kona

Kona Gravity team rider Graham Agassiz and Kona Canada’s resident fishing enthusiast Matt Stevens head out to do some fly fishing in British Columbia on the new Kona Remote. What are your thoughts on e-bikes for applications like bikepacking? Let us know in the comments!

Ed. Note: This review of the Kona A, the first ever production full-suspension singlespeed, was originally published in Dirt Rag 102 in August 2003.  Rider: Philip Keyes Height: 6’2” Weight: 196lbs. Inseam: 34” Kona is one cool company. Case in point: these guys are offering the first-ever production dual suspension singlespeed. They had to know ...

Tester: Scott Williams Age: 31 Height: 5’10” Weight: 175 lbs Inseam: 32″ Back in 2012, Kona unleashed the Honzo, an aggressive all-mountain steel hardtail featuring geometry that was long, low and slack before those aggressive angles were common among trail bikes. After spending some time aboard my friend’s Honzo, I felt like it suited my ...

Just a few more random things we saw at the 2017 Sea Otter Classic: Reynolds Wheels The Bernard Kerr limited edition 27.5 wheelset from Reynolds is designed for heavy-duty downhill and enduro riding. An asymmetric carbon rim allows for increased spoke tension for better ride quality and durability. This wheelset also features a 32 mm hookless ...

A few of the interesting things we saw at the 2017 Sea Otter Classic: WTB Byway The Byway is a 27.5×47 tire, part of WTB’s “Road Plus” line. With the same casing as the Horizon, this new tire has some cornering knobs and file tread for better dirt action. We’ve got a set in for ...

Kona knocked it out of the park with the Honzo CR Trail DL. Featuring a stealth matte black finish, aggressive all-mountain geometry and a reasonably lightweight package, this Honzo is a grand slam. It took all but five minutes on my initial ride to develop an attachment, which quickly led to confirming with our Tech Editor ...

I don’t often post videos. I don’t think I’ve ever posted a teaser vid. I’m making an exception here. Why? I’ve been on top of Texas Peak. I’ve stayed at Retallack. I may have ridden some of the trails in the upcoming video. I know the guy who wrote and directed this. And Graham Agassiz ...

Words by William O’Connor, photos by Michal Dzikowski This story begins at my house, in a small village in the west of Ireland where bank holiday weekend biking plans are being made. My usual plan involves packing a van, a motorway dash, service station food and a late night drive home. Our rule of thumb ...

Tester: Katherine Fuller Age: 30 Height: 5’4″ Weight: 120 lbs. Inseam: 31” Price: $4,200 Sizes: S, (Tested), M, L, XL Online: Kona Bikes I laughed when the powers that be said I was getting a “race” bike to test because racing is not exactly my thing, but it immediately became apparent that approaching this review ...

Photos by Caleb Smith and the author. Let me start this out with some honesty. The last time I was on a downhill hike was almost two years ago, and even then I was nursing a torn rotator cuff. While I’ve always enjoyed true DH riding, it doesn’t happen very often, so keep that in ...

Kona is pretty well known as a mountain bike brand, but it also has plenty of road-going products with finger-in-your-eye mountain bike attitude. While many companies start with road racing bikes and then branch out into adventure, travel and commuting, Kona focuses solely on the kind of bikes you’d expect to see in Bicycle Times.

Riding photos by Caleb Smith/Kona Kona is the kind of brand that when it wants to f*ck around, it doesn’t f*ck around. It makes solid product backed by solid people who are genuinely more interested in having a great time—on and off the bike—than raking in the dough. I was lucky enough to score an ...

I was stopped on the side of the bike path, topping off a slightly underinflated tire. “Hey nice bike. What’s that extra tube for? Must be heavy duty or somethin’. Is it for extra weight?” The tube in question is the twin top tube on this here Kona Humuhumu. A retro/cruiser/mountainous/classic/singlespeed/bar-hopping/klunkish/commuter. Why is the extra ...

Ed’s Note: This bike is part of our annual, sub-$3,000 bike test where the Dirt Rag staff spends significant time aboard less-expensive but fully capable offerings that we’d seriously consider buying ourselves. The final review will be out early 2016 in issue #189. Subscribe today so you don’t miss it! Price: $2,500 The Hei Hei has ...

Kona’s Precept line of entry-level trail/enduro bikes offers three full-suspension models each under $3,000 (the 120, 130 and 150). In September, Kona sent a crew to the Swiss Alps to ride these bikes. Two Days in the Alps – Kona Precept from Kona Bikes on Vimeo.  

