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Would it be worth while to put a suspension fork on a Kona? What travel amount and stanchion diameter would be appropriate?

Here are links to the model I'm considering:

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No. The Dew is not a mountain bike and its fork is not a rigid mountain bike fork.

The different between a fork like the Dew has and a rigid MTB fork is the axle-to-crown distance. Most rigid MTB forks are "suspension corrected" to preserve the geometry of the bike as it was designed with a suspension fork. Putting even an 80 mm fork on this bike will raise the bottom bracket (probably bad), slacken the seat angle (probably bad), shorten the reach (probably bad), and slacken the head tube angle (probably good).

There is also question whether the head tube junction was designed to withstand the stresses of a suspension fork being put to use.

Kona makes several short-travel hardtail in the price range.

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  • Thanks! Great feedback. I liked the style of the bike but wanted to be able to take it on trails. I'll keep looking 👍
    – Zool
    Commented Jun 6, 2022 at 16:47
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    @Zool Like I said, Kona makes several bikes like this that are proper mountain bikes with rigid forks (Unit) and suspension forks (too many to list here)
    – Paul H
    Commented Jun 6, 2022 at 16:55
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There are gravel forks with smaller amounts of travel like the Rudy XPLR that are meant to add a small amount of suspension to gravel bikes that didn't come with suspension.

If I'm reading the geometry chart correctly the Kona Dew has a fork length of 410mm, while the fork linked above has a length of 435mm at 40mm of travel or 425 at 30mm of travel. So it will add 15-25mm depending on which fork you go with, which will affect the goemetry, but not as much as a full mountain fork.

Of course, you should contact Kona in advance of any purchase to see how changing something like this would affect safety and/or the warranty.

Also, if you want a little more comfortable ride, consider looking into other options like going tubeless, allowing you to decrease your tire pressure. Alternatively you could get a suspension stem, or a suspension seat post to make your ride more comfortable.

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Would it be worth while

No. You already have relatively high volume tyres which do a far better job of smoothing small high frequency vibration like you may find on the typical surfaces you would ride a hybrid bike.

Schwalbe studied this with German Sports University, Cologne and produced the following infographic:

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/balloonbikes

You can find more information from this study here: https://www.schwalbe.com/en/balloonbikes

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    There’s an argument for giving comfort as a percentage being a total joke... but good answer
    – Noise
    Commented Jun 5, 2022 at 16:52
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    @JoeK indeed, its a strange measurement. makes marginally more sense when you read the rest of the article
    – Andy P
    Commented Jun 5, 2022 at 18:41
  • The OP didn't specify what type of surface they intend to ride, though. Balloon tyres are certainly good on cobbles, but I wouldn't rely on them for anything rocky or muddy or for riding down stairs.
    – leftaroundabout
    Commented Jun 6, 2022 at 23:26
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    @leftaroundabout agreed, but once you include that type of terrain you are better off buying a hardtail in the first place instead of a hybrid.
    – Andy P
    Commented Jun 6, 2022 at 23:31

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