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Got an adventure up your sleeve? Or a creative way to do projects? Or perhaps you just really love Kona. If you’ve ever wanted to be a Kona Ambassador, now is your chance. The brand has just posted their call for entries to be a 2020 Kona ambassador. Head to the Kona Blog to see how you can enter…
Nevada City is located in the western Sierra foothills in California. If you were to drive from San Francisco to the sleepy little mountain bike destination town of Downieville, chances are you’d roll right through Nevada City. It’s this gateway location that prompted Jay Barre to open a new bike shop, named You Bet.
Russ and Laura from Path Less Pedaled take out a Kona x Swift Adventure Co rental bike to the San Juan Islands outside of Seattle to ride and paint the landscape with water color artist Chris McNally.
Look, e-bikes are polarizing but over the past few months, the users I’ve met on the trail are always the ones with a physical ailment like a vet who lost feeling in his leg from shrapnel while overseas, or the woman in her 50’s who just can’t do the climb as well anymore due to a hip surgery. I think the more we realize e-bikes open the door for more users, the better off we’ll all be. Sure, there will always be people who abuse power, but I just hope the positives can outweigh the negatives. Man, that’s a lot of battery puns in one post!
Check out the Kona Remote 160 at your local dealer!
This animated short features Kona Ambassador Gretchen Leggitt and friend Robin Kodner, as they embark on a 900km bike tour, with their bikes jammed packed with climbing gear. They rode from Bellingham, Washington to climb in the Bugaboo mountains.
With only 201 models in circulation, this Swift Industries x Kona Rove ST is a very limited edition project. Built for touring, the Rove ST comes with a limited edition headbadge, Tubus Tara Big Apple front Lowrider rack, fenders with mudflaps, limited edition Swift Industries bags, and Shimano’s GRX 600/800 group. If you’re in the Seattle area, you can rent this bike from Swift Adventure Co. Check out more photos below and all the details at Kona.
There aren’t a whole lot of options on the market for those seeking a rigid MTB for shredding trail or bikepacking on. So when a brand like Kona, with their expansive dealer network, puts out something like the Unit X, it piques our interest. With a 29 x 2.6″ wheel platform, multiple bottle bosses, including on the fork, a compact geometry for easier mounting, and SRAM Eagle gearing, it seems like a no-brainer for those looking to make their home trails a little more engaging, or for someone trying to tackle singletrack touring. See more information at Kona.
Hardtails. Antiquated examples of mountain bike technology to some but to others, they’re liberated and simplified machines. Each year, I plan on riding a full suspension in Downieville, yet I always end up bringing my hardtail for one reason or another so this year, I took a look at just some of the bikes that were rolling around this Gold Rush town.
We’d like to give this video another little nudge, after featuring it in the post about Ben and his Kona which he used on this trip.
Equipping an Amateur Bikepacker (and Professional Filmmaker) for the Peruvian Andes
Photos and words by Morgan Taylor
When most people think “I’d like to take on my first bikepacking trip,” they don’t think of going to the Peruvian Andes. Well, most people aren’t my friend Ben Johnson. Ben’s a filmmaker and a storyteller, and once an idea gets into his head, it’s hard to shake him of it.
Ben had long been following Ryan Wilson’s work here on the site, and lusted to pedal in the high mountains of Peru. With another film project taking Ben down to Lima, the flights were paid for, and the idea of this side trip and a passion project was sparked.
Lots of people ask Stephanie and me for advice about bike traveling and we’re happy to help. Ben came to us with an ambitious plan, a short timeline to get a bike built, and enthusiasm through the roof. He needed help.
I had recently transitioned away from full-time work to focus on creative projects: the right place and the right time to help Ben get set up for his adventure in the Andes. I’m happy to present the film here, and will get into the details of the bike build below.
Kona Big Honzo CR/DL Carbon: Good Hardtails will Never Die
Words and bike photos by Locke Hassett, action photos by Spencer Harding
Blurred lines seem to be all the rage in the bike industry these days, and with every season, a new category seems to evolve. Gravel, Adventure, Downcountry, trail…yadda yadda. While this constant categorization is overwhelming, it also means that bikes are simply getting better. Then over here in the corner, sipping scotch while the kids play beer pong and try to “find themselves”, is the humble hardtail MTB. This has been elaborated on to a great extent on this site, so I’ll spare you the poetic wax. Sure, a few folks out there are pushing the boundaries of what to expect with hardtail geometry, with huge forks and headtube angles more suited for plowing a field than climbing a fire road, but for the most part, we can look to the hardtail for consistency.
So, what happens when a company known for rowdiness and generally not caring too much about the status quo takes their tried and true hardtail model and releases a version with boxes checked for the modern consumer (read: big tires and carbon?) That’s what I wanted to find out by spending a few months with the Big Honzo CR/DL.
“Cold Smoking” meats at home is not recommended by The US National Center for Home Food Preservation. However, watching Washington State native Smokey shred his Kona Wozo in freezing cold conditions most definitely is.
Wendy’s Silk Road Mountain Race Bike is Now a Badass Commuter
Photos and words by Morgan Taylor
Conversations began early this year around what eventually became the Kona Rove LTD you see here. For the past five or so years, our friend Wendy – an accomplished ultra runner in a former life – has applied her endurance racing experience to big solo bike rides. In that time she’s explored southern British Columbia, completed the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, ridden through much of the south-east US, and raced her first ultra bikepacking event, the 2017 Transcontinental.
This year Wendy set her sights on the inaugural Silk Road Mountain Race in Kyrgyzstan, and we began to talk about what kind of a bike she might want to ride. She wanted drop bars, she wanted discs, she wanted steel, and she wanted bigger tires than the traditional road bikes she’d ridden in the past. These conversations led to a bike based around wide 650b tires and Wendy got scheming on a build.
… and they’re looking for everyone from trail rippers, to gravel riders, to roadies, to park rats and everything in between. Check out all the necessary information to see how you can apply at Kona!
Just over a week ago, I was meant to be racing this bike, in my first ‘cross race in a very long time. The Friday night before the race, I pre-registered to make things go more smoothly on race day, and had everything ready to go. As it turns out, I wasn’t going to make it to that race.
With two models, the Libre DL and Libre, Kona has released their most accomplished all-road bike to date. Both models feature carbon frames with adjusted build kits and are priced at $3,999 and $2,999 respectively. Head to Kona for more, your local dealer to check one out in person, and see the tech details in the above video.
This is wild. Of course, the bike is great, but the fact that this is the second time today the dream intro has been used is blowing my mind. See more actual bike information and less banter from me at Kona!
Shreddable geometry? Check. Three frame materials? Check. Components that last? Check. Chunky tires? Check. Good lookin’? Check. See more at Kona! Also, damn, that trail looks amazing!