Every year for the last few years, Dirt Rag has gathered up a half-dozen or so full-suspension trail bikes for complete testing that fall into the entry-level/affordable/budget category. Yes, three grand is still a lot of money, but good bikes aren’t cheap and this price point is much more reasonable for the average enthusiast rider willing to ...

Kona’s tagline for its 2016 lineup is “Going Deeper” and it’s an apt description for its largest-ever product range. While some models carry over largely unchanged, nearly every mountain bike gets an update of some kind, and several get ground-up redesigns. We sampled some of the latest on the trails outside Bellingham, Washington. Honzo AL/DL ...

Kona has been expanding away from its mountain bike background lately, and the sneak peak we got on the 2016 models takes things to the next level. Here are the four models that stood out the most to me. Private Jake – $2,000 An all new aluminum frame offers modern updates like front and rear thru-axles, ...

By Justin Steiner and Emily Wally. Photos by Jeff Swigart, Michael Raney, Emily Walley and Justin Steiner. Though we’re far from reaching gender equality in the mountain bike world, the percentage of female mountain bikers rises steadily every year. Despite this increase in participation, the industry’s adoption of the women’s market has occurred in fits and ...

Kona Bikes has been a busy bunch. Its line of Process bikes have been a huge hit—see our double review in the current issue—but it isn’t exactly coasting. The brand has recently opened a flagship bike shop in its home town of Bellingham, Washington. It will carry, naturally, Kona bikes, but it will also serve ...

This is a fun one from Kona to get the word out on the Libre. Kona Adventure Team riders Barry Wicks and Erik Tonkin have been riding together for what seems like forever. Their relationship was built around mentorship and racing, but over the years has evolved into a unique kinship. On this trip, they conquered ...

By Emily Walley and Justin Steiner Kona launched its Process line of enduro bikes back in 2014 with the 111, 134 and 153, with each of the numeric model names referring to the bike’s rear wheel travel in millimeters. The 134 and 153 were initially available at two price points, with just one price point ...

The Process 111 is the shortest of travel and biggest of wheel in Kona’s lineup of enduro bikes. Focusing on a slight 111mm of rear suspension and 29-inch wheels, it’s easy to wonder how an XC bike ended up with the longer-travel 27.5 offerings, which includes the Process 134 and 153. But, taken as a ...

Editor’s note: This is one of six bikes we’ve gathered together that fall between $1,900 and $2,600. Read our introduction to see the other five and watch for our long-term reviews of each in Dirt Rag #182, due on newsstands and in mailboxes in February. Subscribe now and you’ll never miss a bike review. Kona’s line ...

Editor’s note: This bike review first appeared in Dirt Rag issue #102, published in August of 2003. By Philip Keyes Kona is one cool company. Case in point: these guys are offering the first-ever production, dual-suspension singlespeed. They had to know that they weren’t going to sell millions of these things, but they had the ...

Gotta say, we didn’t see that coming. Kona has been a strong supporter of 27.5 wheels for a few years now, and we thought we had seen the last of the new 26-inch bikes from major brands. But today we got a sneak peek at the 2015 lineup and there are two new bikes with ...

Join us on a ride through Kona’s 27-year long history making trail ripping mountain bikes. Together again, for the first time (crazy, right?), an original 1988 Kona Cinder Cone shares the trail with its 2014 off-spring. Hop on a true mountain bike original and Kona’s longest bike model and blast through a quarter century of ...

Suspension designs are a complicated thing. As Kona says, it’s a game of millimeters. From its first full-suspension model in 1995 to its coming 2015 models, Kona has refined its single-pivot, linkage driven suspension designs for their ultimate application. There are three variations in the current lineup, and this cool video walks you through the ...

It was certainly not the first, but no bike typifies this new genre of “trail” or “all-mountain” 29ers quite like the Honzo. The brainchild of some serious gravity-addicted minds at Kona, this ain’t no old-school big wheeler. How so, you ask? Well, up front the 68-degree head tube angle is mated to a 120mm RockShox ...

Kona designed the Rove as a versatile machine, mixing the practicality of its commuter and touring models with the fit and geometry of its cyclocross heritage. The result is a bike that feels responsive, but still delivers versatility that will keep you rolling all year. It seems rim vs. disc brakes has superseded Campagnolo vs. ...

The latest from Kona Bikes is the Process 134. A do-all trail bike featuring 134mm of travel in the rear and 140mm up front, the Process 134 is ready for just about anything. The Process 134 CR DL 29 represents two and half years of design iterations, mechanical engineering and real-world testing. Born from the ...

