Markus Ziegler Bronze Medal at 12 Hour World Champs on Kula Watt (German)

Posted on 06/17/2013 by eddy

Markus Ziegler vom Kona MTB Pro Team startete wieder bei der 12-Stunden Weltmeisterschaft in Weilheim in Oberbayern. Ziel war es, die größte Rundenanzahl innerhalb 12 Stunden auf dem 6 Kilometer langen und 100 Höhenmeter umfassenden Kurs zu bewältigen. Um acht Uhr in der Früh fiel der Startschuss bei bestem Bikewetter und die Fahrer machten sich auf den Weg. Ziegler fühlte sich recht gut und fuhr gute Rundenzeiten, doch es lag ein langer Tag vor Ihm. Bereits nach 3 Stunden fühlte er sich nicht mehr so frisch wie zu Beginn. Die Strecke verlangte auch alles ab. Lange Wiesenanstiege, flache Wurzelpassagen und steile Schotterpassagen raubten die Kräfte. Read More→

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Kona Super Grassroots rider Rae Gandolf wins her first race of the season

Posted on 06/17/2013 by eddy

The 2013 downhill racing season kicked off for both me and Snowshoe Mountain in wild, wonderful West Virginia on June 9th. Despite a rain-filled Friday, 160 eager racers piled in by the time of Sunday’s race. Friday was so wet I didn’t even bother to get on the trail despite being anxious to take my Supreme Operator on her first real DH run. By Saturday morning, the rain stopped and I began shimmying down the mountain trying to remember how to ride in the mud. I started to get my sea legs back on the second run but the conditions were exhausting. Things really started to tack up in the afternoon though, allowing eagerness to replace trepidation in the corners, rocks and jumps. Come Sunday, I was having some fun and the weather and views were fabulous, but still didn’t feel like the winter cobwebs had cleared. Thankfully, my chakras somehow realigned by race time – me and my Supreme Operator streaked effectively down the mountain and my legs held up where they needed to cross the finish line in first place in women’s elite class. I don’t recall ever starting the DH season in with a win; I must admit I like it.

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UK Super Grassroots Rider Harry Steele – Process DL Edit

Posted on 06/14/2013 by joonas


Harry received his new Process DL this week, in this latest video he rips up his local trails with style.

Posted in Downhill, Freeride, Grassroots, Kona Europe, Kona UK, Videos | Leave a comment

Fort William, my World Cup #1, by Gregoire Pazdziorko

Posted on 06/14/2013 by joonas


I was so exicted to start the World Cup season especialy with the new junior ranking. This will be my main goal for this season. I’ve been training hard during the off- season, and this first stop will be a good indication of my level. Fort William (Scotland) is a massive event and I was looking forward to jump on my new Kona Operator to ride all those high speed sections. The athmosphere there is unreal and the track is rough but fantastic to ride. Read More→

Posted in Belgium, Downhill, Grassroots, Kona Europe, Racing | Leave a comment

Kona Store Finland 2013

Posted on 06/14/2013 by joonas

Posted in Bikeparks, Finland, Kona Europe, Shop of the Week, Videos | Leave a comment

Joe Schwartz – Washington Road Trip

Posted on 06/14/2013 by eddy

I hate road trips. Especially trips to awesome new zones to go bike riding. They are a blur of teases: quick, sneaky peaks into great scenes that you previously didn’t even know existed. One short day of checking the area out, maybe a few if you’re lucky, and you are on to the next spot, fantasizing about pulling up stakes, quitting your job and moving to your new-found riding centre of the universe. And if the road trip is anything like the one I just got back from, the next little haven you pull into will have the same effect, making you wonder just what life would be like if you never left this freshly-discovered Shangri-La of bicycling.

