The latest installment from Kona has recently come our way and is once again jam packed with news and info on some great stories, competitions and happenings in the Kona world…

In an effort to make owning Kona’s new Entourage or Entourage DL 170mm DH/Freeride bike even more of a blast that it already is, we’ve created two super cool contests that offer purchasers of the bike both the chance to win great prizes, and FREE epic trips.

In North America we’re launching the Bring Your Entourage Sweepstakes. Get a Kona Entourage before June 30, 2012, register your warranty and the purchaser is automatically entered in the chance to win 1 of 12 GoPro HD HERO 2 cameras with freeride specific mounts, 1 of 2 RockShox Totem forks, 1 Easton Havoc 35 carbon bar and stem, 1 Easton Havoc wheelset, and 1 of 20 DVD copies of Anthill Films’ Strength in Numbers?36 individual prizes totaling nearly $15,000!

Go HERE for more info.

In Europe our Super Riding Weekend promotion entitles riders who buy an Entourage or Entourage DL before May 30th to a free weekend at either Leogang Bike Park, Austria, Laajauori Bike Park, Finland, or Les Arcs Bike Park, France.

Go HERE to find out more, then go visit your nearest
Authorized Kona Dealer to cash in on this great offer.

2013 Sneak Peek – The Rove, Kona’s New Drop Bar All-Terrain Time Machine

When it comes to “Monster Cross” or “Gravel Grinder” bikes, we wanted to design a ride that would excel on as many rough surfaces as we could throw at it. Everything from bumpy backroads to dusty highways, with all forms of irregularity in between. A bike that could go on a month long tour one day, ride to school the next, then race cross on the weekend. The Rove is all about filling that slot…or slots we should say. Featuring large tire clearance, eyelets for racks and fenders, and mechanical disc brakes, the Rove’s Kona Cromoly frameset is all about doing a lot with a little, and having boatloads of everywhere fun along the way.

Based on extensive testing in and around our Ferndale, WA product development offices?on everything from full-on singletrack to rough rural roads?we’re extremely happy with the versatility and ride feel of the bike. It doesn’t ride low, like some bikes in the category. It’s aggressive yet comfortable, nimble but sturdy. Priced at $1699USD, the Rove will be launched with Kona’s new 2013 collection and will be available late summer 2012. Go HERE for more.

Team Update – Kona’s Front Line Warriors Continue to Kick Ass

The Kona Team’s star-studded cadre of international pro cyclists continues to turn heads with solid results, incredible exposure and good time antics. We’ve got our young Aussie DH rippers tearing up tracks from South Africa to BC, our trifecta of freeriders, Aggy, Bass and Bizet continue to wow the world with their aerial antics, our Enduro team is hammering off to a great start, and the XC steeds are laying some serious heat on the competition. Go HERE for a full report on the Kona Team’s recent exploits.

Kona Announces 2012 Grassroots Line-up

Since Kona began its Grassroots Pro Development Program in 1990, we’ve helped hundreds of amateur cyclists take the next step in their competitive cycling endeavors. Some notable riders that started in Grassroots include Ryder Hesjedal, Geoff Kabush, Barry Wicks, and Ryan Trebon. Two current Team Kona athletes that got their start in the program include Graham “Aggy” Agassiz, and Antoine “Bizzy” Bizet. “New developments in cycling have always started at the grassroots level,” explains Jacob Heilbron, one of Kona’s founders. “Being in touch and working with up and coming athletes has driven just about every important new platform and model that Kona has introduced since we started building bikes in 1988.”

For the 2012 racing season, Kona’s Grassroots Program features over 60 riders in 10 countries. Disciplines include: Enduro, DH, XC, CX, Dirtjump and Freeride. The list is impressive, with representation from tween national DH contenders to Finnish Enduro athletes, French dirtjump upstarts to female teenage American cross-country rippers. Go to our Grassroots page to see a full list of riders, go to our COG to keep tabs on their exploits throughout the season.

Kona House of the Big Wheel Press Launch ? Tucson, Arizona

For the last six years Kona has been the title sponsor for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo, what has become one of the most revered 24-hour events in North America. For this year’s event ? our last as title sponsor ? we invited 15 of the world’s top mountain bike journalists to join us for four days of riding, racing and reviewing Kona’s high grade offering of 29-inch wheel cross-country and all-mountain bikes, highlights from our House of the Big Wheel collection: the King Kahuna, Hei Hei 29 Supreme, Honzo, Satori and Raijin.

Editors from UK’s Mountain Bike Rider and Privateer, the US’s Mountain Bike Action, Bike and Bicycling, France’s Velo Vert, Norway’s Terrengsykkl, and Belgium’s O2 Riders, as well as many other great publications, packed their sunscreen, lungs, legs and puffjackets as they readied themselves to race, ride and explore the epic singletrack of Arizona in February. The goal was not only to get some of the world’s top mountain bike journalists on great trails (riding great bikes), but to meet and ride with the people behind the bikes?our Kona USA sales staff, product managers, marketeers, and the always shred-ready Kona Team.

