Design/Engineering(designing the seat tube to act as a mud guard for the shock, running the derailleur cable through the ISCG tab, finding a way to bond two alloy plates to a carbon fiber cross-bar to make up the shock linkage, and not only designing the frame to accept BOTH inside and outside cable routing, but running carbon fiber tubes inside the frame to make fishing the cables through MUCH easier, and these are just SOME examples of the GREAT engineering that went into this bike)
The build quality is EXCELLENT
The bike is well balanced in the air
The bike is UBER stable(absolutely RAILS turns/berms, plows through/over rocks without even getting a tiny bit upset)
I have the 'stock' Fox RC4 shock, but replaced the forks with Manitou Dorados because BOTH the shock and forks have separate anti-bottoming circuits that literally allows you to set up your suspension to suck up chatter(rocks, braking/acceleration bumps etc.) and set a completely different circuit to handle the BIG hits-and again, IT WORKS.
It takes VERY little effort to shift gears(Saint shifter and derailleur), and BOTH have stayed spot-on adjustment-wise despite the bike regularly being ridden over rocks of all shapes and sizes, and doing a lot of jumping.

I honestly haven't found any

EXCELLENT bike. When you also factor in the cost, it becomes one of, if not THE best value in the industry.

Price, Ride, Stability at Speed, likes to jum

A touch heavy,

This is for the 2014 carbon operator. Cant figure out how to put a new bike on here. I wiegh about 250 and have had this up at Whistler for about 10 days this year with some days at a couple of other parks. I have a 600# rear spring in the rear and x firm front for the boxer up front. The kage in the rear is working great.....the boxer rc is mission control damper up front has been a little underwhelming but I just installed the charger damper so we will see........the ride is super smooth, confidence inspiring. It is a point and shoot bike down technical and has no problem going to the air. Its a touch heavy but it is a dh bike and under 4 G.

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SC Nomad

fast, light, jump-able,slack and low

the frame is weak , paint sucks

i snapped this bike in half in 2 rides ... but kona warrantied me a new one and it worked great .. i dont trust kona as much though ... they have a great design but the need to make it stronger and have better protection of the down tube also better paint.... it chipped real easy

Light , slack , good price , very stable , fast

None

First downhill bike so nothing to compare it to but it DEF is a great bike for its price range . This bike shines the faster you ride it , rails berms, jumps good, and just eats up all the chunky stuff . Got lots of compliments on it , and just did what it was designed to do.

This bike is so light with so much travel, it sails through the air, corners like its on rails. It is just so effortless to ride all round. The rear suspension is awesome, it is so plush and handles big hits well and any small bump is just not noticeable at all.

None so far

Great bike at an excellent price. It rides like a free ride bike when ever you want or if you just want to send it down the hill flat out, it holds it's ground and soaks up everything in its path. With out a problem. So confidence inspiring to ride.

Very stable and nimble. Suspension is plush and works very well. Not too heavy and easy to pedal. Easy to jump, handles rough terrain and drops with ease. Picks up speed very quickly and encourages fast riding. It corners really well too.

None so far.

Amazing value for the money. The bike looks great, is easy to ride, and inspires confidence. The suspension works very well and feels great. My favorite bike of the others used above.

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Trek Session 88, Norco A-Line, Norco Shore, Rocky Mountain Flatline.

Lightness, frame design, great parts for the price.

None so far.

This bike is great for the price and is truly a outstanding bike. Even the parts that come on it perform quite well.

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KHS Lucky 7

First of all I would like to give Kona two thumbs up for finally designing a lighter DH Sled. Light weight 37lbs. Sails in the air, corners great, and just rails DH. It's every thing the Stinky/Stab wished it could of been.

Headset bolt head sticks out a 1/4", I'm scared I might stab my self with it. So I replaced it with the Azonic Headlock. The Boxxer's rebound knob fell out first ride.

What a great DH bike setup.
If your are looking to trade in your old 48lb DH Sled.
The 2011 Kona Operator DH is the best bang for the buck.

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2008 Kona Stinky Deluxe
2006 Iron Horse Yakuza Shonon Bunho