As a company, Kona has been making bicycles since 1988. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Kona has their world headquarters in Ferndale, Washington. They also have a distribution center in Vancouver and Monaco. I got an opportunity to review the rather stylish Kona Coco HD electric bike. Unlike many of the other dozen or so e-bikes I’ve ridden and/or tested, the Coco HD houses the battery within its frame. This gives it a more integrated look. It also lacks a direct drive mode, instead, focusing on providing pedal-assist.
Kona Coco HD Electric Bike Overview
Kona has around a dozen electric bikes—not counting colors and options. Each addresses different users or use styles. They range in style from step-over to models with and without suspension. Some models provide fenders, and others offer more or less battery capacity and power.
The Coco HD represents the company’s midline urban solution. The brushless hub motor works well for an electric bicycle designed for a daily commute. It features a unisex step-through design and lacks any sort of “electric-only” mode, so you can operate it as a standard (albeit heavy) bicycle or run it in one of its three pedal modes.
The bike comes 90% assembled. I only had to attach the handlebars and front wheel and then screw in the pedals. After that, I adjusted the seat to my preferred height and began charging the battery using the included charger.
Design of the Kona Coco HD e-Bike
You can get this bike in three sizes: Small, Medium, and Large. Kona provides a great size guide on their website. The handlebars feature what they call a “handplant” handlebar, which keeps you upright when pedaling. I’m 5-ft 9-inches and found that it kept my hands in a fairly comfortable position when I rode. My 6-foot-tall son, however, would have preferred a handle that was higher off the frame.
The Coco HD features larger 650x47c tires with thinner-walls than I’m used to. They require a 27.5″ tube with a Presta valve. These tires seem to split the difference between a road bike and those oversized fat-wheel bikes. You get some of the comfort of the lower-pressure tires (I inflated mine to around 50 PSI) but still lack an actual suspension.
Kona made a comfortable bike for street riding. I don’t recommend going off-road too much as it gets a bit bumpy (you also don’t get fenders for wet riding—though you can add them).
Integrated Technology
The Kona Coco HD electric bike comes with a Shimano 8-speed derailleur that uses a straightforward thumb shifter to advance and reverse through the gears. Sometimes you have to adjust these right out of the box, but kudos to Kona for sending me a bike where all the gears switched perfectly.
The Shimano derailleur provided plenty of options when using the Coco HD as a standard bicycle. The Tektro hydraulic disc brakes use 180mm rotors and let me quickly stop the bike both quickly and smoothly.
LED Mode Display and Pedal Modes
Kona integrated a rather small LCD display on the Coco HD, but the inverted display is easy to read in direct sunlight. It delivers info on your speed, the battery charge, and the current pedal-assist mode. The simple design doesn’t overcomplicate things.
As mentioned previously, you can’t just hop on the Kona Coco HD electric bicycle and go. It operates the brushless hub motor with only a pedal-assist function. Aside from “Off”, you get four pedal-assist modes: Eco, Tour, Sport, and Turbo. This influences just how much power the Coco HD e-bike adds to your pedaling efforts. Think of these modes as Low, Medium, High, and Max.
Riding the Kona Coco HD Electric Bike
The Kona Coco HD eBike runs smoothly. It let me comfortably pedal with whatever electric assist I desired from the 500-watt peak brushless SR Suntour HD hub motor. I found it easy to hold pace with faster cyclists. I could easily operate the mode controls on the fly with my left thumb, so adjustments came easily while I rode.
I love combining the four drive modes and 8-speed gearing. You can always find the exact level of speed and comfort when riding. You also have lots of headroom for getting to that top speed gradually or quickly as needed. The same goes for dealing with inclines—though I don’t have too many of those where I live in Central Florida.
How Fast is the Kona Coco HD Electric Bike?
Popping the Kona Coco HD into 9th gear I got the bike up to 23 mph on a flat paved street. It got there pretty quickly as well—so count this as a handy and effective commuter bike for pulling out into traffic flow and getting where you need to without delay.
Pedal assist should also help you keep up speed when hitting those inclines as well, giving you a more consistent speed around town or when commuting to and from the office.
The Tektro HDM275 Hydraulic brake levers worked very smoothly and stopped the bike quickly.
Phylion 418Wh Locking Removable Battery
Using the provided port, Kona made it easy to charge the battery in place. A rubber cover keeps out the elements. You can also remove the battery for servicing and replacement. A key lock keeps it secure when parking the bike in public.
You can replace the IPX6-rated Phylion integrated tube battery, but Kona doesn’t list it on their site so plan to check with your local Kona dealer. Most seems to run anywhere between $260-400. You should expect to get around 3 years of life from any lithium-ion battery used on a product like this. Phylion guarantees the battery for 600 charge cycles or 27 months (60% capacity) from the production date.
The battery offers a considerable amount of runtime and we rode this bike for dozens of miles before recharging. Depending upon how you use the pedal-assist modes, you could get up to 60 miles on a fully charged battery.
The Coco HD lets you see the charge level on the inverted LED display while you ride—along with speed.
Kona Coco HD vs Turboant R1 Electric Bike
It’s always fun to compare eBikes, so we pitted the Kona Coco HD against the Turboant R1 Electric Bike. Both bikes match up pretty well—from features to price. Most notably, the motor is larger on the T1, but that doesn’t seem to affect either top speed or range. The reduced frame weight of the Tubroant Ranger R1 e-bike likely helps.
| Turboant Ranger R1 | Kona Coco HD | |
|---|---|---|
| Max Speed (motor only) | 19.9 mph | NA |
| Max Speed (pedal assist) | 28 mph | 28 mph |
| Max range | 35-60 miles | NA |
| Battery | 48V 13 Ah (~562Wh) | 48V 14 Ah (~418Wh) |
| Removable Battery | Yes | Yes |
| Charge Time | 7 hours | 7 hours |
| Brushless Motor | 500W | 400W (peak) |
| Wheels | 26 x 1.95 in. | 650x47c |
| Derailleur | Shimano 7-Speed | 8-Speed Shimano Altus |
| Braking | Tekto 7.1″ Aries | Tektro HDM275 Hydraulic |
| Max Load | 264 lbs. | 264 lbs. |
| Weight | 51.8 lbs. | 46 lbs. |
| Price | $1300 | $1999 |
Conclusion
The Kona Coco HD electric bike looks and rides great. It’s comfortable and has the core features you need in a commuter bike. Opt for something else if you want a throttle, but if a. quality pedal-assist eBike with an integrated frame battery looks to be in your future, definitely give this one a second look.
Kona Coco HD Electric Bike Specs
- Tires: 650x47c tubed pneumatic w/Presta valve
- Motor: 250W (400W peak) brushless
- Battery: Phylion 418Wh removable
- Charge time: 7-hours
- 8-speed Shimano Altus derailleur
- Braking: Tektro HDM275 + TR180 rotors
- Price: $1999
