Konaworld - Episode #4 - Built To Last

Konas for life! Long Live Konas! Sadly I'm gonna get loads of neg props because of all bs Pinkbike Kiddies here that hates Konas. Wonder if they ever will outgrow their Kona hate?

i got a few mates that still ride the old stab supremes ( i think its stabs ) with the bent downtubes !

Did anyone watch the vid about John Cowan? Made me smile, it was pretty funny.

i got an 06 kona coilar and iv tride but it will not break haha

konas are gash. i snapped mine clean in two after 1 year of riding. after seperating my shoulder id never buy one again. they need to sort it out

On the issue of Kona Quality.....

Just look at the demographic of persons buying and riding Kona's...
They are very diverse, but alot are wreckless riders that feel the best display of skill is "going big", and riding drops to flat... Kona is well marketed towards these individuals as it is seen as a cool brand that is affordable... Do you see any punk like riders riding Santacruz??? Intense??? Devinci??? Giant!!! Well some yes, but essentially NO... As these rigs are out of reach for most inexperienced riders.... So they get a stinky, ride it like they think they are smooth and presto... They then appear to have issues when others dont... Bottom line, there are more Konas out there being ridden into the ground and in a super crap fashion than Santacruz, Intense, Devinci, Giant and Specialized... Thats because of marketing not a faulty build or quality...!!!
I have had 2 konas in my lifetime, and no issues with the build of the bike just components... Kona's are solid... Thats the facts...

The John Cowan one is priceless.

The Bass is there best bike!!

I've seen issues with the Full suspensions. The hardtails can usually take a beating. Or the old school steal frames, those were wild.

Konas for LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kona bikes are not horrible, they do the job and are reasonably priced. However, that position worked well a few years ago, but now since the industry has really taken off, it seems that Kona along with some other companies were left in dust. They have not innovated in any way that shows that they are truly trying to improve their products to stay competitive in the market. Norco was also stuck in this position for a while, but recently they have made quite a bit of effort to improve their products while still maintaining good pricing. Now recently with the costs of good increasing, and the slump in the economy, many companies were forced to re-assess their products in order to stay competitive. In the cycling industry there were really only two choices; either cut quality to keep the prices the same, or increase prices slightly to maintain the same quality. While some companies like Specialized chose the latter and were forced to increase prices slightly to continue to produce the same caliber of product. Instead, Kona decided to cut costs and produce an inferior product. To the un-informed consumer, a Kona bike seems to be a better deal, the price is still cheap, and it still appears to be a good product. As a bike shop employee for many years, I have seen many bikes come through our doors, and since 2002 when we became a Kona dealer, I have seen next to no improvement in the product, and I have seen a decline in the quality and spec of their bikes. One of the best examples is their tubesets, their high-end frames used to be made from Easton RAD or easton Scandium tubesets, but they have no switched to a "Kona" tubeset or a "Kona Scandium" tubeset. And yet they are still charging the same amount of money for the bikes. For 2009 they have also started to use more and more house brand components, including stems, seatpost, and bars. Now this isn't always a bad thing, many other companies have done this in order to cut costs, but the products that Kona is putting out are of inferior quality, a quite honestly don't look very good either. I have nothing personal against Kona, I have unfortunately owned 2 of their bikes in the past when I first started riding. There are other issues I could go on about, but in my opinion Kona is a brand that has lost their way, and really need an infusion of ideas in order to become respected within the industry. It is unfortunate that there are still people that believe that Kona bikes are good, because in many respects they are only a few steps away from being in the gutter with Schwinn.

If it ain't broke don't fix it....but nothing lasts forever. I am on my third Stinky now...four-bar linkage is so comfortable to me, I will stay Kona for Life!

f*ck ALL THE KONA HATER OUT THERE KONA-WORLD FOR LIFE BITCHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah ive had 4 Konas and they have all been great bikes, although i have witnessed them snapping, many due to people usuing wrong size forks and there-so claiming that the frame was crap, when really it was there own fault.

I fully agree with you gays. The reason Kona is loosing that people who did not really test it are catching the marketing slogans. VPP is the best, DW-Link is the best, no no no, Maestro is even better of the best bla bla bla.
The products are very, very good but only because they look more less the same people think there was no innovaton and no progress. And there was and is. Hudge!!!!
The bikes are different and better every year and at least as good as top other brands like Santa or Iron and Turner.
But that how "we" are so Kona must implement new suspension design to get beack on truck even though the system will not be better but......NEW.

i used to like KOna until i snapped my stinky frame, so i can guarantee you that they are not built to last

thanks for deleting my comment mods... Way to let me have my freedom of speech and right to my opinion.