THE BIG ISSUE FOUNDATION LONDON-TO-PARIS CHARITY BIKE RIDE
DAY 4, 25 July 2010: Paris, France
10:00 – Slept like a log last night and started the day with another great meal. Spend a little while shooting the breeze with Adrian the photographer, who was among those who didn’t get back to the hotel till 5am. He’s surprisingly chipper. One reason he doesn’t like being made the Big Issue Foundation’s poster-boy, he says, is that it makes him feel a little guilty, knowing that he actually got his life back together doing something he loved to do. It somehow didn’t seem hard enough. Maybe not, I think to myself, but everyone deserves a little luck along the way.
Read More→
THE BIG ISSUE FOUNDATION LONDON-TO-PARIS CHARITY BIKE RIDE
DAY 2, 23 July 2010: Caen to Evreux, France
9:45 – Because the idea is for the whole team to make its triumphal entrance into Paris together, the departures are staggered such that the fastest group leaves last. That gives us a chance to sleep in and enjoy our delicious breakfast at a leisurely pace, but it also means we’re impatient to hit the road some time before it’s our turn. I think Barrie is impatient too, because he leads us out of the parking lot about fifteen minutes early. Read More→
The Track in Cornwall
Wanting to try something different for the British August bank holiday weekend? why not take a visit to The Track near Portreath, Cornwall, they have a Bike Jam taking place with competitions, demo’s and the opportunity to ‘have a try’ if you haven’t been before. Spectators/new riders are more than welcome, The Track opens at 10am with the competitions starting at approx 2pm, it’s a nice fun day for all the family to come check the place out and see some of the countries top riders do their thing.
Spectating is FREE, general riding is £10 for the day and those wanting to enter the competitions pay just £3 to enter as many different competitions as they like. There will be dirt jumping and racing comps for the under 12′s, Under 16′s and Adults. As well as fun ones like longest skid, longest manuel and a high jump comp on the resi ramp. Sponsors KONA have supplied a great selection of prizes. The Track has it’s own onsite cafe and shelter – what more could you ask for?
For more details about The Track visit www.the-track.co.uk
A little bit of countryside, as we wait for the laggards to catch up. Only 36km to Portsmouth now
THE BIG ISSUE FOUNDATION LONDON-TO-PARIS CHARITY BIKE RIDE
DAY 1, 22 July 2010: London (Twickenham) to Portsmouth
6:35 – Leave for York House in Twickenham, 28km southwest of my place, hoping I don’t get lost along the way. It’s nice to be out before the traffic while it’s still cool.
7:35 – After following the directions of a few locals, arrive at York House right on time. Leave my battle-scarred cyclo-cross next to a bunch of shiny new road-bikes with pristine handlebar tape and go inside for registration and a second breakfast: bananas, fruitcake, granola bars and juice. At first, feel a little out of place in my trainers, t-shirt and mountain-biking shorts but, looking around, figure half the people there feel even more awkward in their tight spandex shorts.
Read More→
Dirk and Harvey with the Big Issue
Time seems to have sped up with the approach of the ride, and I depart Twickenham with the rest of the Big Issue gang Thursday morning at eight. I spent the last week getting the charity bike raffle up and running, resting up and replacing some worn parts on my
Kona Jake – a cyclo-cross bike I’ve ridden all over Europe. After six months of focusing on fundraising and regarding the trip with a certain detachment – no point thinking about the fun till the work is done – it’s exciting to think the pay-off is just around the corner.
On Sunday the 18th, my girlfriend Alexandra and I attended The Big Lunch at the House of St. Barnabas, a former residence for the homeless (established in the 1860s) now offering personal and professional support services for the homeless or those recently so. The Big Lunch is a UK-wide event designed to celebrate and promote supportive communities. It was attended by roughly one million people this year, and the St. Barnabas edition was organised in conjunction with the Big Issue Foundation (BIF), partly as an opportunity for the Foundation’s supporters to meet and get to know Big Issue vendors. Read More→
Matthew Willis with his Kona Jake ready to tackle the London to Paris charity bike ride in support of the Big Issue Foundation
The idea of cycling for charity came to me, via an acquaintance, shortly after I had returned to London from a long ride that took me from England across Europe to Turkey. I was fresh out of university, sleeping on a friend’s couch and looking for a job, and the challenge of raising £1300 as part of riding from London to Paris for the Big Issue Foundation seemed like an unnecessary test given the other things on my plate. “You’re going to have to let this one go,” I recall thinking to myself. Read More→
We’ve been working the design team hard here at Kona. Testing, drawing, refining, inventing, creating, coming up with entirely new models, while ensuring existing models are the best they can possibly be. In this series of 2011 Sneak Peeks, we get up close and personal with our product team on the why’s, how’s and wow’s of a few highlight bikes that will be hitting stores a few months from now.In this installment, we catch up with Freeride/DH product manager, Chris Mandell, offering up the first official, break-it-to-the-world look at our entirely new Downhill series…the Operator.
The bike looks like a four bar, what makes this different from a Stab or a Stinky?
