Will more companies be shutting down in the next 12-24 months?

Wonder who denied my warranty claim for the broken rocker link?
The overlords...or the former overlords turned new overlords?  

They're one of only a few companies still making a full 27.5" 150mm bike so I kinda need 'em to get their act together.

Ya when the workforce was presumably gutted during/after the sale customer service was a nightmare during the BOGO sale (and I don't even blame them at that point). But we had issues dealing with a bike shipped out with some factory issues. That said, hope everything goes back to normal so I can keep the two Konas I own with less worry.

In an ideal world I would just have a 2016 Process 167 and 111 and just absolutely run them into the ground. Just keep servicing the suspension and stealing hubs from the gravel market if needed. Oh how I wish those bikes were released within the boost/metric era. Though I know the modern Hei Hei and X model are decent. Just not as old school and fun.

Just been looking at old Stinkys and I reckon a modern geo Stinky with the same silhouette as the old one and horst link. 

65 HA - 110mm model

64 HA - 155mm model 

63 HA - 175mm model 

Also an all steel- full sus- 130mm honzo ESD 

Do it Kona.  I'll test them for ya

Serious question: what makes you think that the same ownership that made Kona go from a very well-known go-to brand in mid 90s-00s to decline during 10s/20s (with some outstanding models nonetheless) a better company now?

Honzo with Boxxers. Do it now

This is my question, especially when the former owners have already hung up their spurs once and chosen to retire. I hope they put 100% into Kona 2.0, but my brain is suspicious until I see it. Running a bike company seems like a constant drinking-from-a-firehose situation, and they're coming back from sipping Mojito's on the beach, living off that corporate sell-out money. That's a tough transition.

Well I think the sad thing is they were still trying to offer what the market is buying. Hence ditching certain models in 275 or modernizing bikes too much. And they had a LOT of models and potentially a LOT of inventory not selling, positioning them much worse during post-covid than the other brands that were already only offering marketable bikes.

imo they were making worthy bikes as late as 2019. I'm not sure if the issues that occurred following were slightly determined by covid or were already ordered and being delivered before anything changed. But the bikes seemed very 'not Kona' and very 'every other bike in the industry but with LDSP and shorter chainstays' which is not the best sales platform.

I guess that's the issue with having a reputation that is very 'anti-mainstream' but still needing to pander to the mainstream to stay afloat. Almost like half the Kona fanbase legit wants a 2010-2015 bike, and the other half wants the Kona logo and paint colors but doesn't want to ride an 'outdated' bike. So whadya do? Sell modern bikes but still be seen as basic and overpriced... Or double down on kooky old school bikes that are seen as niche? Doing both will be very challenging financially/logistically.

I'd love to know, at least from here given it's some form of data sampling, what a Kona consumer wants. I know what I want but I also know it will never be made so lol... Won't even bother. That said, I thought the 2020 p153 and p134 were tremendous. Especially the 153 in carbon. Nothing wrong with those bikes. But the recent redesign was a step too far for Kona fans imo

I don't think Kona was pigeonholed by their lineup at all, as most manufacturers have some  models that are more conservative, and others that are newer and more cutting edge. I feel like they just fell behind in value compared to some of their competitors. Ibis had smoking deals on AF models, Spesh had the Status and the Stevo deals. Giant was selling a bunch of aluminum Trance X's. On average the Proccess bikes were about $1k more for a similar build. 

All the while DTC brands were doing well, and other big companies were aggressively expanding their dealer network.  The local shop that Sold Pivot and Kona closed last year, so I would be looking at traveling a considerable distance just to buy a bike with not as good value and obviously less widespread dealer support. Not a very good value proposition overall IMO.

I definitely see d2c as being an issue when Kona is known for their mid range maybe more than most brands. Especially when you consider they're just simple borderline old school LDSP frames. So if you want a cheap bike, just alloy LDSP, you have a number of options whether its Polygon or Commencal. And if you want a high end carbon bike, chances are you are a Santa Cruz or Speshy customer more so than Kona's carbon LDSP frames. And potentially the person to dork out on VPP or DW or this and that.

But I feel like I'm missing the timeframe that people are regarding Kona in when comparing. Because if I just take a basic model such as a Yari-equipped P153, over the years, the pricing has been relatively stable this whole time. And when the overall spec faltered a bit the price usually fell too accomodate it, such as the meh 2020 build released just prior to covid. I guess people are talking about way before all this. Pre-2010 or even pre-2000. Dunno.

I still see the issue more as... The entire industry going a certain way and Kona feeling like they're in the middle of tug of war of making the same bike as everyone else versus continuing to support short chainstay small wheel bikes they're known for but aren't selling well overall.

I hope Kona makes it, but the old-new ownership needs to bring in some fresh energy. They weren't exactly killing it after Mandell left. Kona, WTF Happened?

Kona should revive the spirit of the Process 111 in a 127. Norco weirdly sold out the Optic to the high pivot gods, so there's a wide open opportunity. Bring back a legend.

I love that its a TeamRobot article

I would kill to have my name tangibly attached to the Process, Honzo, Operator, and Entourage models. What a legendary impact on a company. Def not gonna say Kona nosedived in 2016 and on but interesting to see where things went and how they changed after Chris' departure.

Bring the stab back, dump that hideous rocker on the operator. Get Barel an MZ on board, and it wont matter if you win any race. You'll have SOME attention. 

Bourdon wouldnt hurt either!

Are you me?  For real I'd line up for a 111 if they brought it back.  

Overall this is awesome news.  They did a lot of rad things locally and internationally.  Glad to see them back under good management again.  Hope it works out!

