I have finally had the opportunity to put a few miles on the new Kona Zing Deluxe that arrived at my doorstep a couple of weeks ago.  The concept of of riding a bicycle as an adult is a fairly new concept for me.  I have not ridden a traditional road bike since my days with a paper route,  and have since focused my riding time on the dirt with my well used hardtail mountain bike.  I have recently begun the process of triathlon training, so felt it was a good time to refocus my riding efforts, hence my jump into the road cycling genre.  The few miles I have ridden between rain storms on the Kona Zing Deluxe, have solidified my understanding of the passion people develop for the sport.   The act of riding out on the roads around my neighborhood and beyond are an incredibly enjoyable experience.

Kona Bicycle Company has a longstanding reputation for making high quality mountain bikes.  They describe the Zing Deluxe Road Bike as “that bike the badass Kona mountain biker would ride if they decided to get into road riding”.  This sounded good to me, as a long standing mountain biker, with no recent experience riding a road bike.  After putting a few good miles on this bike,  I can say this a pretty good description of the Kona Zing Deluxe.  The riding position of the aluminum framed, carbon forked Zing Deluxe is similar to the stance on my mountain bike.  It is more upright than some of the other road bikes I have recently test ridden.  This works for me at this point, but does provide a little more of an aerodynamic challenge when trying to go fast and far.

The components the bike comes equipped with are very solid.  The drive train in primarily Shimano 105,  with the addition of an Ultegra rear derailleur. The wheels come from Mavic, and seem solid.  The rest of the build are a combination of FSA, Mavic and Shimano making for a dependable if not a little heavy ride.  The aluminum frame is well  design and beautifully crafted, with oversized tubing, and a red and black pinstriped paint job that looks custom.

I will be riding and training on the Kona Zing deluxe for the next four months, reporting occasionally as to  how the bike performs and is holding up.   If everything goes as planned, the Zing deluxe will also join me on a Sprint Distance Triathlon this spring, and I will report to how it performed in the race report.  Stay Tuned.