This bike represents a whole new platform for us, and there are a lot of neat little details to discuss. The bike is a 4-bar. Tried and true, refined, rather than a “regurgitation with facelift” like many of the “new” designs currently hitting the market.
What new suspension characteristics are we hoping to achieve with this bike?
We set out to create a bike that was sensitive off the top and ramped up consistently throughout the travel. We also wanted a bike that maintained good suspension characteristics under heavy side load. Our test bikes have performed flawlessly in this department.
The pivots are massive, what’s the deal?
You noticed. We are using very large bearings and aluminum axles at every pivot. The main pivot and rocker pivot use the same bearing, an 6903-2RS1 with 17mm inner diameter, 40mm outer diameter and a width of 12mm. The chain stay to seat stay and seat stay to rocker pivots use 66200-2RS1 which has a 10mm inner diameter, 30mm outer and 9mm width. You’ll notice that the pivot bolts for chain stay and rocker pivots are in double shear. This feature adds a bit of complexity and cost to the frame but it greatly increases frame stiffness and bearing life. (Continue reading by clicking “Read More”)
Read More→
Step out and ride in style this Summer with the Kona Bikes Clothing offer. Purchase any 2010 Kona Bicycle up to £1,000 and receive £50 worth of free Kona clothing, OR purchase any 2010 Kona Bicycle over £1,000 and receive £100 worth of free Kona Clothing. From Dirt Jumpers, to Road and MTB, whatever your style of riding we’ve got the clothing to fit. The offer also extends to the Kona casual range of hoodys, shorts and tees, so you can look great on and off the bike.
Check out your local UK Kona Dealer
Please see in store for full terms and conditions.
Kona Bolt Aluminium Hardtail - £650
Kona Blink Steel Hardtail - £900
Kona Buffer Steel Hardtail - £1200
The 3 NEW UK hardtails are now in stock at your local Kona dealer. The 3 models have been designed specifically for the UK, with better braking (bigger disk rotors), longer travel forks (120mm) and geometry suited to trail centres and off road riding.
The Bolt kicks the range off with an Aluminium frame at £650, the Blink has a Kona steel frame at £900 and the Steel Buffer tops off the range at £1200.
Click HERE to view the BOLT in more detail
848kb PDF (Geometry & Specification)
Click HERE to view the BLINK in more detail
848kb PDF (Geometry & Specification)
Click HERE to view the BUFFER in more detail
848kb PDF (Geometry & Specification)
I had been waiting for my new Lacondeguy Inc. jump frame to arrive from KONA, since I first saw shots of the proto-type Andreu Lacondeguy had been testing. The frame has taken the proven SHONKY geometry and tweaked it into the best jump frame I have ever ridden. The use of Reynolds 835 Cromoly tubing has given the bike a real poppy feel in all riding situations, from small technical trails to big slopestyle jumps. The gloss black graphics on matt black make it really stand out against the norm.
The LACONDEGUY INC frame delivers everything KONA are renowned for, high quality rider designed riding machines.
I’ve also been building some new jumps, I needed some bigger stuff locally, photo’s below:
– Peran Clemence
Womens Pro Road Team Horizon Fitness and the Kona Zing Supreme Road Bike
Horizon Fitness Racing Team are a new women’s team from the UK who are already making a big impact on the racing scene. With fantastic riders the ranks, the team are riding the new all carbon
Kona Zing Supreme for 2010 are loving performance it’s giving them.
Team Manager Stefan Wyman first saw the Kona Zing Supreme frame at the bike show in Las Vegas in September 2009, and immediately got in touch with Kona to order them for this new team, ‘I loved the look of the bike. It’s really light, really stiff, and delivers everything we have been looking for.’
The first outing for the bikes this year was in the Bedford 2 day race.
The team finished the weekend having won every stage, plus the overall and team competition.
Over the coming weeks the team will continue their racing program in UK, plus riders will be racing in Belgium, Holland and France.
Double Stage winner of the Bedford 2 Day race Dani King said, ‘I couldn’t wait to get out on my new bike. It’s so much lighter than my previous bike, I really like it. I’m off to Holland to race in the next 2 weeks and it’s going to be perfect for the fast criterium racing I’ll be doing.’
Dani has already ridden in the Tour of Flanders for Great Britain this season, along with national team rides in Drenthe, Roeselare, and Dottignies.
Posted in Kona UK, Racing
|
The 2010 Mountain Bike racing season is now definitely upon us and although this may be the first official word you’ll have had on the all-new TORQ Performance team, a lot has been going on behind the scenes to make this happen. 2010 represents a new era of focus and dedication for the TORQ team and they’ve set their goals high…
Ben Gaby, the Marketing Manager for Kona, the ever-faithful frame sponsor says, “Kona Bicycles are delighted to be working with the TORQ racing team again for the 2010 season. We believe the team has the correct balance of focus and approachability, with some exceptional athletes that can tackle the diverse 2010 events calendar. The team will be riding the brand new Kona Kilauea carbon race hardtails, developed for the rigours of top mountain bike racing.”
Want to find out more about the UK’s highest profile XC team? Click HERE>>
Posted in Kona UK, Racing
|
