ardcore rather than jeycore
that's brilliant! - although i'm grateful they're not doing one called a 'fire mountain' or my credt card would have just exploded...
Ah but have they passed CEN testing 🙄
I've got a jeycore Kona SS frame in the classifieds in case anyone's fretting too much about this ommission from their 2010 range.
One of those steel HT's is not steel 😉
Wow. 120mm is now "long travel" WTF
I just don't see the point in bikes with less travel meself.
i think the lower spec steel one in black is very nice, hmmmmmmmmmm tho black forks and rims would be better
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Yes, must confess I had my eye on that one myself!
For £1200, isn't choosing a frame and a custom spec the more sensible route than off-the-peg, or am I out of touch with retail prices for components?
Will the price/spec be any good for these? Kona have traditionally been expensive, but they have recently brought out a very competitive steel road bike, so I was wondering if they might follow suit with their MTBs...
Easy money for Kona surely; dust off the old drawings, pop a disc tab on the back, email to Taiwan, Job done…
Nobody in their right mind pays the RRP on a Kona…
Q4 2010/Q1 2011 is when to buy them, as the old stock discounts ramp up
Shouldn’t be surprised if they trundle out a frame only option a bit later, would be tempted if it was close enough to the “classic” kona steel frames of old and priced sensibly (which it won’t be)… sigh.
1200 quid for the top end one
900 for the lower one seems ok but not outstanding
but then rrp and actual prices can differ
Was wondering the same Mike. A full SLX groupset, Crossrides (or some handbuilt) wheels, tyres, Easton stem/bars/seatpost, saddle, headset only comes to £650ish. So £550 for frame and forks - which gives loads of choices for uk-designed steel frames and much nicer forks than Recons.
Genesis Altitude 10 at £999 is close in spec to the top end Kona at £1200 at first glance. So unless "Kona Chromoly" happens to actually be 853 - looks like a tough sell at that price.
They look quite nice but kona's just don't have the same image they had back in the nineties and the seem quite expensive for what is probably the usual kona spec. Good on them for trying though.
They are still trading on the reputation they used to have not the current market perception of them.
To be honest I can see they £1200 model shifting for ~750 from Pauls etc in under a year...
Who is the current Kona importer?
Paligap
They look nice but the specs look gash for the money.
Mainly deore kit with the odd splash of XT or SLX doesn't represent vfm.
I'd expect a little more than a Tora fork on a £900 bike.
The kona bolt in that article is the cheapest at £650 but is kitted with tektro auriga brakes.
Buy a second hand frame off someone who changes bikes every week on here... Chances are you'll get something just as steel and just as good.
buy some hope brakes, hope pro2 wheelset, set of revs and you have yourself a bike for about 700.
The 2010 Expolsif frameset was quoted at around £600, which puts it in Pace 104 range and a ton more than Cotic Soul.
It's gonna have to be really good at that price!
judging by the number of groms I've seen on the clashing colours Konas down at the jumps spots, they're gaining in popularity
possibly because of their sponsorship of vids and events
And presence in Halfrauds...
I won't go bashing Kona's history with steel frames the Joe Murray period produced a decade or so of nice affordable steel framed XC bikes, a return to that would be nice to see, I loved my Fire mountain, wish I could have it back now, still times change...
didnt they reintroduce the Explosif steel a few years ago now, charging 853 (Soul) money for a basic butted cromoly tubed (Inbred) frame?
I still regularly ride a '94 Fire Mountain as my winter bike (with its original thumbies, steel-ringed chainset and BB!).
Agree they are still trading on their old niche reputation and havent been good value for years, there's the halfords stigma and as other posters have said kona seem to lead the way in being heavily discounted at the end of the year (Mr MC got a "£1500" Coiler for £800 from Pauls years ago and they appear every year).
Kona make good stuff but those prices are a joke. No doubt people'll buy them anyway though.