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After a surprise stand shut down at Sea Otter and mass layoff of staff last month, Kona Bicycles has been bought back from Kent Outdoors by founders D ...
By stwhannah
Get the full story here:
https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/founders-buy-back-kona-bicycles/
That's a rare good news story. I started mountain biking on a Kona hardtail. would have been sad to see them go.
Positive news, I like that they're going back to a dealership model. It'll be interesting to see what happens at Halfords.
Good luck to them, I hope it does well.
long low slack explosif please.
long low slack explosif please.
Would sell if the price was reasonable.
Splatter paintjob or not?
Kupanaha!
It’ll be interesting to see what happens at Halfords.
I thought Halfords had stopped selling kona some time ago?
Good luck to the new/old owners, they've got a hell of a mess to clear up.
That is good news, hope they can retrieve the situation and keep my Process in spares for a while longer
I wonder what direction they'll take it in.
It'd be cool to see them do a retro-niche range, bring back bikes like the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a and some classic steel HT's rather than genetic hydroformed and carbon bikes that could be any brand.
I really want a humuhumunukunukuapua'a as a commuter 😂
What a great positive story to start the week 👍👍👍👍
bring back the 90/00s colourways!
Across the board! Dull bike colours make me sad.
Good news Kona btw.
So glad!
Just so happens I'm wearing this today 👍
Steel unit with sliding dropouts please
I hope they can make a success of it. They seem to occupy a difficult place in the market, they aren't boutique enough to compete with the likes of Yeti but they also don't have the buying power to compete with the big boys on vfm. They have to offer something unique to get people to buy. I'm not sure there are enough of us old duffers around for a retro theme to make sense.
I thought Halfords had stopped selling kona some time ago?
Ah right, shows how often I go into a Halfords branch.
I hope they can make a success of it. They seem to occupy a difficult place in the market, they aren’t boutique enough to compete with the likes of Yeti but they also don’t have the buying power to compete with the big boys on vfm.
They're big enough to do what they like but not be hampered by VC ROI. Plenty of staples with room to say **** it and make a Humu or Bikehotrod.
Brilliant news!
They seem to occupy a difficult place in the market
Too right. Copious history aside there’s not a single bike they make that makes me want to buy it.
That’s a very brave decision!
They are going to have to do some clever marketing to get market share
Looking at the last 5 years or so, I don't think they'll be doing much on the mountain biking side, focus seems to be on the gravel and utility market.
If they keep the line up small and focused (HT, Trail, Enduro maybe Gravel)
As Podge suggests, I'd expect gravel to be one of their biggest segments.
Plus hardtails, utility bikes and maybe about three FS bikes?
As someone else said, bring back the Process 111 (give it 120mm though) - and also a 140mm/150mm all-mountain Process and 160-170mm enduro Process.
I'm sure their current bikes ride well enough. But they need to work on the aesthetics of the FS frames a bit IMO
Indeed having original folk involved may improve the somewhat 'average' MTB products they seem to be offering of late.
Their gravel / touring bikes are still the shizzles, with ace paint jobs. 👍
It's hard to know what bikes sell well, gravel is popular but is it still a niche within a niche?
A Humu & a hotrod are cool, but how many would they actually sell?
Bottom of the range hardtails probably shift more units 😉 than anything else
Also ebikes are something that the industry is obsessed with, but kona have never been big on, worth the investment?
Likewise fashion at the moment is high pivot for enduro /DH, that's a lot of effort to build one from scratch
They also make quite a few kids bikes, worth it? Also 2 fat bikes
My take
Gravel- oroborous
Bike packing - steel unit
Commuter - dew
Hardtail - aluminium lava dome
Hardtail - carbon kula
Hardcore ht-honzo
Xc - hehei / 111
Trail- 140mm fs
Enduro - 160mm fs
Freeride- stinky!
A regular & a dl spec of each one, so that's 20 bikes in the range
(if the new old owners are reading this my consultancy fee for this is a new stinky)
gravel is popular but is it still a niche within a niche?
I believe it's still dominating drop-bar bike sales. But our resident industry people may be able to confirm/deny.
Forgot about eebs, they'll want a couple of those as well obvs.
