got the company back in the hands of the people who started it back in 1988 and allowed them to pursue their mission of running a “fiercely independent company.” We haven’t shared much from Kona since, aside from the Libre gravel bike update earlier this month, so we were excited to learn that they’ve been working on a complete redesign of the Kona Hei Hei, one of the longest-standing bicycle models ever.

The Kona Hei Hei has always been a high-speed cross-country mountain bike, but in 2020, it received a significant update that included modernized geometry, updated kinematics, more travel, clearance for larger tires, and a new rear shock position. I spent four months riding and testing that version and was impressed by its pedaling efficiency and lightweight build for day rides and fast/light bikepacking. The 2025 Kona Hei Hei, which marks the 10th generation of the model’s lineage, shares a similar look with the previous model but has been completely redesigned with new specs, geometry, components, and more.

The 2025 Kona Hei Hei is still built around a lightweight carbon frame with clearance for 29 x 2.5″ tires, but that’s where the similarities end. The front travel has been increased from 120mm to 130mm to keep up with the evolving demands of short-travel cross-country riders, the rear travel remains at 120mm, there are now nine bosses inside the main triangle for multiple bottles or bolt-on bags, the geometry has been updated, and the flex-stay suspension design that has been part of the Hei Hei lineup since 2015 has been replaced with a new linkage-driven single pivot rear suspension design with an axle pivot.

There are a handful of other small changes, such as new cable routing, a SRAM UDH rear dropout, and new frame shape/design including a straight seat tube for increased dropper post insertion. It maintains a 31.6mm seatpost, a press-fit bottom bracket, and boost hub spacing. As far as geometry changes, the 2025 Hei Hei has a longer front end, a 1.5° slacker head tube angle, slightly steeper seat tube angle, and a longer wheelbase. At first glance, it looks quite comparable to the new 2025 Salsa Spearfish C that Neil recently reviewed.

2025 Kona Hei Hei Geometry

Although I’ve only gotten out on the new Hei Hei for a couple of rides, it’s already living up to Kona’s promises of a fast but extremely fun ride. It’s impressively lightweight, feels responsive and eager to move, and most of all, is fast. The move away from a flex stay is interesting to see, especially considering the Rocky Mountain Element just did the opposite, but I suppose short-travel full-suspension mountain bikes are just trying to find their place in a busy segment of the industry. I’ll be sharing more thoughts on the Hei Hei later this spring, so stay tuned.

Instead of having multiple build options and an aluminum version, it seems Kona is sticking with one high-performance build called the G10 Hei Hei CR, paying homage to it being the 10th generation version. The build features a RockShox Deluxe Ultimate shock, RockShox Pike Ultimate fork, the new SRAM Eagle 90 mechanical Transmission, SRAM Motive Bronze 4-Piston Brakes, WTB KOM Team i30 rims, and Maxxis Dissector EXO TR 29 x 2.4″ tires front and back.

The complete build comes in a “bone” off-white colorway and costs $5,299 USD (not including the reciprocal tariff rate) or $7,499 CAD. It’s also available as a frameset in a flashy bronze colorway with a RockShox Deluxe Ultimate shock, rear axle, frame protection bits, and seat clamp for $2,950 USD ($3,749 CAD).

Head over to KonaWorld.com or your local Kona dealer to learn more.

Further Reading

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