KONA

They’re beastly both in size and ability. And even though we pay them to race and ride the bejesus out of our XC mountain bikes, they still love them. US National XC Championships tell you that. In the first two installments of Kona’s new series of Pro Bike Talks, produced by Freeride Entertainment, we get Trebon and Wicks to articulate that love with brains rather than brawn. No, this is not paid for affection. Well, kind of. Rest assured, we didn’t tell them what to say, we merely asked them what they thought. We caught up with the Timbers last summer in the oddly familiar woods of Vancouver’s North Shore as the two prepared to beat down the field in the BC Bike Race. Got to www.konaworld.com to see Barry wax poetic on his Hei Hei 2-9 Deluxe and Ryan give up the goods on his 2-9 King Kahuna. Look for more Kona pro bike talks in December featuring Paul Basgoitia & Graham Aggasiz.

source: Kona Bike Company

Kona AfricaBikes Head To Vietnam

Kona Bicycles Partners With Roadmonkey Adventure Philanthropy To Bring 16 AfricaBikes To Students

KONAWORLD (October 15, 2009) - Kona Bicycles and Roadmonkey Adventure Philanthropy are proud to announce a new partnership to provide Kona AfricaBikes to ethnic minority students in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. In Vietnam, Roadmonkey identified the need — the Kon Ray boarding school for gifted ethnic minority students in an impoverished region near the city of Kon Tum — and Kona filled it, with 16 of its workhorse AfricaBikes that will provide transportation to the neediest students.

The Kona bikes will be delivered next month, when Roadmonkey will lead a two-week “adventure philanthropy” expedition through the Central Highlands, cycling more some 300 miles from Danang into the Central Highlands, and then spending four days building an organic farm at the Kon Ray school. The farm will help create a sustainable revenue stream for the school.

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KONAWORLD - Kona Bicycles has a cool new bike to show off. The Cadabra is a bike that can intuitively handle what you throw at it, from steep, technical ascents to rugged descents and everything in between. Some might even say it’s magic… Who else best to promote this bike with than IMBA, who intuitively builds and maintains trails that have all the features the Cadabra craves?

Last year at Interbike, Kona Bicycle Company and IMBA raffled off a $2,299 2009 Coilair, and raised $8,200 and gained 140 new or renewed IMBA memberships. This year Kona and IMBA have no intention of being outdone, and intend to raise more money, gain more memberships and raffle off a newer, cooler 2010 Kona Cadabra, worth $2,799.

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Article Originally Found On Mountain Biking by 198
Review by Robb Sutton
Original Article: Kona Coilair Supreme Mountain Bike Review

The Kona Coilair Supreme is a controversial mountain bike. With the Magic Link “6 +1″ suspension that automatically changes from 6″ of rear travel to 7.4″ of DH glory, the Kona Coilair is marketed as a park bike that can be ridden to the top of your favorite hill without the need of a lift assist but still bomb the DH like you would be used to on a 7.4″ travel rig. With statements like this from Kona…

“For the discerning free-crosser, that soldiered soul who climbs to the huck-and-hold goodness of advanced mountain cycling, the Kona CoilAir Deluxe does everything good. XC one day, dirt jumps the next, shuttle-descents on Thursday to mega alpine assaults all weekend long, thanks to our Magic Link technology, the CoilAir has the instinctive ability to change geometry, suspension performance and length of rear travel depending on your type of riding and the terrain at hand.”

…the Kona Coilair Supreme is going to have some big shoes to fill in its quest to be the do-it-all rig.

The Build

The Kona Coilair Supreme comes nicely spec’ed with some of the best from Fox Racing Shox, Shimano, Race Face and Mavic. The Supreme was Kona’s top build for 2009 and for around $5,799 retail, you get a bike that has some of the best components in the industry. This build weighs in around the mid 30’s range which puts it right in the fight for DH capable all-mountain bikes.