My girlfriend Rachel and I left from our home in Vancouver on a trip into Washington with four bikes and one goal: ride a lot. The plan was to minimize the driving by staying in one small corner of Washington State, and riding our road bikes and mountain bikes everyday in a new area. The loop we planned took us through the North Cascades National Park, through Winthrop, down the arid and beautiful Okanogan and Columbia River valleys, up over to Leavenworth, detouring over Stevens Pass to Snoqualmie, and finally back up to Bellingham to end off the six day excursion. No one day did we drive more than two hours, and every day we got in a scenic road ride and a sweet mountain bike ride (or two). In other words, six days of being teased and tantalized by some amazing areas in this part of the state. Read More→

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New york Times: Grinding on the gravel video

Posted on 06/13/2013 by eddy

Cyclists looking for a challenge are testing themselves at events like the Dirty Kanza 200, one of a growing number of gravel grinder races on Midwestern country roads.

Posted in Advocacy, cyclocross, Videos | Leave a comment

Hei Hei Supreme Reflections – “A well balanced carbon trail killer.”

Posted on 06/11/2013 by mitchell

We recently received this spot of feedback from Neil Adams, a longtime mountain bike industry guy and shredder who currently works at The Path Bike Shop in Orange County, CA. Neil sells lots of brands beside Kona, and his “reflections” are most welcome, we’re very proud of the Hei Hei Supreme and all it’s capable of. Read More→

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Kona Team riders Antoine Bizet and leo delfour barsaq invited to Crankworx Les Deux Alpes

Posted on 06/11/2013 by eddy

WHISTLER, BC – June 11, 2012 – The rider invites for the Crankworx Les 2 Alpes Slopestyle, presented by iXS have been sent to 28 of the world’s best freeride mountain bikers. The Crankworx Les 2 Alpes Slopestyle, presented by iXS will take place for its second year and is a gold-level stop on the Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) World Tour. This year’s event in France will feature the top 24 athletes on the 52 week FMBA seeding list as well as four additional athletes who have been extended special invites for the event.

“So far this spring we’ve seen some amazing performances on the FMB World Tour. Sam Pilgrim and Brett Rheeder have been battling for the top spot on the podium for most of the season. Read More→

Posted in DirtJump, Freeride, The Team | Leave a comment

bike four peaks stage 4: cory wallace

Posted on 06/09/2013 by wicks

The final stage of the tour started with a flat 50 km ride down an asphalt bike path. The first 25 km of this was sketchy as we had over 300 riders onto the fairly skinny bike path. It was a non stop battle to keep your position as riders were overly excited to get rolling and had there elbows flying. There was also a lot of fresh cow pies getting splattered everywhere as the cows seem to spend a lot of time travelling up and down the bike routes in Austria. On one steep descent we caused a mini stampede with 4 cows running beside us. One was raging and flinging his legs and fresh cow crap everywhere. Lucky for us the holy cows kept to there own today and let us riders through. More here

Posted in Austria, Dan & Jake, Germany, Kona Europe, News, Racing, The Team, XC | Leave a comment

Cory Wallace – 4 Peaks Stage 3

Posted on 06/09/2013 by eddy

Stage 3 was considered the “Queens stage” of this years race as it rolled 82 km over two mountains between Kirchberg & Kaprun (Host of the 2002 World XC Championships). All the beds were taken in Kirchberg so we backtracked to Lofer to spend the night. This would’ve been a splendid plan but the recent flooding and road closures meant the 38 km drive turned into over an hour. No big deal right? Except for the fact when we drove by the start line at 8:10 am this morning there were already hundreds of racers lined up. By the time we had our bikes together and pulled up to the line at 8:30 it as very clear we were going to be starting at the back. Already screwed we figured we should at least get a warm up in and hopped on one of the thousands of bike paths in Austria and tried to get the legs fired up for the huge climb up and over a 2000 meter peak to start the day. Read more.

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Cory Wallace – 4 Peaks- Stage 2

Posted on 06/06/2013 by eddy

Hopping in a cold shower this morning I new it was going to be a good day on the bike as my body embraced the freezing water. Yesterday my body shied away from the cold shower. I’m starting to figure the response to the cold shower is a sign of how much my body will adapt to the suffering on the bike that day. The whole cold shower idea came about last week during the Alpen Tour when our team masseuse Katharina started giving me a bad time about starting so slow every stage. She told me in a very a matter of fact way that a cold shower is necessary first thing every morning to properly wake up. It seems to be working. Read more

Posted in Racing, The Team, XC | Leave a comment