I was checking out Kona’s hardtail frame shop this week, mostly because Model-T is falling hard for the new Unit X colourway, so I needed to stare at it for a bit. The verdict? I need to see it in person. 

As I checked out the aluminum Honzo DL, the Honzo ESD, the 26″ Shonky Dirt & DJ, and the Unit, I couldn’t help but feel that something was decisively missing in the lineup. No, not the Honzo ST. I can understand how the lighter DL and more aggressive ESD ate its lunch, dinner, and breakfast. What’s missing is the Explosif. In steel. With ESD-esque geometry*.

*{I’d prefer a slacker STA, but it’s lonely on that island these days.}

In my mind, the reborn Explosif would be a dual 27″ rig for small, mullet for the medium, large, and XL. Too tricky? Mix-wheel them all, and lovers of dual-27.5 can always just over-fork the front end to run the same axle to crown. I know, I know, the Honzo ESD is in play for folks who want a large or an XL. I love MX wheel setups, but I agree that for aggressive hardtails, on aggressive terrain, dual 29″ still makes more sense at a certain leg length. 

Still, my Enigma experience states that aside from trying to keep up with your sag-wagoneer friends on chunky tracks, the MX arrangement adds an element of playfulness that shouldn’t be disregarded by folks of any height. There are numerous places and use cases where the mullet makes sense for everyone.

{Above photo: Casatigeo}

{Above photo: Cuchalain_}

Colourways, I’m thinking ’95 Explosif, red with gold decals. What a delicious bicycle combination. Or the ’96, green with blue decals, would be amazing too. There have been some rad combos. 

And unlike my usual hardtail musings, this is just getting ahead of where the game is going. I’m betting that Chromag is popping into the chat with multiple MX hardtail options this year, and I’ll be surprised if the next Knolly Tyaughtons and Norco Torrents aren’t MX for the smaller sizes as well. 

{Above Photo: Shopgnome}

*{[Photo Caption Aside] My 1999 Kona Roast had GITD decals, but I don’t know for a fact that the 2006 Unit carried that option forward. Still, it would be a crime against nostalgia if the 2026 Roast-brown Unit didn’t KONA up the room when the lights are turned off. [/Photo Caption Aside]}

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Anywho, CA$700 for a Kona Honzo ESD frame, or Explosif frame {*fingers crossed*}, or a Unit frame with a rigid fork is a rad value. Value, it’s not just about a price, it’s the fact that they’re all very nicely made. And they all include sliders. Sliding dropouts. Which means single-speed and/or multi-speed setups, or back and forth between both, are clean and easy. 

I love sliding dropouts. Or swinging dropouts. Or heck, just some vertical track-ends with slotted IS mounts and a bolt-on hub to hold things together. Even though, for the record, aside from appearance, the latter is not a simpler system to manufacture or to set up. It’s not even necessarily a better value, even though the dropouts are cheaper, because bolt-on hubs only come in two price points, cheeeeeeeeeeap and choice. 

Yeah, I’ve written a bunch about setting up single-speeds using ISCG chain guide tabs. And, yeah, I love my Banshee Enigma AKA The Freeride BMX, with its old MRP guide. But deep³ down in my heart, I know that every hardtail should come with one-speed-friendly dropouts. 

Yeah, so. Di2 trickle down is actually where this week’s Monday Musing started. But it turns out that with the, unsurprisingly high, aftermarket upgrade price for a shifter-pod, rear derailleur, battery, and charger, that even though the rest of the HG+ drivetrain carries forward, it’s probably about as relevant to the average rider as whatever steel single-speed 50,000:1 Club crap I’m drawn to write about. That is, until it starts shipping on complete bikes this summer. 

In a very un-Shimano move, the Sakai City brand has released wireless electronic versions of their good-enough-for-anyone XT and budget-friendlier Deore drivetrains right on the heels of their fresh Di2 XTR. Not a year, and then another year down the trail. 

XT is exactly what I’d expect. The performance, adjustability, and features of XTR with a step down in materials {raw costs & work} and finish that results in a few more grams. All the new-for-’25 features are there – beefed-up trail brakes, mid-cage derailleur option mated to a 9-45t HG+ cassette, even the new 5mm shorter {160mm} crank arm option. 

Thus far, Deore does not see fresh brakes with the new mineral oil, mixed-piston dimensions, lever ergonomics, and power boost, and likewise, there is no trickledown on the 160mm crank front. I do hope that Shimano introduces the latter, not because I’m on any kind of short-crank train, but because they’d be a fantastic, relatively affordable option for kids who shred. 

Not that Claire’s GXP Canfield crankarms haven’t been excellent. And, her next set of cranks will be more common 165mm arms anyway, but I’m always thinking of the next group of groms coming up. In that sense, I hope ShiRAMano brings shorter crankarms to all their 1x drivetrain price points.

I’ve had quite a few folks mention to me that the pricing difference between a Deore and XT Di2 upgrade kit is close enough to 1K in Canuck Bucks that no one is going to buy the lower end option. That’s probably fair, and it was never really about that in either case.

The vast majority of Deore, and XT, wireless drivetrains are going to be sold on complete bikes, and it’s fully believable that next season we’ll see sag-wagons with Deore Di2 wireless drivetrains around that 4K CAD price point. Maybe less, depending on how complete pricing settles. That’s bikes on dealer floors at regular price. 

Anywho, I wrote some stuff about the new XTR that, same as it ever was, can probably be extrapolated down through the Shimano line. I’m sure that, as with cable HG+, the Deore drivetrains shift shockingly similar to the top-end stuff, just with extra weight and reduced life. 

But the key benefit I see to all of it, aside from the effortless shifting action for folks who struggle with the current cable-shifting force, is that the multi-speed to single-speed swap requires no zip-ties or, where applicable, cable-disconnection for internal routing. 

Maybe next year’s complete Unit X, Honzo, and Explosif ESD will come spec with Deore Di2 and a MicroSpline compatible one-speed cog kit in the box?

Oof, or how about Deore M5130 LinkGlide cable and single-speed-friendliest HG hub drivers? Yeah, let’s go with that.  

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