Highlights:

• Fox Racing Shox Talas RC2 w/165mm Travel and Tapered Steerer Tube
• Fox Racing Shox RP23
• Race Face Atlas Cracks setup 2×9 (32T/22T)
• XTR Rear Derailleur with XT Components Rounding Out the Rest of the Group
• Mavic Crossmax ST Wheelset
• Race Face Bars, Stem, Post

The bright orange and white definitely gives this bike a unique, in your face look that might not be for everyone. If you are looking for a bike that will not go unnoticed…this orange will do the trick. Within the front triangle, you will see the nuts and bolts of the Magic Link suspension setup. Each Kona Coilair comes with a detailed manual on suspension setup as you have many more variable to deal with than normal. Luckily, this rig came setup for my riding weight, so all I had to do was make sure that each of the adjustments equaled the correct sag and ride quality. In total, there are 5 adjustments to the rear suspension based on your riding weight.

• Fox RP23 air pressure
• Secondary shock spring rate (replace per riding weight)
• Secondary shock spring preload (turning preload collar)
• Secondary shock elastomer stiffness (replace per riding weight)
• Secondary shock position (based on rider weight)

With everything setup correctly on the Kona Coilair Supreme, I was ready to hit the trail to see how this bike was going to perform while climbing and in the rough stuff.

Andreu Lacondeguy is hands down, tats out, one of the best mountain bike dirt jumpers in the world today. Sweet style, balls out aggression, and no bullshit, giterdone attitude.

“I really wanted a bike that was clean and simple,” says the 20-year-old Clump rider from Barcelona, Spain. “Something made specifically for really aggressive tricks.” Yes, Andreu’s English is getting better.

Kona designers picked Lacondeguy’s brain over the course of the last year to come up with a bike design that could live up to the talent and punishment of one of the planet’s most psycho gifted riders.

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In the six years since it’s inception, Crankworx has become the biggest, wildest, most diverse mountain bike festival in the world. Multimedia shows to live music, outdoor demos to epic parties, and lest we not forget, every single kind of gravity fueled mountain bike competition you can think of: enduro straight through to women’s slopestyle.

Headlining the 10 days of the festival is the Monster Energy Slopestyle. Kona riders have dominated this event in years past, with Paul Basagoitia winning twice and Andreu Lacondeguy the current defending champ. John Cowan put together an amazing course this year, laden with flow and amplitude. Cast on top of that beautiful weather, a crowd bordering on 20,000 and a field of international athletes brimming with both balls and talent, and the stage was set for one of the best slopestyle competitions in the history of all things.

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KONAWORLD (August 1, 2009) - The good people at Kona have been busy. Seventy-eight unique models of bicycles, with 14 new models, each built to sparkle and shred. From track classics to classy downtown fixies, highly adaptable trail bikes to a Andreu Lacondeguy signature dirt jump frame. 2010, our 22nd year building bikes, is an exercise in diversity…Kona style.

It starts with our commitment to the trail. The flexibility and flow of Magic Link finds a new home in Kona’s super fresh mid-travel all-mountain ripper, the Cadabra. With paradigm shifting suspension characteristics that can adapt to a massive variety of terrain, the new Cadabra and Abra Cadabra is our sub 30-pound solution to the quiver. “Simply the most versatile, capable bike to span the widest range of conditions,” says Brian Berthold of Brake Therapy, the Cadabra’s chief designer. “From the steepest, gnarliest granny gear climbs and tightest switchbacks, to fast & hairy DH descents, not another bike on the planet can perform the magic like this bike.”

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KONAWORLD (July 29, 2009) - There can’t be too many bike companies that have a product manager as speed addicted as Pat White, the guy in charge of making sure Kona’s bikes rip, and rip real good.

In the 7th episode of The Dr. Dew Files: Fast Pat, the good doctor catches up with Pat on his home turf, and let’s his riding do most of the talking. Produced by the talented folks at Freeride Entertainment, you can check out the Fast Pat vid at Konaworld.tv, as well as HERE.

