What happen to Kona

I’ve just watched Matt dennisons latest about Kona. So I had a bit of a break from mtb. My last bike in my first mtb life was a stinky and it was great!then my 8 ish year break happened. When I came back Kona didn’t really exist any more, but in the last few years they have really had a revival and have some
great bikes.
What’s that all about ?

Internationally? Not very much… They’ve carried on doing what they’ve always done.

In the UK? Suffered terribly from the “Halfords Effect” for a number of years, just like GT did before them. Kona weren’t exclusively sold in Halfords, but Halfords sold a large number of low end models (some of which were sold exclusively in Halfords stores), and the brand image took a real tumble.

Has since been rescued somewhat, but still suffers badly from online discounters destroying the prices the very minute a bike is last year’s model, which in turn makes proper bike shops very reluctant to want to actually sell them, and also means your 12 month old used Kona is now worth exactly thruppence hapenny when it cost you £3k this time last year.

That, and they rarely compare favourably in terms of spec and price when stood next to a Giant or such like.

I don’t remember ever seeing a kona bike in Halfords during the last 8 years – when did they start doing that?

I only really remember Halfords selling sone half decent little jump bikes from Kona. That’s what was in our local Halfords anyway.

I think they struggle to match the specs that can be provided by others. They also stuck with their faux bar linkage when others seemed to be moving into sexier set ups. The designs didn’t change for a very long time a few looked dated / didn’t perform as well as others.

They’ve also been associated with free riding / jumps etc which I do t think helped to sell their normal bikes.

I like them and have fond memories of my Koa and Stinky.

They were heavy and poor value for many years – and they stuck with an old fashioned look for ages.

They’re still heavy and pricey tbh, but now more desirable thanks to great geometry and bombproof reputation.

It was the operator dh bike that marked the turning point IMO.

Even in the poor years they sold some very good bikes, just a lot of poorer models in their range. Their full UK rrp has been an issue but they’re always heavily discounted.

Shame they have changed the honzo to aluminium this year, and changed to normal dropouts. Think they missed what made it so good!

There’s still a steel Honzo and a ti one too

Long time kona fan, Halfords effect and not redesigning their suspension every year really hurt them, in a market obsessed with boutique bikes and multi acronym suspension layouts
They focused very much on sponsoring freeriders and settling jump bikes

My 2008 Dawg primo was a very nice bike, my 2014 process is nicer tho

Yep, steel, titanium and aluminium honzo for 2016.

There was an article on Pinkbike about the rebirth of Kona. I think they basically got some new people in and started from scratch

shame they didn’t put the slidey dropouts on the alu honzo. read somewhere that it’s 40% lighter than the steel IIRC. 😯

imo went shit as soon as they decided to stop making the Cindercone in steel 🙂

Untitled by Plus one2010[/url], on Flickr

Went tits up after 1999 in my eyes 🙄

Wot Kuco said, obviously. How long is that seat post?!

I am looking at the Hei Hei Trail as a potential next bikes, the initial reports are good.

Ive always had a soft spot for Kona; iad a 2006 dawg deluxe and it was bombproof and great fun to ride. That ‘back country’ range of trail bikes seemed pretty fwd looking for the time. They’ve always been a Canadian freeride compnay at heart despite the cheap hardtails. Remember the ‘clump’ team? Lacon, Paul bas, bourdon etc

They stagnated quite a bit with their frame design but their relaunch was a massive success and the process range of bikes were pretty radical and perhaps game changing.

I’d have a 153 or honzo in a shot. And would prob buy a 153 if I was after a complete bikes as I like beefy rear ends.

That said I’m a banshee owner/fan boi. Canadians do it better

I’ve always loved 90’s Kona’s. I’ve lusted after a 90’s Explosif for ages.

I seem to remember their rep in DH circles was pretty dire outside of any fanbois in the early to mid 00’s (possibly even later than that). Prone to snapping and general shitness but without the decent warranty backup that made even Marin B17’s a better option.

Not sure if the Klunky on here is the same of DW and SDH fame but there was a reason why, as a Kona owner, the name was chosen.

Any excuse to post a pic of my own fully restored 1994 Kilauea.

Restored? With v brakes? 😉

I remember Kona bikes suspension bikes getting poor mag reviews in the very late 90s / early 00s when they opted for a ‘faux 4-bar’ type design rather than a standard single pivot or paying Specialized to use a Horst link or developing their own. I saw a vid of Jacob Heilbron getting pretty angry about what the bike mags were writing about non 4-bar bikes. They’d nailed the xc hardtail in the early 90s but seemed to loose their way towards the end of the decade. They also seemed to change their logo and branding every year, which is never good; usually a signifier of a company having problems.

They still sell Kona in my local Halfords

redesigning their suspension every year really hurt them, in a market obsessed with boutique bikes and multi acronym suspension layouts

except they tried the funky route with the “magic link”,because hey everybody wants TWO shocks to have to service/maintain.

