You see that piece of reinfoced plastic next to the bike in the 1st picture, that bolts over the shock and is a guard http://forums.freeriden.co.nz/files/glory4_675.jpg think old giant glorys and they never seemed to have a really bad reputation for smashing shocks even of they are exposed. Another thing is that this low shock position actually lowers the bikes center of gravity which going off that alfine hub which is quite high isn't a bad thing! The bb is355mm which is the same as the Wilson, TR450, and Aurum so I dont see that being a problem and any lower and it would cause issues with pedal ground clearance. The chain is less likely to get caught in trousers since the sprockets are covered by the frame http://cdn1.static.mporatrons.com/site/dirt//wp-content/uploads/2011/05/zerode_52G9470.jpg and the chain which is going rearward is not going to be flapping about since there is so little chain growth that it can be kept tensioned pretty tightly In all I do understand your gripe about the shock placement (even though they have it covered) but they other things aren't too much of an issue. I would really love to take one of these bikes down a hill.

oooh i like the sound of that, not all the travel is vertical, it includes the rearward axle path of the bike which is what makes this bike eat the bumps so well.

They never went this side of the the pond, Lots of us ride long travel hardtails, I ride a steel framed cotic BFe with u-turn Lyriks and could not be happier! Although i would love one of these just to make the ride that little bit smoother.

To be honest I don't really care what I call my rear mech, they could call it dog crap and as long as it worked I wouldn't care Kona called one of their best selling freeride bikes the stinky, didn't stop sales imo