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Kona Newsletter

It’s Kona’s new COG. Kinda like a blog, but with way more personality. Yeah, it also has a catchy bike-related name, but where the COG really delivers on a daily basis is in the content which varies from CLUMP Team updates to worldly tales from Kona globetrotter Hirsch to the Kona Bikes lifestyle. Simply put, what you’ll experience on the COG isn’t fluff and uninteresting, but ripe with cycling life personality coupled with a few curve balls. The COG takes a unique approach to the blogosphere by engaging numerous voices and enlisting its team riders and staff to articulate what Kona is all about. With easy to navigate content and tabs for all things Kona, the COG offers up the perfect aggregate to spread the word on the world of Kona. Basically, it’s a look inside the inner workings of the company and its lifestyle. Offering a clean and tight layout, the COG digs into the global reach of Kona Bikes. Daily contributors include: Kona staffers spreading the word on everything from Nine Inch Nails concerts to bike advocacy, Factory Team rider Barry Wicks covering the life and times of a pro CX/XC racer and vintner, Kona racer and Portland, Oregon bike shop owner Erik Tonkin penning posts on the lifestyle of the weekend warrior, CLUMPster John Cowan writing run-on sentences with updates on the CLUMP team and Kona’s Regular Joe reporting on riding dirt from around the world - plus more from other colorful characters and guests. The COG will also feature a wealth of stunning images from pro photogs around the world, a glimpse into the brains and talent behind Kona’s artful ads and posters and, yes, lots of video. Another added feature of the COG is the new Kona Online Magazine. Aimed to express the culture of biking and highlight news you might not know about Kona, a new issue of the mag will drop each month with rich images and cutting-edge graphics. For more info check: http://cog.konaworld.com/ and www.konaworld.com.

Teva Games Vail Colorado. June 7th 2009 Speed trials were a big shock for me! I had never ridden this style in my life so I wasn’t expecting to do well. The last time I did any type of racing was when I was 12, and that was on a BMX bike, so my confidence wasn’t really there. First round I ended up going against last year’s winner Adam Hauck. I was pretty pumped on going against Hauck just because I would rather go against the fastest guy in the first round just to get it over with. It was a really close race! I ended up beating Hauck by 15-hundreds of a second. After beating Hauck I knew I had a good chance of actually winning the whole thing! In the finals it was Cameron Zink and myself. Both of us were pretty stoked that we made the finals, not to mention we live in the same area and we drove up together. I ended up beating Zink by inches, we had the same speed threw out the course; the only thing that was working for me was my gate starts. I’m glad I raced BMX for 8 years because if it weren’t for that my gate starts would have sucked!! Next day was slope style. I wasn’t really feeling if because I was super sore from speed trials. I think I only did three runs before the contest actually started. I was that sore, not because I’m that much of a bad ass and I don’t need to practice. Trust me I needed all the practice in the world especially how well Greg Watts and Cameron Mccaul were riding. In qualifying I ended up in 3rd place, I was pretty stoked on that I knew I could do better though. I thought of this run in my head that I wanted to do in the finals, but I wasn’t to sure if it was going to work out. So right when I dropped in I was thinking should I do a safety run first or roll the dice and just go for it. Well I ended up rolling the dice and it worked out for me! I ended up putting a really good first solid run that I knew that was going to be hard to beat! After being head to head all day they finally announced the podium. We were all eager to see who won. Everyone had put together a really killer run. Then the announcer got on the microphone; 3rd place Greg Watts, 2nd Place Cameron Mccaul, and your winner of the 2009 Teva Mountain Games is Paul Basaquaty (they meant Basagoitia). I was super stoked how the weekend went for me!! All the hard work had paid off. Paul

About the Kona Bicycle Company: The Kona Bicycle Company designs, manufactures and distributes more than 80 models of purpose-built, high-performance mountain, road and urban bicycles. Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Ferndale, Washington, USA, Kona bicycles are distributed worldwide in more than 60 countries through independent specialty bicycle dealers. Kona funds several professional road, mountain and cyclo-cross racing teams that include World Cup Champions, World Champions and National Champions. For more information check www.konaworld.com or contact Keith Cozzens at Base Camp Communications, kcozzens@basecampcomm.com or 307.734.7575.

source: Kona News