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

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

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

Conscience Coffee

Advantages: Fairtrade, ethical business, reasonable product
Disadvantages: Bit bland, not full bodied as rivals or real ground coffee

...I really love the taste and smell of fresh ground coffee, especially from Colombia or Costa Rica. There is a richness and distinctive aroma as you open the pack which just sets the taste buds tingling???..Alas, all too often it is simply not practical or best use of time to indulge in real brewed coffee so instant must suffice. Unfortunately in this sector of the beverage market price is often indicative of quality, and premium brand instant coffees almost always taste better than the standard or economy offerings. Having experienced enjoyable cups of Percol Fresh Ground Colombian Coffee I had high expectations from the instant variety: even more so since it was on offer at just over £2 for a 100g jar making it very competitive against other premium brands. The packaging with it?s familiar green green hue and prominent Fairtrade...

suehome 22.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Percol Fairtrade Instant Colombian Coffee

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

Coffee with my Tea!

Advantages: delicious, quite cheap
Disadvantages: coffee doesn't appeal to as much

...Drinking a cup of coffee for me is a rare thing. I will decide on a cup maybe once every six months but even then when I drink it I am left with an awful headache and I feel quite sick too. However I love any food product which tastes of coffe - thats a total different ball game! Whether its coffee revels, coffee cake or coffee cream, I love it! I was shopping for my dad at Tesco when I stopped in the cake aisle to pick up his Kiplings. My Dad loves Mr Kipling cakes but to be honest I am not ovely excited by them nowadays. However I did I notice a selection of Tescos madeira cakes which I feltl ooked a bit more appetizing!: lemon, cherry, marble, coffee! Oh wow, coffee cake! I hadn't had in ages, not since my Grandma and I baked one a few years back. I checked the price - £1.29. That seemed quite pricey, but it was a fair size, quite...

Amy69 10.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Tesco Iced Coffee Madeira Cake

Coffee with a Conscience?

Advantages: Good taste, cheap, sustainable development.
Disadvantages: Air miles?

...The particular Kenco instant coffee I am writing about is their 'Sustainable Development' variety. I could have asked Ciao to allow me to review this as a new product as this particular 'flavour' has not been reviewed, but as plenty of Kenco reviews exist I thought it would be okay (and less greedy) to simply review it in this category. I don't drink coffee much as I see it as a treat and I like my coffee strong enough for the spoon to stand up in, with (I use Elmlea light) cream. I also like it so hot it burns my lips, which is probably not too good for me, hence, the rare treat. Sustainability: I first tried this brand and type out about 6 months ago and was attracted to the fact that it boasts a 'Rainforest alliance' certificate and aids local farmers earn a fair deal. In fact the coffee comes from a cooperative in El Salvador...

paulhanton 08.04.2008 (09.04.2008) · Read review
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Review of Kenco Instant Coffee

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

Coffee Conundrum

Advantages: Quick and covenient with a reasonably convincing fresh brewed taste
Disadvantages: Brown sludge on the bottom, enormous amoeba like bag

...Whilst I like coffee, I'd hardly consider myself a coffee aficionado. I love the smell of freshly brewed coffee, yet I am content to drink good quality instant. Still, freshly brewed coffee at home is a treat. I'd heard about Lyons one-cup coffee bags. It turns out you can get a free sample (in fact, two free samples - there are two bags in the free sample pack - click here to get your own: http://www.coffeeperfection.com/our-coffee.php). I'm a sucker for free samples, so I filled in the e-form, and many weeks later (and I mean lots - maybe six weeks), these dropped through my letterbox. Each bag was enclosed in a foil envelope (presumably for freshness). Lyons helpfully give me advice on what they are 'perfect' for (I love that - as if I need to be told when the time is right for a one-cup coffee bag - if I'm 'at work...

mattygroves 09.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of Lyons Fresh Coffee Bags

Coffee with bite

Advantages: Tasty, strong alcohol content, not too expensive
Disadvantages: The weird bottle, leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste

...with Sheridan’s original written across it. The same label but this time oval shaped is stuck on the front of the fused bottles. The cap is a large black plastic umbrella shape with a round twist off lid on the front of it. Once you remove this you are greeted by two large holes that look like some kind of cannon staring you right in the mush just waiting to blast your nostrils off. Oh, it does tell you on the bottle that this is a coffee layered liqueur and it is a whopping 18.5% in the alcohol content. ~~~~~~WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THIS WEIRD BOTTLE?~~~~~~ Well, you are supposed to tilt your glass when you pour the drink and from one side of the now pouring bottle, you have some brown stuff oozing out and right next to it there is some weird milky looking stuff hitting your glass as well. Once your glass is full, you are then supposed...

deano_76 26.01.2003 · Read review
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Review of Sheridans Coffee Layered Liqueur