I have now had the opportunity to put a bunch of mileage on the Kona Zing Deluxe, and I am impressed enough with the bike that I bought it.  While I am pretty new to road biking, I am experienced enough with bicycles in general that I know what I like, what fits, and how a quality bike should perform.

Here is a recap of my initial report on the Kona Zing Deluxe:

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 derailer. The wheels come from Mavic, and seem solid.  The rest of the build are a combination of FSA, Mavic and Shimano making for a solid, 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 have been riding this bike for a lot of miles over the last months, and it really has become “my bike”.  I have it dialed pretty well  to work for me,  although I am making adjustments as I progress through my road biking learning curve.  This a a bike I am growing into,  and do not predict I will outgrow anytime soon.  The joy I get from riding it really ht me a couple of weeks ago when I was in Huntington Beach,  riding north on the Pacific Coast Highway one early Sunday morning,  and I ended up mixed in with a bunch of riders competing in a Triathalon.  As the front runners were blasting by me,  I decided to pick up the pace a bit,  and keep up with the middle of the pack riders.  I cranked it up a couple of gears and pick up the pace a little,  and realized I could truly ride in this environment without embarrassing myself.   It was at this point I really became connected with the bike,  and let the simple beauty of pedaling a bike with the wind in my face overtake me.  Despite the complexity of the machine involved,  the process has an elegant simplicity.  A pair of lungs, a beating heart and a few muscles propelling rubber and metal through space.

After multiple months of riding, the Zing Deluxe remains a solid performing bicycle, that is a good value for it’s price.  The well built aluminum frame, and for the most part, solid components make for a comfortable and reliable ride. Kona’s has recently released the 2011 version of the Zing Deluxe,  and it looks even sweeter than before.  They have upgraded the clunky FSA crankset to Shimano FC M550’s.  It also appears that they are also offering a triple in addition to the compact cranks that were the only choice on my bike.  While looking more closely at their component list,  the new bikes have gone away form any FSA components, and began offering Kona own handlebars, seatposts etc.  The wheels are now Shimano RS-10 wheelsets, rather than the Mavics that grace my bike.   I love my bike, and I know a person who is looking to find a road bike to grow with could do a lot worse than the Kona Zing Deluxe.