First look: Kona Raijin titanium 29er
Originally posted on February 17, 2012 at 20:03 pm
By Adam Newman
Riding with the Kona gang near Tucson, Arizona, today, I got my first look at the Kona Raijin, the American-made titanium 29er we first heard about back in January.
Built in Tennessee by Lynskey Performance, the Raijin—pronounced "ray-gin"—is named for the Shinto god of lightning, thunder, and storms. Sweet. We got some misty rain on our ride today, but luckily none of that.
The sliding dropouts use the same hardware found on the Honzo, Unit, Big Unit and other Kona bikes, so naturally you can run singlespeed or geared. The bike will ship with both.
The limited production run is underway right now, but if you want one, better hurry, there are only plans for 250. Expected delivery is April, if not sooner. How much? $1,900 for the frame. I don’t have a full geometry chart just yet, but I’ll post it as soon as I do. I do know it’s designed around a 100mm tapered fork and 27.2mm seatpost.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to ride it, since it was the wrong size, but if you get your hands on one, let us know what you think.
Update
Since my photos are hardly anything to write home about, here’s a gallery from the one and only Sterling Lorence, courtesy of Kona.