Kona Kula

Advantages: Great handling, climbs like a mountain goat
Disadvantages: Can be a handfull on rough, fast decents

...To date I've owned three Kona Kulas, spanning a perod of nearly ten years. I've ridden 100km marathons on one, ridden the trails of South Wales on one, and commuted on one, so from that you could surmise that I like the bike. Well yes I do, but as technology has moved on is there still a place for the Kona Kula in todays market place? When it comes to riding fast, smooth singletrack, either up hill or down, the Kula is superb. The bike climbs very, very well, and the twistier and tighter the singletrack gets, the more the bike excells. Fireroad climbs are eaten for breakfast, and the geometry of the bike is such that it can be thrown back down with gay abandon. However, once a few rocks start appearing, you'll need to sharpen up. There's no ploughing headlong through rock gardens on this bike. The back end will give you a swift kick...

Greasylake 22.12.2006 · Read review
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Review of Kona Kula

GT Aggressor XC2. What a Bike for the Money

Advantages: Strong Frame and Wheels, Tyres do not let go
Disadvantages: None really!!

...Bought this bike with my work cycle to work scheme. A great buy from Halfords. Excellent speck for the price and a very strong bike. I'm 18st 10 (253 ibs) and in my opinion this bike can handle this weight easily. Great colour Black with like a Pearlesent White, Very good speck components, Shimano Deore derauillers and Sram Truvatic Crank. Hydrolic Brakes and Discs. These will stop you instantly and do tare a little time to get used to or a flight over the bars could come along. These sqeak when covered in Muck and Water for the first few occasions, but when used this disapates. Wheels are Alex DP17 rims, Strong, Maxxis Ingnitor Tyres Grip like hell. Suntour XCR forks are ok for Cross Country riding, Not a great Jump fork, but hey Im no Jumper! (I think that if yoiu are lighter than me you could have some safe landings with these...

damo1401 07.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of GT Aggressor XC2 Mountain Bike

Kona Cowan Frame Review. Light, strong and lovely to ride.

Advantages: Excellent lightweight and bomb-proof frame. Strong durable components.
Disadvantages: Slightly pricey with mid-range components.

...In 2006 I purchased a 2005 Kona cowan frame that i could custom build. This review is based on my experience on using the frame rather than the full bike supplied by Kona. Despite this I can comment on the specification and value for money of the full bike. The best feature of this bike is certainly the frame, retailing at around £499 alone. The components on this bike are chosen based on there performance as jump bike components. Taking into account what this bike will be used for, all the components are strong and durable. The more you pay for bike components, the lighter and more efficient they become without sacrificing any strength. The components on this bike are fairly average when compared to the quality of the frame. Therefore I think the bike is a touch over priced at £1000 rrp, but certainly worth the money. The frame itself...

Jonny5Review 16.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Kona Cowan

Kona The King

Advantages: Singletrack, Marathon Machine
Disadvantages: Don't try jumping on it

...I already owned a Kona Kula, but the rocks of Glyncorrwg had finally wrecked my ageing body, and I needed a full suspention bike. I loved the sharp handling Kula, and so The King seemed the obvious choice. I wasn't to be dissapointed. I'm about 5'11" tall, and went for the 19" size. It fits like a glove. With "only" four inches of travel there are plusher bikes out there, but The King loves twisty singletrack, and that was the main reason for me going for it. This bike loves singletrack. There's enough travel to get you through the rockiest sections of Afan Argoed, and it climbs very well. It's by no means superlight, coming in at about 26lbs, but the bike rides light, and is a great marathon machine. I swapped the FSA wheelset, fo a Chris King wheel set I had lying around, and put the FSA set on the bike I ride to work. They...

Greasylake 05.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Kona The King

On Yer Bike!

Advantages: Great fun, slow, Harry loves it
Disadvantages: Noisy, siren is a pain

...Now, Harry isn't what I would call a daredevil. In fact, he's not into anything that moves too fast or does things that he doesn't expect to happen, pretty much like any 2 and a half year old I expect. So as you can imagine, I wasn't overly thrilled when I found out last year that Harry's great aunt had bought him a motorised motor bike. Please bear in mind last Christmas he was only 21 months old and consequently pretty small and unconfident, but nonetheless, the Halfords Mini Racer Bike was on its way to us courtesy of my parents. It wasn't something we expected to keep for long but funnily enough, its now become Harry's favourite ever toy! The Halfords Mini Racer Bike is available from the Halfords website, and in-store but I can't really say I have ever seen one when I have been into a Halfords. My brother works for Halfords...

mummy2harry 01.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of Halfords Mini Racer Bike

Kona NuNu, the beast with luminous stickers

Advantages: handles perfectly this is a great bike, useful on a range of levels
Disadvantages: no rear suspension so on rough tracks you have to stand to avoid jumping off saddle!

