The Kona LBF Is the Steel Drop-Bar Hardtail That Makes Every Ride an Adventure

"Every rider who's ever daydreamed about throwing a 100mm fork on their gravel rig, or putting drop-bars on their hardtail, and disappearing into the backcountry for a week has been living with the LBF myth. It lives in the back of your brain on every gravel ride where the trail gets chunky, and you start wondering what you could get away with if you just had a little more bike."

"At its core, the LBF is a steel drop-bar bike with a 100mm suspension fork, a geometry sheet that reads more like a trail hardtail than anything you'd associate with gravel racing, and a spec list that suggests Kona's engineers had a very specific, very rowdy kind of rider in mind when they built it. This is not a bike for the gravel crit crowd."

Kona introduces the LBF, a drop-bar mountain bike that challenges industry trends focused on eMTBs and weight reduction. The bike combines drop bars with a 100mm suspension fork and geometry resembling a trail hardtail rather than a gravel bike. Built from Reynolds 520 butted chromoly steel with a 67-degree head tube angle and 75-degree seat tube angle, the LBF targets riders seeking adventure in remote backcountry terrain. The bike features sliding UDH dropouts with adjustable chainstays between 440-456mm. This design represents Kona's answer to riders who fantasize about combining gravel bike versatility with mountain bike capability for week-long wilderness expeditions.

Read at BikeMag