That's just the thing, innit? If somebody wants a mid travel 29er trail bike with 435mm chainstays and 65 degree headtube and yada yada they are SPOILED for choice. So I don't see why they should go to battle in that market so hard, particularly if their bikes have little to no innovation.

So may as well double down on the 'fun' aspect of Kona and pump out solid 275er and MX builds with 425-430mm chainstays and slightly shorter wheelbases with conservative geo. Or in other words, whatever the rest of the industry isn't doing. Cuz I don't think it's a good idea to go to battle with YT or Polygon or Santa Cruz or Specialized.

And of course awesome bikes like the Element and Spur only come in pricey carbon builds. So yeah, no better time imo to bring back a well specced alloy 111 type build. Maybe it kinda replaces the alloy Hei Hei build but... That thing kinda needs replacing anyway tbh.

Seriosly, I broke a head tube off on trestle dh nothing….no support what so ever. Kona should have died ages ago. Long live YT and all the good consumer direct brands. the lbs can kick rocks. After you manage work at and live the lbs it’s really not that cool. A bunch of 20 something’s who think there so cool… and always the old creepy culty leader guy who is a supposed local pro until you find out it’s all lies lol.  Do your own work save your money. A lot of weird people out there still sipping the Kona koolaid. A broken back and a real messed up summer was all I needed to never buy one Again. 

Most people don't have the space, tools, knowledge and will to work on their own stuff. Hell, it took me from December to early May to put together my old frame to put it up for sale besides all the other things happening in life.

Dear Kona-

120mm rear travel, with a long stroke (50+mm) shock.

130mm fork.

Normal reach lengths (450 medium, 470 large).

64 head angle with flippable cup for 63 or 65.

Chain stays longer than 435, please!

77ish seat tube angle.

Mixed wheel compatibility.

Plenty of post insertion depth.

External cable routing for brake.

Linkage driven single pivot.

Thank you.

Who shit in your Wheaties this morning?

Hear me out, what if it's a fire hose full of mojitos?!?!?! 

I do agree though.  Spent a good while on Kona's and things fell off hard near the end of the teens.  Their geo got real weird, specs got bad and they stopped working on the operator. I feel like if they can hit the 2014-2016 kona lineup again they have a good shot. 

I feel attacked as the older cult guy 

But seriously, the amount of direct to consumer stuff that I deal with in the shop because they have zero support is wild and the people who buy the d2C stuff are always scrambling to figure out how to get their stuff fixed during the busiest part of the season at shops hoping one doesn't have a 3 week wait for service in May, while my shops customers get get slid into our schedule as soon as we can fit them, even if I have to stay late to get them on the road.

I know you are getting some hate with the downvotes however, some people need to take a serious look at what companies/LBS are offering - Personally 1 outta 3 local shops is damn good, if you buy a bike off them They will ensure to always make right and those instances jump you infront of the casual 'service que' - it's just a shame they only really sell scott but after some discussion they are looking to sell trek.

Some brands like Canyon have their service centre's For e.g Australia is Aus & NZ, They are a phone call away and will do right, Live stock of warranty frames or parts directly from germany to your door step AND will pay to put the bike back together.(this is 1 way canyon still work with LBS's)
Canyon is painful though, their CS for us is so good but every frame ive owned of their's has needed replaced atleast once.

Giant NZ who only support through LBS is Horrendous, You submit a claim Through the LBS, Giant take a week to find any and every reason to deny warranty(like swapping from Centrelock to 6 bolt wheels, yes this is a real thing)
then when you threaten using the consumers Act NZ they act like They are the best and say warranty accepted BUUUT then they say "sorry, Warranty frames could be 4-8 months when anther production run is" 
I had a similar experience when a reign frame was built wrong, argued, finaly accepted, waited 7 months, frame turned up damaged(looked like frame had been ridden)

Merida NZ has been good to me despite selling through LBS, can contact them on FB/insta and get stuff resolved.

P.s Merida bikes are the nicest Quality stuff i've come across and ive had pretty much everything. 
 

Wiggle bought for pennies.

https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/general/news/wiggle-was-sold-for-p…

CRC/Wiggle bought for only 3 million!!

In 2011, Wiggle was purchased by Bridgepoint, a private equity firm, for £180 million.

Wiggle merged with Chain Reaction Cycles in 2016 under the new company of Wiggle CRC, which was sold to German conglomerate Signa Sports United, in an acquisition valued at $645 million.

Wiggle was sold for £3 million to Frasers Group in February.

 

This makes me wonder if the original Kona owners were able to buy back Kona for less than $1 million. I would assume that CRC is worth more and it seemed like Kent was trying to fire sale Kona off

to be fair, 3m pounds is $3.8m USD, so not THAT cheap (sarcasm).

next brand to to go under, do we all commit to a crowd-fund to buy it? (also sarcasm, but wow from from 180m to 3m is incredible.

I think the latest purchase was just IP – so just the brand names, domains, etc. Whereas earlier purchases were for the whole business.

But yeah, I think Signa bought it for an ungodly amount of money, operated at a loss for the last few years, and sold it for pennies.

I was looking online at used Sprinter vans recently and had a chuckle when the Vitus demo van popped up.

Wiggle Bought CRC from the Watson family for £62million, about $90million at the time. The people at Signa must have been smoking everything to pay that much for Chiggle. No wonder they went bust in 12 months.

Hahah - can you imagine a crowd funded buyout from here - we can't even agree on damping vs dampening...  (Joking - I know we can really...)

Roskopp joins Special Ed.

Who had that on their bike industry apocalypse bingo card?

Other strange news, Sinyard was spotted at the local Norco factory store here on the Shore. Specialized to buy Norco?