BeOne's Kaos bikes are serious urban or dirt assault bikes with the top line 1.0 packing Argyll forks and top hit kit. Despite its lower price, the Kaos 2.0 is still rich in riot attitude and is a great introduction to hardcore riding.
Frame
The Kaos 2.0 shares its tough 6061 alloy frame with its more expensive brother, which means you're getting a great upgrade basis to start with.
The seriously oversized down tube uses a deep rectangular shape to envelop the whole of the reinforced head tube and the diagonal top tube junction. The top tube is also swollen at the head end for maximum strength and the head tube throat is reinforced with a big box gusset too. The kite section top tube tapers and slopes back to the seat tube for good step through clearance, while side-mounted cables won't catch your feet.
The down tube widens at the base for maximum bottom bracket stiffness, and chunky, slightly swerved chainstays lock power down to the thick cut dropouts and rear wheel. Rectangular seatstays are strong enough to go without a brace, meaning acres of mud and tyre space.
Rectangular seatstays are strong enough to go without a brace, meaning acres of mud and tyre space
As you'd expect for a hardcore/ jump-style bike, it's slightly short in conventional terms, and only comes in 15 and 17in sizes but it's not so cramped it'll crucify you on longer XC/singletrack sessions. There's a set of bottle cage bosses too if you're thirsty.
Equipment
Suntour forks have been the mainstay of cheaper bikes for ages and this year's are an excellent crop. We'd be slightly wary of continuously slam dunking any fork this price down at the jump park, but Suntour's Duro forks have stayed smooth despite some real hammering and foul weather. The spring rate is comfortable without being mushy, the rebound adjuster really works and there's no harsh top or bottom-out either.
The Kaos also features a near complete Suntour groupset, something we haven't seen since the early 90s. The big transparent bashring on the chainset looks good and came in useful when we were mucking about round town.
>Tektro brakes are cable operated which makes them feel a bit mushy, but they've got reasonable power if you keep them well adjusted to cope with cable wear. The Alex-rimmed wheels are a handily harm-proof set-up while the Maxxis Holy Roller tyres are superb for street and dirt use, and better than you'd expect for general XC play. The sizes and shapes of BeOne finishing kit are fine, and we particularly liked the reinforced saddle. All in all, good solid kit for the cash with no weak links.
Ride
The most impressive thing we can say in value terms is that you'll very rarely think about the price of the bike from the second you start riding it. From the tips of the usefully broad bars to the settled but not too slow handling, this is a fun bike to ride.
From the tips of the usefully broad bars to the settled but not too slow handling, this is a fun bike to ride
The frame itself is impressively stiff and authoritative without being dull through over-building, and it's the ideal shape and size for chucking at anything you fancy. There's enough breathing space and natural pace in the bike to go 'proper' mountain biking on a weekend trail ride, but its real strong point is cutting loose on tight technical close combat stuff.
Whether you're getting your groove on down the local jump spot or finding out your limits on the local freeride stunts this is a great bike to do it on.
Short stem, wide bar handling means accurate, power assisted wheel placement, a taut frame keeps responses equally crisp and the fork does nothing nasty even if you work it hard. Smart tyre choice disguises the weight and the overall package made us want to take it out again and again.
There are times when sharper gears and brakes would be a bonus, and you can expect to eventually break stuff if the jump park becomes your second home. You do have to expect some compromise with a quality chassis at this price, so we're not going to be unreasonable with our expectations. A good all rounder.
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SO GOOD
- Great hardcore do it all frame with real upgrade potential
>- Cracking handling and great attitude wherever you take it
>- Decent rebound adjustable fork and other kit highlights
NO GOOD
- Slightly squishy cable disc brakes
- Basic feeling Suntour transmission
>- Frame potential will create a real upgrade itch
