Honzo ESD Vs. Honzo STSE
The YouTube algorithm clearly feels I need content in my life beyond Minion videos and my Jesse Welles & Immortal Technique playlist. And, no matter how many times I tell it I have no interest in videos about mountain biking*, with me being a one-dimensional character, it just keeps trying to hook me with this and that. Tech, comedic takes on rider stereotypes, and reviews. I’d rather read thank you.
It finally hooked me this week with QuarterHP’s Trek vs. Trek battle of the Enduro rigs. Like a lot of folks, I assumed the new low-pivot Fuel LX was the death knell for the HP+I Slash. The three-bike Fuel platform is significantly cheaper for Trek make with a multi-model shared frame and simple layout. It’s easier to maintain for owners. And it carries no perception of extra pulley wheel drag on climbs, which makes it easier to sell for plenty of folks who haven’t drunk the high pivot potion.
Historically, with Rocky Mountain maybe the most notable exception, brands have avoided marketing multiple suspension platforms and competing bikes at similar price points. But, maybe, RtS makes the mano a mano point that the high-pivot & idler bike earns a unique place? If anything, the Fuel would receive a more significant benefit from the e13 Sidekick hubs they used on both bikes, so the Slash may be even better downhill in a stock comparison.
The Slash design costs are baked in already, and aside from frames, shocks, and chain lengths, identical builds are possible {more on this in a moment}, which does lower the costs associated with all those extra model, size, and colour SKUs.
*{Except for old school North Shore Extreme reruns.}
{Photo: QuarterHP}
[Aside]
A quick note on the Fuel LX, EX, and MX all sharing the same front and rear triangle. I know this isn’t a new idea, and many brands are on the same train, but specific to Trek’s case, this seems like a missed opportunity to partner with Fox Racing Shox in relaunching the TALAS (Travel Adjust Linear Air Spring) forks and shocks to create a turn-of-the-knob, on-the-fly, bike-travel-conversion two-in-one bicycle.
A potential comeback lap in name and concept for the Trek Liquid bikes from a couple of decades ago.
[/Aside]
So, maybe the Slash isn’t dead? Maybe? Yeah. Right. Even if most folks I know should always buy the simplest sag wagon they can wrap their head around, and, in the case of this particular showdown, that’s the Fuel LX.
But if there’s room for two competing boutique carbon super-sag-wagons in Trek’s catalogue {there’s not}, then maybe, but probably not, despite all evidence, there’s room for two full-steel staplers in Kona’s it’s-a-name-and-a-war-cry Honzo stable?! Two different air shafts, yes, but there’s no reason a Honzo ST and a Honzo ESD can’t come dressed with exactly the same component spec otherwise.
Separated by seat tube angles (STA) and, therefore, a healthy amount of Reach in achieving similar effective top tube fitments, and by a +/-2° angleset*, there’s a strong argument that all-day Honzo ST and pedal-and-plunge Honzo ESD are complementary, not truly competing options. But, just as I’m still certain the Slash will not survive the ST seems destined roll off into the sunset after its 14-ish-year run**.
*{The Game of +/-2° Anglesets: +2° Honzo ESD to ~ match the ST, or -2° Honzo ST to ~ match the ESD.}
**{Without a throwback special release with the first generation blue colour!?}
{Above photos: MEATengines}
I see Honzo ESD rigs on the trails regularly. And that doesn’t include the half dozen folks I occasionally ride with who own one. It’s certainly replaced the ST for Honzo primacy. The first-generation ESD-red is so bold it’s easily spotted, but most often I’m coming across the purple or black painted frames that look the same from more than a few feet away.
[Aside] I’ve yet to see a current silver one. Anyone? [/Aside]
Even with the ESD model being around for such a short time, I see significantly more ESD frames than all editions of the ST put together. And I both understand and lament the steep seat tube and classic straight-tube aesthetics’ supremacy.
{Photos: Kona TBC}
But it dawns on me that there may be one last kick at the can for the Honzo ST, beyond a few frame-only sales, and it has nothing to do with upsizing and anglesetting one’s way to a slacker seat tube angled ESD. A Honzo ST Special Edition, if you will, in classic blue with a 505-to-510mm axle-to-crown rigid fork painted to match.
Yep, I can envision Trek selling the Slash with a dual crown fork and DH rubber as a dropper-equipped park bike that can be pedaled. The geo is perfect. And, I can envision Kona selling the Honzo ST frame as the more aggressive Unit I’ve been dreaming of for ages. Throw on a Joe Murray splatter paint job and take my money.
Repurposed, not retired.
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