I really like the Bear. Especially the Bear Delux. About your spokes . . . when I got my bike, they told me that on my first service after 4 weeks theyd have to re-tighten my spokes . . . I have Mavics but I dont spose that makes a difference.
This is my first full susser so I am no expert. However, I would only give the Bear a 6 out of 10. It feels a solid build and confident ride but the downsides are that it's heavy, low spech'ed and hard to climb with. I am 5' 9" and bought a 17" frame. I found the reach far too short. It needs a longer stem and some lighter components to make climbs easier. The full price is £1700 and you would expect to see XT on a bike at that price. LX was poor. I am desparate to change the Hayes brakes to some Hope Minis as they are poor. The squealing soon stops if you go down a few 1:5 hills but you're fingers yanking on those levers will ache like hell. My girlfriends Deore v-brakes are more powerful and much smoother. As I paid £1300 I'm not too disappointed but if I paid full price I would be gutted. I was going to buy the Marin Attack Trail but the Bear was in a sale so I took the cheaper option. A mistake ! Overall: It's a solid bike that will go anywhere but I will be doing some upgrading very soon. That will wipe out any saving on the bike.
I felt the same as you when I brought mine Seb. I've just started to dial into mine now though, but I did want to chuck it away and cry. However, now I'am going to upgrade like you, and I can see the potential in the frame. Yes Kona scrimped on parts but hopefully they spent on the frame. It feels light compared to my old bike. It was too short for me until I put the seat way back and put lots of layback on it, seems to have worked.Glad I did'nt pay full whack though.
I'll take the seat as far back as it will go tonight before I go out and see how much difference it makes. I have to say I might have got the wieght issue a bit wrong. I tested the weight last night again with a medium priced specialized hard tail and there wasn't much difference. Has anyone else had any problems with the front disc catching when it freewheels ? I got the bike set up at Stif who are pretty good and they set the front disc when it was new. After a couple of rides it was catching again quite badly and I had to take it back. They re-adjusted the callipers again and it was ok for a few miles but then it started catching again. I have never had discs on a bike before so maybe that is normal ??
Yeah our Hayes discs catch on both bikes, and have done since day one. Think it's comman, especially with cable discs. I find it gets really bad when I've done a long, steep descent. Think it just throws them out of alignment a bit. Hayes Mech are not the darlings of mtb, in fact most people hate them, Avids are regarded as the best cable discs and Hope are for hydralics. But I am yet to try them myself. Anyway hope tweaking your seat helps Seb.
