Pro Bike Check: Connor Fearon’s Kona Process 134

So you only just finished building this rig. Tell us a bit about this bike and what kind of riding you’ll be using it for this summer? 

I have pretty much always ridden a Process 153. It’s a great all rounder but sometimes it does feel ‘a bit much’ riding around the mellow trails around Adelaide. I’d always wanted the 134 because its built tough and still has pretty aggressive geometry for a short travel bike. I actually have a 29’er XC bike and a 27.5” Process 167 set up for Enduro that I hardly ride because the Process 134 does everything so well.

Is this frame stock or custom? 

The frame is fully stock. Size large.

Are you planning to race this bike at all this summer? 

If there are any local enduro races at home and I’m free that weekend then I’ll race it for sure. But other than that, I’d say this will be the bike that I spend about 80% of my riding time on this off-season whilst I’m at home.

On your DH bike you seem to go between running clips and flat pedals from race to race, do you mix it up on your trail/training bikes as well or just always stick with one pedal choice? 

Well my heart always leads me to riding flat pedals, truth be told if I didn’t race professionally I wouldn’t even own a pair of clips. I ride clips about 50% of the time on my trail bike. I just think flat pedals are way more fun and it’s what I’ve used since the beginning. That’s said, I can see the benefits of clips for downhill racing and keep telling people I will swap to clips full time….  Maybe next year.

Would you say that you’re more, or less, picky with the set-up details of your DH race bikes versus your trail bikes? 

I’m really not too picky with either. I run coil suspension front and back on my DH bike and haven’t changed spring rate all year, usually I will just change my bar height if the track is particularly gnarly. And I’ll probably add a few extra turns of compression clicks to my front and rear suspension. I think if I raced more Enduro events I would get a bit more picky with my trail bike because there’s so many more tyre options and suspension set ups that you need to factor in for the vast variety of tracks.

ODI have etched some custom engraving on the collars of your grips and what they’ve written on there seems pretty weird. Haha! On one side it says ‘Coonston’ and on the other grip they’ve misspelled your name ‘Conner’. Are there some hidden meanings or ‘in joke’ going on there? 

Haha! Yeah those lock-on collars are about 6 years old. When I rode with Luke Strobel a lot he called me Lord Coonston for some reason, and it stuck for a bit so somehow they got engraved on my grips. As for the name misspelling I would have to blame my mechanic Dupelle for submitting my name spelt incorrectly to ODI. I think it’s pretty funny and so I run them!

What brand of wheels are you running there? They don’t seem familiar however they do look loaded with chunky carbon fibre goodness! 

The wheels are made by Factor which is Novatec’s premium brand name. They are the first carbon wheels I’ve ever owned. I was a bit skeptical running them at the Whistler EWS, especially since I was running tubeless and didn’t bother carrying a spare tube, I was pretty scared of breaking a wheel and riding 10kms with a flat.. But they lasted the whole race even with some heavy hits and are still going strong (and look bling)!

Frame: Process 134 Large

Photos // Kane Naaraat