Concern for Kona as staff take down stand at Sea Otter

Very sad news. My first proper MTB was a 1994 Lavadome, followed by a Caldera and a Coiler as my first full suss.

Glory days 😎1st proper MTB was a ’97 Caldera , always lusted after a King Kahuna or Hei Hei , in 2012 when they did a 250 worldwide frame launch of the Ti Raijin I remember asking Kona if they would make it in a 26″ , early days of 29″ . Bought one of those frames and it’s still going strong best I hang on to it and the ’97 stars n bars Aha , that paintjob is gorgeous 🔥

When Dan and Jake stood down it felt like the bean counting Mike Ashley types were circling the wagons and picking at a corpse . I really hope along with others than someone with integrity and ethos can save them .

Regardless of anything else, my daughters Kona Process 24 was the central part of many glorious family days for us; lots of miles and smiles, so thank you Kona. We would have got the next size Process up but they couldn’t be had for love nor money.

that hit the headlines, but some of last years bikes have been half price for as long as I can remember (with the exception of covid years). Taking a quick look at leisure lakes, they have bikes from Whyte, specialized, transition, trek and orbea all on >40% off. A quick look at treds has lappirre, specialized, giant, orbea, mondraker and konas.

Yep that’s more than shop margin, that’ll be agreed with the distributor.

@nickc check out the map of Kona dealers – there were more back in 1992 when Lister and I went searching for a Cindercone

It’s not sad to see the brand go as it won’t go. It’s sad for the employees but the brand IP is too strong to just disappear.

It was sad for the brand when Kona started making cheap’ish bikes specifically for Halfords. Kona also let Halfords have access to the entire range without having to stock any, I think this all happened in 2000/01. Needless to say UK IBD’s dropped Kona when customers were coming into stores to try out a Kona and then purchasing it from the local Halfords who would get them one in and charge them less. Fast forward just a few years to 2003/04 and Halfords are displaying and purchasing next to no bikes from Kona as on the performance end Halfords are targeting road bike sales, and IBD’s won’t touch them. The same happened to GT.

As always, feel for anyone involved in a tough time. Employees, dealers, someone who’s just ordered one and now isnt sure if its going to show up….

But its an odd thing to hope to trade on your name. Did they make very good (“something special”) bikes in the 90’s, apparently so.

But those bikes have nothing to do with the current offerings. Thinking a 2023 process will be, or should be, good just because a 1993 cinder cone was is bizzare thinking.

Their mtb offerings appear to be in a bit of a purgatory. Can’t compete (due to choosing not to, not because of any engineering or manufacturing limitations) with the highest quality offerings in either Carbon or Alloy. Can’t compete on price, at least not in europe, with the direct sales brands or the mega brands.

What is their target market now that all bikes work well? “Perfectly adequate and functional but not good value at RRP” isn’t the greatest tag line.

Yea, they’ve definitely been very cyclical as a brand.

90’s steel hardtail era

2000’s lots of fairly rubbish FS bikes and the spec was always really poor value with lots of Marzocchi MZ forks and still fitting 8speed Alivio to supposedly mid range bikes.  Barrell raced DH for them, but was riding a bitsa-Kona, A supreme with a slackset and the linkages reversed? But then again he was talented enough to probably win the World Champs on a Unicycle. That success seemed to spawn some new models (Operator? There was a race one and a privateer/park bike versions IIRC that was popular).

The Process, but wasn’t than a catalogue frame? Must have made them some money though as it seemed to spawn a whole range,

To me they always seemed like a huge company run by passionate cyclists, but not necessarily the engineering/design/business skills to back it up.

I too hope they survive but the industy appears to be a very difficult place. There is just so many bike’s companies have in their range im suprised some don’t just focus on what they do well.  I’ve always thoguh my next bike (FS) could be a Kona but possibly not.

My first proper MTB was a Caldera, still have the frame and half the original parts on it hanging on the garage wall. BB shell wore out a bit as the BB & crank came loose on a ride without me realising. I loved the back did alsorts on it, its still rideable ish, LBS put a saint DH BB in due to the BB shell issue and once that goes i think the frame is toast, it also has years of frame wear but i still love that cream paint job.

Seems to be a lot of storied mid-sized brands that have gone to the wall over the years – GT, Cannondale, Gary Fisher.

I wonder if there is space between small, nimble brands with a regional following and your Giants, Treks, Specializeds, Canyons.

Norco are still killing it and Marin has made a partial recovery. I’d worry a bit about Whyte, but they’ve made some shrewd decisions about culling the range, so expect they’ll do well.

My Kona Rove is a good road bike, but they haven’t done anything innovative since the early Honzo and Process bikes- which must be 10 years at least.

Still have my Joe Murray autographed poster from the Bike Show at Alexandra Palace circa 1991. Always wanted a 90’s Kona hardtail, but never did ☹️

https://nsmb.com/articles/rumors-of-konas-demise-may-not-be-greatly-exaggerated/

Who are you? I just know something good is gonna happen.

I’ve never been tempted by a FS Kona

But the Unit x and sutra are a nod to their heritage and are tempting.

Mr Kip had an early 90’s Joe Murray Lava Dome but sold it for £100 quite a few years back. He instantly regretted it!

@matt_outandabout, lovely colour frame but surely that head tube deserves some invisframe?

Still using my Kula.

Everyone saying how sad, but when was the last time you considered buying a Kona and how many of you own one?

I have owned two in my life. 1990 Cinder Cone and a 2011 Major One (Scandium framed signal speed CX bike) both of which I loved.

That is irrelevant though.  It is sad to see them go because they are a part of MTB history.  Not crying sad but sad nonetheless.

I’m struggling to think of any though there might be others. But as you say I think they made it popular along with the P2 straight forks.

As a side note I remember my Cindercone had TBG (The Bicycle Group) on the headtube for its badge.