+! for poor value and Halfords Effect, which is a shame for a brand that had a huge amount of goodwill from the old steel HTs to the being associated with the birth of the “freeride” phenomena (every video in the 90s was dominated by Stinkys).

And not sure Halfords sold many when they had identical looking Carreras sat next to them for substantially cheaper prices.

It all went downhill once they stopped doing splatter paint jobs, IMO.

‘Common as Konas’. Don’t hear that any more.

It’s all about the 90’s Konas. My first ‘proper’ mtb was a Kona Hahanna, then followed two Explosifs. I really wanted the good coloured Kula though. And a Hei Hei. And a cindercone, just cos. Then they followed the trend to build bikes with fatter tubing (or was it some kind of manufacturing stipulation?). And with that, the true identity of Kona was lost. If they could release the Cindercone and Explosif (with Project 2 forks) as skinny tubed disc frame/forks options, in the funky colour range they used to have, then we’d see a resurgence.

<puts rose-tinted glasses away>

I really must find some 80mm/P2 disc forks for my steel Kona, this thread has me wanting to ride it again!

Had a 2004 top of the range Kona Dawg which was possibly the favourite bike I ever owned. XC orientated, but with the low BB also gave much confidence when prating around in the local quarry.

99 king kikapu. Stolen.

Still the best bike I’ve ever ridden

Just because they aren’t ‘big’ on a tiny island doesn’t mean they’d lost it.

Trek anyone?

If they could release the Cindercone and Explosif (with Project 2 forks) as skinny tubed disc frame/forks options, in the funky colour range they used to have, then we’d see a resurgence.

Don’t confuse popularity in this forum with being representative of the market.

FWIW, my 95 Kilauea will always stay in my possession but the ride is poor compared to many more current bikes – poor tyre clearance and actually a fairly stiff ride.

I had that splatter paint job but mine had the rear u brake. Preferred the white splatter to the Explosive green and Lava dome yellow.

I always regretted at the time not getting one of the final steel CinderCones frames in the gold/bronze colour before it went to aluminium.

This is the think I was thinking of http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Kona-what-happened.html

I had three 90’s steel Cindercones. snap, snap snap. I thought they all rode fantastic. even had one built as a road bike with road cranks etc. I miss it as it had a really low centre of gravity. might try get permission to hang the broken frame on the wall, still looks cool busted.
looking at a Kona as next do everything bike.

My one above broke too – DS dropout like most of them but I had it rewelded.

I miss it as it had a really low centre of gravity

How do you figure that? Did it have really heavy cranks on it or something? 🙂

Doh. Read wrong!

It was the operator dh bike that marked the turning point IMO.

Probably this. They had a reputation for making good, but not excellent FS bikes, that were poorly spec’d compared to the competition. Then they released a <£2k DH bike, where everything worked. Wheels, finishing kit, cranks etc were all low end or in-house jobs but it had sorted geometry and shocks that worked at both ends. For the kind of person who want’s a DH bike (14-24yr olds) that’s brilliant.

The suspension design wasn’t doing them any favours for a while, but linkage driven single pivots are still the majority of bikes (Trek, cannondale, commencal, and pretty much anyone else not specialized or Giant or SC/Intense)

Eh?
Both made in the same factory for a start (Or is that spesh and kona?)
I’d say the 153dl is virtually identical to the reign at that price
Same suspension
Process’ Lev is arguably better than a reverb (certainly pricier) and it has an RF cockpit compared to giants own brand (tho functionally the same I’m sure)
And the top wtb rims are excellent and superior to the DT ones ime, novatech hubs not quite as good as dt
Kona has xt vs Giant guide brakes(horses course), both SRAM 11spd

Low center of gravity as it was tiny stood next to my new bikes that don’t give you a bad back! I had an 18 inch frame with a road stem and I am not very tall. Even did time trails on it for a laugh.

I’d certainly take DT rims over WTB and the hubs don’t even compare. There’s a significant amount of value there. The reign has a branded bar; as far as I can tell, the kona has own brand bar & stem (Kona XC) and the reverb retails for more than the LEV! (no idea which is “better” though)
I don’t think Giant make Kona bikes do they? Merida maybe?

If you can find me a lev integra cheaper than a reverb let me know!

the 153dl at least had an rf cockpit, -2016 has Kona 35 mm bar and stem-, giant has own brand ‘contact’

Dt hubs definitely better but still rims always been soft ime wtb rims have been very impressive

Overall I can see virtually no difference in either bike, apart from the hubs being slightly better on the reign

They always struggled with the spec at specific price points, their buying power wasn’t as good. I found the late 90s and early 2000s stuff to be great, had a great image too. A design point they had was long tt\short stem setup, certainly on the hardtails.

Interesting someone earlier mentioned the dawg being one of their favourite bikes, mine is the 2004 Coiler, low bb, 68 head angle, short stem, 5 inch travel – all sounds rather familiar.