...Kona make a wide range of bikes so whatever level or type of biking you prefer then kona would be a great make for you to go for! i have had this bike for 4 years and it has continued to impress me throughout the duration i have ridden it. first off i just rode on the usual dry mud tracks, and have progressed onto forest riding and mud tracks. and now i have started to use my bike on jumps and fast downhill/uphill styles. before i had this bike, i had always had a specialized mountain bike, and these i found to be equally as good, they also make a wide range of bikes. so choosing a bike that was new to me was a big decision, especially one that came with a £600 price label at the time. when you go to buy a mountain bike at a shop, the assistant will normally ask you what you want to use your bike for, once you have answeredthat...

will-allen 04.03.2006 · Read review
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Review of Kona Nunu

Bottom end Kona. Take it for what it is.

Advantages: Quick, nippy, lightweight bike.
Disadvantages: Ride it too hard and it will break.

...Kona build some brilliant bikes... freeride, downhill, cross country, road and recreational. The Kona Fire Mountain is recreational also marketed as an entry-level Cross Country mountain bike. I bought the 2005 model for £450 in Halfords but I've seen the 2006 model for just £400 online at Evans Cycles. Older models can still be bought brand new from various suppliers and get knocked down dramatically in price. Now, I've owned this bike since May 05 and use it daily for travelling to and fro, and in that respect it's a very good machine, lightweight, quick and it looks great. But you have to remember that this bike is very much at the bottom end of the Kona range. The brakes are disc, which is good, as it gives great stopping power, but these are not fluid control brakes... they're cable controlled and brake 'cables' do have...

hilltophoody 06.02.2006 (07.02.2006) · Read review
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Review of Kona Fire Mountain

Kona Cinder Cone 2004

Advantages: Inexpensive, Respected Brand, Cool
Disadvantages: Some components need upgrading (but thats the fun 'aint it)

...The 2004 Cinder kone by Canadian Northshore manufacture's is uphholding a long tradition of stiff, light(ish) hardtail xc bikes. Previous cinder cones were steel but this model makes the transaction to 7005 butted aluminium , which saves weight without losing any of the feedback and stiffness. The front suspention is provided by a marzzochi mz race fork which is excellent for the price range of this beast. The fork is oil and spring dampened and is plush and resposive ideal for cruising over small rocks and rooty singletrack.The other selling point of this particular model is the shimano cable disc brakes. To be honest I have never really been a fan of cable discs, I find them spongy and unresponsive and prone to cable stretch, so they are the first things to be replaced with a nice set of mono minis. Other componentry on this ride...

mrchriswill 02.03.2005 (05.03.2005) · Read review
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Review of Kona Cinder Cone

Kona Stinky Primo

Advantages: Bombproof, it will take anything you throw at it and come back asking for more
Disadvantages: Bit on the heavy side at 40lbs but its not really an uphill bike

...I bought this bike about 3 months ago in the end of season sales for £2,000, the rrp on it was £2500. The bike is excellent, great build quality, super strong frame, takes so much abuse. The spec of the bike is superb as well, I've never seen a bike with such good components. The Marzocchi Roco rear shock is very plush and smooth through the whole travel range and still takes big hits. The Marzocchi 888 forks complement the rear shock well, they are soft in the first part of the travel but then ramp up to take the big hits. Sun Hill rims take everything you throw at them and the Shimano drive train and brakes are excellent, the shifting is crisp with no lag and the brakes will stop you on even the most vertical runs. The one downside is the weight, it is so much effort to pedal it up hills but it is defiantly worth it to ride this...

bikerider1 30.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Kona Stinky Primo

kona scab

Advantages: great bike for a good price
Disadvantages: tire clearance

...This is one of my favourite bikes. It is the perfect bike to upgrade, but it is also billiant with original parts. Thats what is so good I think- every one i've seen has been modified differently- some people have put on suspension, others disc-brakes. You don't have to upgrade this bike to make it good though. I've had this bike for 1 month now as new and all the parts are great. I especially like the bombproof frame, the grippy tyres, the brilliant V-brakes, the great pedals, the cranks and the cool handle bars (the list goes on). The minor weaknesses such as the tyre clearance only matter really to an absolute perfectionist. For normal people like me, there is nothing wrong with it. May I just say that this bike looks alot better than in magazines- the bike looks way better in real life. If you want a dirt/street/just about...

will52 28.06.2004 · Read review
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Review of Kona Explosif