Kona Process 134
Wheel Size: 29” (Size M–XL) or 29’’ front / 27.5’’ rear (Size S)
Travel: 134 mm rear / 140 mm front
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes Offered: S, M, L, XL
- Headtube Angle: 65.5°
- Reach: 480 mm
- Chainstay Length: 435 mm
- Frame Material: Aluminum and carbon fiber versions available
Price: Complete bikes starting at $1,899
Size Tested: Large
Blister’s Measured Weight: 31.75 lbs (14.4 kg) without pedals
Reviewer: 5’9”, 160 lbs (175 cm, 72.5 kg)
Test Locations: Montana, British Columbia
Test Duration: ~2 months
Intro
The Process 134 has been in Kona’s lineup for years, and it has always been the kind of Trail bike that thinks of itself as a longer travel bruiser. Compared to other bikes in its travel class, the Process 134 has a burlier frame (and accordingly higher weight), along with an assortment of features that are more frequently found on longer travel bikes — stuff like protection under the downtube for tailgate pads, a 200mm dropper (on my size Large), and 200mm rotors (although admittedly those are pretty common these days). But the intention is clear — don’t hold back on this bike just because it’s not a longer-travel Enduro sled. And for the most part, those intentions work out nicely on the trail.
[For a whole lot more on the design of the Process 134 and its bigger sibling, the Process 153, check out our First Look on the pair.]
Fit and Sizing
Kona’s sizing chart puts me at the upper end of the range for a Medium or the bottom end of the range for a Large Process 134. I opted for a Large because its geometry figures were more closely in line with my personal bikes, and my relatively long arms and legs generally mean I get along pretty well with somewhat larger bikes than many folks my height (5’9’’ / 175 cm) might.
If I were going to do it again, I would stick with the Large, but I did feel a little bit stretched out, both while seated / climbing and while standing / descending. I ended up scootching the saddle forward on the rails about a centimeter, which made my back happier on long climbs. I also raised the stem up a bit which effectively shortened the reach and helped keep me from feeling like I was getting pulled over the front while descending.
It’s worth noting that I tend to prefer a relatively low front end on most bikes, and it’s rare that I’m running more than 10 mm of spacers under the stem. I was running 25 mm of spacers on the Process 134, so people who are on the line between sizes and tend to prefer a higher front end might find it necessary to swap to a higher-rise handlebar.
All in all, though, these fitment issues felt fairly minor — the Process 134 wasn’t a bike where I found myself constantly fiddling with things trying to get comfortable. The Process 134’s geometry is modern without being extreme, which makes it really easy to get along with. It was a rare situation where I found myself thinking “a bike with different geometry would have handled that better.”
Climbing
In my eyes, the primary reason for opting for a shorter travel bike is to make climbing more pleasant. And given that on most rides, the majority of my time is spent going uphill, that’s a fairly logical tradeoff. Thankfully, the Process 134 doesn’t offer up any unpleasant surprises in this realm; it’s a well-rounded climber.
On everything from winching up steep granny gear climbs to working through rootier, technical messes, the Process 134 felt pretty good. It doesn’t quite have the snap on the pedals that the most efficient climbers have, nor does it remain perfectly supple to keep traction in the loosest, trickiest sections, but it strikes a nice middle ground. I’d say it errs slightly towards being more efficient, at the expense of gobs of traction. The RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate rear shock on my CR/DL build has a climb switch, but I only used it to verify that it worked. Even on smooth logging road climbs, I didn’t bother locking the rear end out.
Compared to other carbon bikes in this travel class, the Process 134 is a bit on the heavy side. Some will fret about this, and while I have been known to whine about various bikes needing a diet, I can honestly say that I didn’t really notice the weight of the Process 134 even on extended and somewhat miserable uphill endeavors. If you’re looking for the absolute lightest bike in this class, this isn’t it. But for most, the weight will be a non-issue.
Despite feeling a little stretched out on the bike, I didn’t feel like I had to fight to keep the front wheel planted on steep climbs. The Process 134 doesn’t have quite the upright climbing position of a modern Enduro bike, but even on very steep climbs like Project 9 in Fernie, I didn’t feel like I had to get excessively perched on the nose of the saddle to keep the front end planted. In keeping with the overall theme of the Process 134, I found the geometry strikes a nice balance of making steep climbs doable while also not feeling too far forward on flatter ground.
Descending
By the travel numbers, the Process 134 is a relatively short travel bike, and for most bikes in this class, that means that it should climb pretty well (which it does) and it should be entirely capable of surviving down most descents. But, to the Process 134’s credit, it does a bit more than that — it doesn’t just survive down rough, technical descents. It’s actually pretty good at them.