Watch the video now.

The Sinamatella Productions crew will once again be bringing the splendor of mountainbiking to the big screen across the country. And it is no surprise that once again the demand is greater than the initial supply and additional screenings had to be arranged…

Wow, you guys really want to see outdoor adventure and mountain biking on the big screen. Thanks so much for the support. We sold out the Strength in Numbers Premier in Cape Town in 6 hours! And Jozi is just about sold out too.

However we did get it in the neck from our KZN friends who are just as keen to see the film. So we’ve made some phone calls, jugggled some balls and are pleased to announce we’ll be hosting a KZN screening on the 30th May 2012 at Giba Gorge MTB Park.

And for all those Cape Townians who missed out and didn’t get tickets for the first premier, we got some good news. There will be another Strength in Numbers screening on the 25th May 2012 at the Labia on Orange Theatre.

Anthill Films spent two years working on the film, travelling to some of mountain biking’s most iconic locations in search of core action and compelling stories. Their mission was to capture the full diversity of the sport ? from the World Cup Circuit to back yard dirt jumps; from the largest bike park in the world in Whistler to remote high?alpine trails in Nepal; from the endless freeride lines in Utah to stunts built in the rain forests of British Columbia.

Here is the official trailer.

Tour Details:

Ticketes are now available at Webtickets for the following film premiers of Strength in Numbers in South Africa.

- 19th May 2012, Casterbridge Cinema, White River, 8pm

- 20th May 2012, Bioscope Cinema, Jozi, 7pm

- 24th May 2012, Labia Theatre on Orange, Cape Town, 8pm SOLD OUT

- 25th May 2012, Labia Theatre on Orange, Cape Town, 8pm

- 30th May 2012, Giba Gorge MTB Park, KZN, 7pm

Drinks and snacks will be available for purchase before hand. So gather your friends and loved ones and come join us for a great night out with some stunning images on the big screen.

Look forward to hosting you,

James & the Sinamatella Crew.

The cold winter has made it’s dry, bleak appearance in the Highveld recently and it somehow must have effected the spirits of the Gauteng DH community. The third round of the Gauteng DH provincial series took place last weekend, here are the results…

For the first time in a number of years the otherwise growing Gauteng DH community seemed to have been frozen into a state of limbo by the approaching winter. A rather lack luster turnout prevailed at the third round of the 2012 Gauteng DH provincial race held at the the Helderkruin DH track in Roodepoort. One can only speculate what the cause of this small turnout could be, seeing as Helderkruin is one of the favorite tracks in the Gauteng line up with it’s variety of interlinking tracks. Let’s hope this was a once off ‘freak accident’ and the rider tally picks up in the near future.

The overall results are as follows:

Less than a month after the release of our Rook slopestyle bike we’re excited to bring you news of our prototype dirt jump frame which will be unveiled at this week’s iXS Dirt Masters Festival in Winterberg, Germany…

An ongoing development project with newly signed Nukeproof rider Jack Fogelquist, the frame uses custom triple-butted steel tubing with a 44mm headtube, gold anodised alloy chain tension adjusters, an integrated gold alloy seat clamp and removable cable guides.

The frame, available in regular and long, is designed around a 100mm travel fork and uses geometry based on Jack’s personal setup. Priced at around the £350 mark we’ll be unveiling the full production model at this year’s Eurobike show.

You can get a sneak peak of the prototype version of the frame at this week’s iXS Dirt Masters Festival in Winterberg, Germany. For more information head to the Dirt Masters website.

Round 2 of the WP downhill series took place this weekend, with another new track added to the 2012 calendar. Zevenwacht DH was resurrected after 6 years of slumber, to host a very successful weekend of racing, with 85 riders taking part. The track was fast and flowy and not very technical – making it a lot of fun and suitable for DH riders of all skill levels.

Some features of the track included a gap over a decommissioned tin mine entrance, a big rock drop and a 12m table at the bottom. In between there’s some fast open sections with a couple of doubles and some rock gardens to round things off. Luckily the predicted bad weather stayed away all weekend and conditions were absolutely perfect for racing. Unfortunately though, race day produced 3 big crashes with Kyle Fletcher breaking his collar bone and dislocating his hip and Peter West breaking his arm in 3 places. We hope you recover soon guys!

Thanks to all the sponsors, all the organisers and everybody that helped with preparing the track.

Top 10 Overall:
1. Adi van der Merwe – 1.56.78
2. Duran van Eeden – 1.59.66
3. Theo Erlangsen – 2.00.39
4. Devon Katzen – 2.01.65
5. Robert Starke – 2.01.66
6. Dane Olsen – 2.01.74
7. Luke Davis – 2.01.87
8. Adriaan Smit – 2.02.35
9. Thomas Rood – 2.03.26
10. Luke le Roux – 2.03.46