Full suspension for the big guy

By Steve Medcroft

What's tall and fast and orange all over? No, this isn't one of those jokes you find in the Big Book of Gags for Seven Year Olds, but it is a trick question; one that has two answers. Because depending on what race you're watching, the answer could be Ryan Trebon or Barry Wicks, Kona's basketball team-sized pro mountain bike and cyclocross racers.

In cyclocross, the first orange alien you usually see is Trebon. After winning the U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross last year, he has come into the 2005/06 season in strong form, winning several times already and planning to head to Europe in December to take on the World Cup field. In 2005 NORBA mountain bike races, you were more likely to see Wicks though; especially since Trebon spent the last half of the season rehabilitating a wrist he broke on a crash during the International Tour de 'Toona..

These two riders present an interesting challenge for Kona engineers, one that any tall cyclist knows well; traditional bikes are not designed around riders well over six feet tall.

Read the entire Barry Wicks Kona The King pro bike review here.