Submitted by
Ryan biker
a Downhiller
from victoria, b.c. Canada
Date Reviewed: August 7, 2002
Strengths: The grips absolutley rule!!!!!! the pedals are the bomb!!! cranks, no questions asked, there the BEST!!!!! The stock fune cables absolutley are the best ever,they never fray or stretch. The frame is awesome, I hucked a 15 footer with stock rsts and they didn't bottom out, and I,m not a great rider.
Weaknesses: Absolutly no weaknesses!!!!!!!!!
Bottom Line:
GET this bike for only 8000 its a steal o' a deal.(get it cro-mo???)
Similar Products Used: Stab primo, specialized bighit, teamdh and brodie 8 balls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(i only have 6 of em left from the 15 footer!!! yah baby yah!!!!!!
Bike Setup: STOCK
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Submitted by
George Lupton
a Weekend Warrior
from Canberra
Date Reviewed: May 12, 2002
Strengths: Bomber z4's definatly a good score for the price, very good build quality. Take 8 foot drops no probs at all, bottomed out once. Frame , pretty tough I thrash it downhill, dual and dropping and it has lasted with a few scratches but no bending or breaking.
Weaknesses: Rims: very weak, crosscountry style. Dont take jumping or acid droping. I straightened my rims nearly every day after riding.
Bottom Line:
Good for flat work, doesent like air time. If ya wanna jump put tough rims , crank, gooseneck and pedals on it. I did and it takes anything the only thing that limits it is the ability of the rider...
Bike Setup: Bomber Z4's, downhill rims, front disc. etccccc
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Submitted by
Jesse
a Cross Country Rider
from waynesville, north carolina, USA
Date Reviewed: December 12, 2000
Strengths: great bike for the price
Weaknesses: the parts wear out after a couple hundred miles; heavy
Bottom Line:
If you are a rider who is going to ride about once every two weeks this bike is for you, but if you are going to be a more serious rider than I woul recomend a higher end Kona. I have rode this bike for a year, and spent the bikes worth in new parts, most of them are crap, especailly the rims, i tacoed them in a month.
Bike Setup: sun rims, rock shox, kenda tires, shimano clipless pedals, shimano deore crank other than that, stock
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Submitted by
Erik
a Cross Country Rider
from Fairbanks Alaska USA
Date Reviewed: November 24, 2000
Strengths: solid, great for tricks and lots of drop offs, seat is comfy, cant beat the price.
Weaknesses: Grips wear out after 2 months, the crank gets a funny click in it but you cn fix it if you take it apart, the tires wear out after a couple of long rides, RST is crap, although in cold weather it stays soft longer and has less grindy feeling then the my friends indy.
Bottom Line:
Great bike for a begginer for the price. Because of the price you don't care if you beat the crap out of it.
Similar Products Used: GT Backwoods, GaryFisher HooKooEkoo.
Bike Setup: Stock except for panaracer fire XC pro tires and wellgo clipless.
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Submitted by
Brian
a Weekend Warrior
from Waterloo, Ontario
Date Reviewed: August 9, 2000
Strengths: It's cheap, pretty light, glows in the dark, and the riserbars are sweet. The tektros also work amazing for this price.
Weaknesses: The RSTs suck (I changed them to X-verts, and the pedals are wimpy.
Bottom Line:
I love this bike. It's cheap, strong, light enough, and its stylish. The riserbars give you really sensitive steering, and the tektros open a case of whoop-ass on other cheap brakes. The shifting's nothing special, and with a new fork, this bike is quite excellent. The Fire Mountain is for someone who does have lots of money, but wants a reliable freeriding bike, that they can take out, get some air, wipe out, and know their bike is gonna work.
Submitted by
Jason
a Weekend Warrior
from College Station
Date Reviewed: March 31, 2000
Strengths: I love the way it feels underneath me, its a lot more nimble than the new aluminum frames for sure. It took one ride to make me a believer that this was the bike for me. I love that its pretty light even for being cro-moly. Rims are nice and light, and considering i dont weigh over 200 pounds, they dont pose a threat to me. Nice rear derailleur, tires and trade in capability of the fork
Weaknesses: Chain ring bent within a couple of weeks, brakes are nice but hard to keep adjusted correctly.
Bottom Line:
It took only one ride for me to fall in love with this bike. All my friends who are looking into buying new bikes have contemplated their decision and are looking at getting a Kona as well. Nice bikes, and its sweet to be one of a kind on campus and the trails. Buy it and talk your dealer into an upgrade of the shock. Marzocchi rules.
Bike Setup: Marzocchi Z-4 Alloy, STX-RC/Alivio, Mavic 138 (Stock except the fork)
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Submitted by
Michael Cummings
a Weekend Warrior
from Victoria, B.C, Canada
Date Reviewed: March 14, 2000
Strengths: nothing
Weaknesses: everything
Bottom Line:
This is not a good bike for a intermediate or advanced rider. This is only ment for the beginner rider. None of the parts are of huge quality, if you want a strong bike don't buy this. If you want a bike to ride on flat gravel, road, or small jumps and roots this is for you. If you want a quality bike that you can rely on then get something a little bit more expensive like a blast or cindercone or nunu, if you spend just a little bit more money you get a bike 2 times better. This is an excellent beginner bike, but more me being a daredevil 7 foot drop-off kind of guy I had to get a much better bike (Kona Roast). In my opinion being my type of rider this bike is crap.
Similar Products Used: Kona Hahana, Rocky Mountain Fusion, Rocky Mountain Cardiac
Bike Setup: 381 RST, Cro-Moly frame, Tektro V-brakes, mavic rims
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Submitted by
Danny Scott
a Weekend Warrior
from Sidney
Date Reviewed: February 20, 2000
Strengths: Holds up well and alright components.
Weaknesses: Rims, Pedals, Tires, Front hub, cranks, forks and grips
Bottom Line:
this is a good bike if you change some stuff. When i got it I went through 3 pairs of mavic x138's in 2 months the forks arent good for bc riding in the mud.
Similar Products Used: Kona Hahana, blast, lava dome, nunu, cinder cone, mokomoko, norco vps 3 , bigfoot, specalized fsr
Bike Setup: i got a rock ring, some sun rhynos, spds, panaracer smokes
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Submitted by
Patrick Adair
a Cross Country Rider
from Angus, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: February 11, 2000
Strengths: The cromoly frame is lightweight and durable, the RST 381r is a decent shock. Mavic X138 rims (can't go wrong with those), and I love the Ritchey Force handlebars. Tioga TG headset made turning smooth and Kona's inhouse tires-Enter (front) and break (rear) gripped well in mud.
Weaknesses: No quick release on the seatpost(it's like that for a reason, with one on,the set sometimes lowers on it's own, as if by magic). I hate toeclips and straps, so I just had clipless pedals put on before I picked the bike up. The Enter and Break Tires didn't impress me to much on hardpack trails.
Bottom Line:
This is nicely spec'd bike for $799 Cdn. Go with a 1999 model if you can because Kona down-graded the forks to a RST 281 with is not ajustable and went with a generic riser bar. But it stayed the same price. Come to think of it the "99 Firemountain is spec'd better in some parts than the 2000 Blast as well.