This mostly comes down to good suspension bolted onto a frame that’s stiff enough to hold a line without being so stiff that it feels jarring. It took me a bit to get the Pike Ultimate up front and the Super Deluxe Ultimate in the rear dialed in to my liking, but once I got there, they performed really well. For the Pike Ultimate, I ended up at 85 psi, 3 tokens, high-speed compression all the way closed, and low-speed compression 6 clicks from closed. With the Super Deluxe Ultimate, I landed on 195 psi, which resulted in 24% sag. I ran the low-speed compression 1 click from closed. I think further tinkering could have possibly improved performance a bit more, but I was pretty happy with that setup.
With the suspension dialed in, the Process 134 did all the things that I would expect a relatively short-travel bike to do. It pumped well, and it popped well — the Process 134 is a blast on flowy and jumpy trails. There’s enough suspension to hold my hand through bad landings and cased jumps, but it doesn’t wallow its way through smaller jumps like longer travel bikes often do.
This is as good a place as any to mention the low seat tube height. It allows for an extra long dropper post; my size Large came stock with a 200 mm Reverb, which is the longest post I’ve ever had stock on any bike I’ve ridden. It’s great — getting that seat down and out of the way makes pretty much every aspect of descending better. And the seat tube is short enough that I maybe could have fit a 240 mm dropper, which is saying something for a 5’9” guy on a size Large frame. The only downside here is that the Reverb failed almost immediately. More on that below.
On more technical trails, the Process 134 continued to impress. Did it make me forget I was on a shorter travel bike? No. But it did about as good in rough high-speed chunkiness as any Trail bike I’ve ridden, and better than most of them.
So much of a bike’s perceived stability comes from the performance of the fork, and the Pike Ultimate does really well. It keeps the front end calm over small chatter allowing the front tire to maintain traction, and it does so without diving too deep into its travel. And on bigger impacts, it takes them without fuss (or at least it did once I stuck some volume reducers in there). While it feels perhaps a bit less supportive than the Fox 34, I still prefer the Pike’s well-rounded nature.
The Process 134’s linkage-driven single pivot layout paired with the Rockshox Super Deluxe Ultimate feels supportive through the mid-stroke of its travel, but I did feel like it could have used a bit more ramp-up at the end of its travel to improve bottom-out resistance. I never felt like I was wallowing deep into the travel, and small bump sensitivity was quite good, especially for a relatively short travel bike. But I also found the end of the bike’s travel fairly often. There were never any harsh or metallic bottom-outs, but I definitely hit a firm bottom on a fair number of bigger impacts.
In terms of body positioning while descending, the Process 134 feels very much like a modern bike with modern geometry. I never felt like I had to consciously lean forward (or back) to make the bike do what I wanted — I could usually keep my weight centered and everything felt good. As I mentioned previously, I initially felt like I would get pulled forward on steeper rollovers, but raising the stem up a bit solved that issue.
The Build
I really enjoyed my time on the Process 134, and the CR/DL build is undoubtedly a good deal for the money. But I did have a few issues that are worth noting.
First, I had a number of bolts on the suspension come loose over the first ~10 rides, including both bolts for the trunnion-mounted shock. I caught them all before they got too far out, but it’s something to keep an eye on.
The stock Maxxis Minion DHF (front) and Dissector (rear) tires also aren’t my favorite combo. The DHF is perhaps my favorite tire of all time, and I’m mostly a fan of the Dissector, but I find that the lean angles that each tire works at are a bit different. When I’m leaned over to maximize the DHF’s grip, the Dissector wants to break loose. And when the Dissector is hooking up well, the DHF is still in its transition zone. I’d prefer a DHF paired with a DHR2, or the Dissector paired with an Assegai.
Similarly, I’ll note that the Sram G2 brakes just aren’t really up to the task. Yes, they’re mated to 200 mm rotors, which helps. And on shorter descents, they’re… ok. But on any longer descents, they get hot and they’re noticeably low on power. The bike is more capable than the brakes are.
As I mentioned above, the Rockshox Reverb also failed. It developed some squish after a dozen rides or so, which is theoretically solvable via its vent valve. Venting the post is a hassle because it requires removing the seat, but venting the post per Rockshox’s procedure did fix the squishiness. For about 15 minutes. After venting, the post always developed squishiness again shortly thereafter. This was pretty clearly a warranty issue, but it’s also a fairly common issue with the Reverb. There are quite a few posts on the market that are far more reliable that I’d love to see spec’d on the Process.