If they keep the line up small and focused (HT, Trail, Enduro maybe Gravel) and bin the mass market stuff at the bottom of their catalogue, they could really make a comeback.
I would have thought they'd need the "Halfords" market to keep the lights on. It's got to be easier to make money selling tens of thousands of £500-£600 bikes that you design once and then have shipped straight from the factory to chain stores. Than it is to sell a few hundred Enduro bikes that takes months of R&D.
As someone else said, bring back the Process 111 (give it 120mm though) – and also a 140mm/150mm all-mountain Process and 160-170mm enduro Process.
I’m sure their current bikes ride well enough. But they need to work on the aesthetics of the FS frames a bit IMO
I don't know, I'm sure they can make a good FS bike, but in a crowded market who'd buy it? Performance bike sales are going to be driven by being the best and can they really compete with Spesh, Trek and other big brands etc on that basis? They were literally having to sell them BOGOF a few months back.
If they try and be the "best" at something a bit more niche they could have more success. e.g. a lot of people would buy a quality steel road bike that weighted 1lb more than the aluminum version with some luggage/guard mounts. I'm not sure they could make a successful carbon race bike though (they've tried before) because very few people would buy a bike 95% as good as a mainstream brand just because it says Kona on the downtube.
They’re big enough to do what they like but not be hampered by VC ROI. Plenty of staples with room to say **** it and make a Humu or Bikehotrod.
+1
Make enough bred and butter bikes to keep the lights on.
And make enough wierd / nice stuff to keep the "brand" from becoming stale.
A Humu & a hotrod are cool, but how many would they actually sell?
To an extent I doubt they need to. It's like £10k road bikes, they don't make them to sell huge numbers, they make them so people will walk into their shops and buy the £500 bike and a bit of the premium brand feeling rubs off on it.
I've never seen a Hot Rod in the real world, and only ever seen one Humuhumunukunukuapa'a but they're still pretty iconic and a bit part of their brand identity it seems. In the same way "Lance Armstrong rides a Trek" probably still sells more commuter bikes to people who don't even know he was stripped of his Yellow Jerseys than it ever did Madones.
A 170mm process, if it was light enough, might make me think about moving on from my alpine.
I suppose I didnt consider whether they need to offer a carbon & aluminium version of their FS bikes, thats probably adding 10 more bikes to the range
+1 for a new Explosiv. Or Cindercone.
Steel, obvs.
Threaded BB.
No internal-routed stems or headsets.
And none of the other bolloxy propriety stupid non-standard standards the bike industry forces on people.
Paint job - I'll leave that to the artists. But I do like the jungly graphics of the late 90's, like on my first Cinder Cone.
A Kona was the first long-travel fs bike I rode, it was great, and then the brand just seemed to evapourate in this part of the world, I haven't seen a new one in years. Other on the thread seem to hanker after the steel hard tails, I still see the brand as huge rocker driven coil shocks and frames as solid as they look.
Will they bring back the Dawg and the Stinky?
Oh, please, please, please!!! Rode several Stinky's in BC when I had family over there, even shipped one over here. Always hankered after a Dawg but never had the disposable to justify the expense.
Really great news and I wish them every success!
hell, this thread is full of rose tinted spectacles!
A Dawg, for gods sake!
I have ALWAYS wanted one of those old twangy Explosifs. The kind of flex that’s illegal now…bring it back
Haha, if it had 29in wheels, through axles, disc brakes and (say) a 120mm fork it might need to be a touch less noodly than the old ones.
Hanamahoonamakaka please, but 29.
hell, this thread is full of rose tinted spectacles!
A Dawg, for gods sake!
True.
I'm waiting for someone to want a Sex...
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Th "A". The full suss with a pivot aound the BB so you could single speed it without a tensioner. Classic. Though probably not currently a viable product line!
A Dawg, for gods sake!
Oi! the 2008 Dawg was a banger, 
Scandium frame, 5 inches of travel, loads of standover, ha & reach (ett back then) were same as my mates spesh enduro a size up
https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/mountain-bikes/kona-dawg-review
Was my first enduro race bike and so much fun
When I retired this I test rode a Bronson that was getting amazing reviews at the time and was distinctly undwerwhelmed, in the end I bought a a Process 153 and never looked back
