Favorite Things: Chad Cottom of Spin Bicycle Shop and his Kona Honzo Mountain Bike

My favorite thing is this Kona Honzo CR Trail DL Mountain Bike. That’s quite a mouthful. I’ve owned dozens of bikes, and this bike is probably the most fun of all the bikes I’ve ever owned. It’s nimble and it’s predictable and it’s balanced and it’s comfortable. It’s just got a really lively personality and it puts a smile on your face every time you ride it. Plus, it’s beautiful. There’s nothing in the shape and design that isn’t intentionally functional and as a result it looks really cool.

It matches my riding personality. I’m an old BMX dog. The style of riding I developed when I was a young kid was this BMX stunt type riding — dirt jumping, jumping over cars, all this silly stuff. This bike is designed to be ridden in that kind of aggressive manner, like a grownup version of BMX riding. It can handle big hits, big jumps, big drops. At the same time, it’s light enough and fast enough to be ridden as a competition race bike. It’s a very unique mix of qualities you don’t generally find in one bike.

This bike has been to all of the cool trails in lower Michigan — Pinckney, Grand Rapids, Chelsea, all over the place. It’s been ridden up in Traverse City in a race called Iceman that goes from Kalkaska to Traverse City.

And don’t forget Lansing. We have five trails here that are part of the Michigan Mountain Bike Association. There’s Anderson Park by the Woldumar Nature Center. At the West Lansing trail system off of Sheffield and Hunter’s Ridge, there are three parks along the river — Fine Park, Fulton Park and Hunter’s Ridge, five miles of trail, all of it connected, within the city limits. It’s amazing, a gem that people don’t realize is there. There are three other local parks that are part of the MBA: Burchfield Park south of town, Sleepy Hollow and Ingham Conservation District south of Mason. Oh yeah, there’s Bennett Park near Charlotte and there’s a brand new trail, Fox Park, near Potterville, that they just cut. A lot of trails, all within half an hour of here.

I ride this thing very aggressively and to its full potential — to my full potential, anyway. But I don’t take it out and subject it to mud and salt and stuff, only because I want it to stay nice.

(Edited and condensed by Lawrence Cosentino.)