I also had some issues with the wheels. The DT Swiss 350 hubs are some of my favorites and were entirely problem-free. But the WTB KOM Team i30 rims were noticeably flexy, and the rear wheel started to self-destruct after a couple weeks of riding. Several spokes had come completely loose and the wheel needed a fair amount of love on the truing stand.
And finally, I hate electronic shifting. This is the “old man yells at clouds” section of the review. The (supposedly new) shifter battery died on my very first ride, which is never a good start to a relationship. Then the rear derailleur got knocked out of alignment, and re-setting it requires inputting the details of the bike into SRAM’s app — a procedure that feels distasteful for what I feel should be a simple mechanical contraption. But mostly, the T-type derailleurs shift slowly. And they’re heavy. And they’re expensive. And I don’t like having to charge my bike.
I recognize that I’m pissing into the wind on this one. But Kona, at least to some extent, embraces historical precedent and mild anachronism. They are not the brand to jump on every emerging trend in the bike industry, as evidenced by their continued use of a linkage-driven single pivot suspension layout even when almost every other brand using that linkage has switched over to the now patent-free Horst link / FSR linkage. But that simple rear end produces some great results — the bike rides really well. Similarly, the bike would be even better (and weigh less, and maybe cost less) with a mechanical SRAM X01 Eagle drivetrain.
Who’s It For?
The Process 134 has been, and continues to be, the Trail bike for people who kind of want an Enduro bike but don’t quite have the terrain to justify it. Or, alternatively, for the people who already have an Enduro bike but also want a shorter travel bike for longer adventures where winching around an Enduro sled feels unnecessarily cumbersome.
For someone who is coming from the world of short travel bikes and is looking for “an XC racer’s trail bike,” there are probably better options than the Process 134. Other bikes are lighter and have sharper handling. The Process 134 is more for people who like the upsides of a shorter travel bike, but they’re worried they’ll get annoyed that it doesn’t have enough travel. The Process 134 will dispense with those worries as well as any bike in this travel class possibly can.
Bottom Line
In an age where most bikes are pretty good, sometimes it’s hard to really put my finger on why I like a bike. But I like the Process 134. It does what I want it to do, and it does it without a bunch of complicated linkages, idler pulleys, or other such gadgetry. Having spent a fair amount of time on decidedly complicated bikes, the Process 134 is a good reminder of the old adage “K.I.S.S. — Keep it Simple, Stupid.”
And while I did have some issues with the build on the CR/DL version that I rode, I like the bike despite those issues. Parts can be replaced, but a good frame is the foundation of a good bike. After some tumult over the last few years, Kona has pretty clearly shown that they can still build a good bike.
Noah, welcome back! Longtime reader here.
I just got myself a new Process 153 CR SLX and so was curious to see what you thought of the 134. So far I’ve been impressed by the 153 especially on the downhills, compared to my previous rig (Hightower V3). Just gobs of traction and feels like it has more travel than the number says. So it makes sense that the 134 brings a similar character to its respective travel class.
Totally agree with you about all the component gripes. Fortunately my bike is Shimano-equipped which isn’t without its flaws but I agree that when it comes to SRAM if I’m paying a higher price I’d way rather go xo1 mechanical. I’d personally even trade x01 transmission and g2 brakes for mechanical gx eagle if it meant I got codes or mavens. Actually fuck the brakes I’d even happily make that trade straight up. And the reverb? Worst product on the market right now, it’s such a joke but I imagine SRAM is making companies take them if they want to spec their drivetrains.
Only other gripe is the WTB rims, I agree with you there. DT hubs are nice though.
Kona’s back baby!
Noah, putting a lot of style man!
Great Review. Describes the bike (& components) & performance in terms I understand. Clear, concise, and after reading it I feel like I really know what it’s like to ride the 134. More importantly, I want to ride the 134! :)
How would you compare it to the Switchblade? Saw your other review on it and own the last version. This is one of the top contenders to replace it. What one is more fun on a blue / black trail? Jump, raw, etc.
While the Process 134 does a great job of feeling like more bike than it is, the Switchblade still feels like a slightly bigger, more capable bike. Most of that just comes from having a 160mm travel Fox 36, vs the Process 134 with a 140mm travel Pike. The Switchblade pedals similarly efficiently to the Process 134, it weighs about the same, and that extra bit of travel makes it a little more capable on the descents. All of that said, I still found the Process 134 to be much more intuitive to ride, and the bike felt better balanced. To put it another way, I found the Process 134 to be a shorter travel bike that was easy to ride hard. The Switchblade is a (somewhat) longer travel bike and accordingly is more capable on rougher trails, but I found it to be trickier to extract the full potential from it.
That is great feedback, thanks!