Kona Bikes has partnered with us to give TWO lucky winners their new Wah Wah II Pedals & Key Grips! Start clickin’ below to earn 20+ entries. Once you enter, you’ll receive an email with additional sharing instructions to improve your odds! 🙌 The Kona Key Grip features a single lock-on grip with a closed-ended ...

Miranda Miller will headline Kona’s Global Enduro program alongside Rhys Verner, Connor Fearon, Shelly Flood, and Hannah Bergemann. She’ll be racing the Process 153 CR DL 29 and the Operator CR for select downhill races. While her official joining of the team is breaking news, her relationship with Kona isn’t. Team Manager Mathieu Dupelle has been in her life ...

Ahh, November. Depending on where you live, you may still have hard-packed— dare I say “dusty”— trails, or you may already be frolicking in a winter wonderland. Here in the mid-Atlantic, we are sludging through the awkward adolescent season of late autumn, where the trails are slick with wet leaves, roots, and rocks, and for ...

Ah, late summer, the early winter of the bike industry, when companies take stock in what they did over the past 12 months, what worked and didn’t. This is the time when new bikes are unveiled, old bikes are rehashed, and, hopefully, poorly designed models are left for people to resell on the internet for ...

Kona Bikes has partnered with us to give two winners a pair of Alloy Wah Wah Pedals that retail for $120 and a pair of Key Grips that retail for $20! You can earn 20+ entries below.   a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kona is turning 30. Instead of coming out with a crazy version of one of its carbon bikes, the Honzo ST gets the nod as the bike to celebrate three decades of bike making. It was hard to capture the magic in this paint job. Kona says it is similar to a fancy Lamborghini paint option, but ...

Tester: Brett Rothmeyer Age: 40 Weight: 165 lbs. Height: 6’1” Inseam: 32″ Dropping into the first section of fast and flowy singletrack on the Big Honzo DL was like plugging a Les Paul into a Marshall stack and hitting an open A chord. We are not talking a Roy Orbison open A; we are talking ...

  Remember Kona’s first 29er trail bike, the 130 mm Satori? Five years ago it was a solid first effort, with 68/74 head/seat angles, just over 17″ chainstays, and a long reach for the time. When the Process 111 hit the market, the Satori disappeared. Or maybe it disappeared before the 111? Does it really ...

Some may argue that the Kona Honzo was the first of its kind, taking the standard XC hardtail and turning it into an all-mountain machine by mimicking the geometry of popular full-suspension bikes. In 2012, Kona released the first version of the Honzo, and since then the idea of a trail-geometry hardtail has flourished in ...

There’s a common saying that life is like a wave and our existence is essentially surfing whatever kind of water comes our way. Metaphorically, there may not be a better way to justify the ebbs and flows of good and bad that everyone undoubtedly experiences. What sets certain people apart though, is their ability to ...

Ed. Note: The full version of this piece appears in Dirt Rag 202. Grab your copy today to read the full story and much more.  In some ways, it seems that plus tires have always been with us. It was the summer of 2012 when Surly released the Krampus and the Instigator, the first production ...

Remember that feeling of freedom when you were a kid on your bike? Your little world expanded from your driveway to your street to your entire neighborhood. If you were curious enough to explore off-road you probably had adventures skidding through the fallen leaves, smashing through puddles, and jumping whatever was in your path. Follow ...

France isn’t just home to good cheese and great wine. It’s got its share of amazing riding too. Follow Kona riders Jordan Regnier and Alexander Kangas on a journey to the Tignes and Val D’ Isere bike parks in the French Alps this past September.

Tester: Adam Newman Age: 36 Height: 6’ 1” Weight: Gaining Inseam: 33” It’s steel. It has wheels. It rides like a bike. To be honest, I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to say? I mean, a rigid singlespeed is about as bare bones as you can get, and you’ve probably already decided if riding ...

The news we’ve all been waiting for: Carbon Process! OK, maybe not EVERYONE was waiting, but there is no arguing that the high-end trail and all-mountain markets are dominated by carbon-framed bikes, and the Process line, while being some sweet riding bikes, weren’t on the radar of the carbon-ravenous among us. Obviously, this isn’t just ...

Tester: Karl Rosengarth Age: 59 Height: 5’10” Weight: 150 lbs. Inseam: 32” As the industry continues to dive headfirst into the longer-lower-slacker deep end, Kona, despite having a big part in creating this trend in the first place, takes a step back from the edge with the Hei Hei Trail. Instead of a carbon version ...

By Adam Newman Ah yes, the Kona Unit. At once the least glamorous and most amorous model in the Kona lineup. A no-frills, knobby tire gateway drug for the masses. The Unit may be simple but it has changed through the years, and for 2017 Kona is showing off its versatility by swapping out the ...