It feels appropriate to pay homage. Kona had a solid 15-20 years there of being at the top of the game. The coolest riders, the raddest branding, the best bike names, innovative (if not always practical or reliable) bikes.
Circa 2009, I was a pre-teen who was becoming absolutely enthralled with mountain biking. Kona was the shit at that time. Two of my buddies had Stuff 2-4's which we all thought were sick. One kid in my town that we didn't know showed up at the dirt jumps on a fresh Kona Stinky, and we all judged jealously from our hardtail thrones as he struggled over the smallest tables. The local shop (s/o Freewheel Cycle, also since passed) distributed free Kona catalogs, and I spent dozens of hours poring over those pages - having done so in those neurodevelopmental years means that their images are still etched into my memory. Coilair, Dawg, Hei Hei, Hoss, Kahuna, Lisa, Minxy, Stinky, Stab, Shred, Stuff, Five-O, Jake's, Humu's, I could go on but those are highlights. I recall checking konaworld.com every day in the summer to see if next year's bikes had dropped onto the website yet. I never owned a Kona myself but I always wanted one to be sure.
After the Magic Link bikes flopped, the Process series crushed, being ahead of their time and fun to ride at a time when that still didn't seem to be an emphasis for most bike companies. Also s/o to the Entourage of that time, the Stinky successor released as a last-ditch effort to keep freeride alive.
I have to say that as much as corporate takeover will be blamed for this loss (and I don't disagree), we must acknowledge that mountain biking itself (and mountain bikers themselves) have changed over these last 10 years where Kona's cachet began to wane. DTC's have flourished in market where Kona's were routinely bagged for their poor spec value "me: but it's a Kona". The average mountain biker now probably doesn't want to be on a bike called the Dudu, Stinky, or Coiler, in this age of vague buzzword names like Torque, Slash, SBxxx and HD6 (RIP Mojo).
It's true that our market is over-saturated with similar options and brands pumping out near-identical products with different stickers on the downtubes, but it's sad to lose a brand that soared so high and has been here since the beginning.
April 19, 2024, 9:14 a.m. - HMBA106
It feels appropriate to pay homage. Kona had a solid 15-20 years there of being at the top of the game. The coolest riders, the raddest branding, the best bike names, innovative (if not always practical or reliable) bikes. Circa 2009, I was a pre-teen who was becoming absolutely enthralled with mountain biking. Kona was the shit at that time. Two of my buddies had Stuff 2-4's which we all thought were sick. One kid in my town that we didn't know showed up at the dirt jumps on a fresh Kona Stinky, and we all judged jealously from our hardtail thrones as he struggled over the smallest tables. The local shop (s/o Freewheel Cycle, also since passed) distributed free Kona catalogs, and I spent dozens of hours poring over those pages - having done so in those neurodevelopmental years means that their images are still etched into my memory. Coilair, Dawg, Hei Hei, Hoss, Kahuna, Lisa, Minxy, Stinky, Stab, Shred, Stuff, Five-O, Jake's, Humu's, I could go on but those are highlights. I recall checking konaworld.com every day in the summer to see if next year's bikes had dropped onto the website yet. I never owned a Kona myself but I always wanted one to be sure. After the Magic Link bikes flopped, the Process series crushed, being ahead of their time and fun to ride at a time when that still didn't seem to be an emphasis for most bike companies. Also s/o to the Entourage of that time, the Stinky successor released as a last-ditch effort to keep freeride alive. I have to say that as much as corporate takeover will be blamed for this loss (and I don't disagree), we must acknowledge that mountain biking itself (and mountain bikers themselves) have changed over these last 10 years where Kona's cachet began to wane. DTC's have flourished in market where Kona's were routinely bagged for their poor spec value "me: but it's a Kona". The average mountain biker now probably doesn't want to be on a bike called the Dudu, Stinky, or Coiler, in this age of vague buzzword names like Torque, Slash, SBxxx and HD6 (RIP Mojo). It's true that our market is over-saturated with similar options and brands pumping out near-identical products with different stickers on the downtubes, but it's sad to lose a brand that soared so high and has been here since the beginning.