Submitted by
simey31
a Cross Country Rider
from uk
Date Reviewed: June 12, 2008
Strengths: Lightweight,strong enough for all round riding,comfortable on hills.
Weaknesses: none, kona rule!
Bottom Line:
very quick on tarmac with slicks, lightweight and fast on singletrack, strong enough for freeride with right set up, ie If you want to run riser bars and 2.3 tyres! forks are sooo light, not recommended for down hill! cant go wrong with a kona.
Bike Setup: sid forks, hydro brakes,mavic wheels, arbon seatpost and bars,slr saddle,1.8 tyres
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
bad andy
a Cross Country Rider
from Minneapolis, MN, USA
Date Reviewed: January 17, 2003
Strengths: superlight bike yet tuff as nails. fast as hell. the wtb headset with greaseports is a must, smooth like a chris king.
Weaknesses: wheelset. and skinny tioga tires. qr seat clamp
Bottom Line:
this is a racing machine.how can you not like a green bike with glowing stickers. this bike flys when it has too. i have never climbed hills on a bike faster. if i wanted to i could run a 2.3 tire in the rear with room to spare. the rear dropouts are beefy and super strong. the 00' sid xc is one of the best sid's ever. easy to adjust and to maintain. not a single problem with the sid. if you are looking for a x-country racer, this is the bike for you. go try out a kula today!!
Similar Products Used: Rocky Mountain Element TO, Kona Explosif
Bike Setup: xtr hubs w/ sun 0 degree xc light rims. salsa handlebar. michelin comp s tires(green). everything else is stock
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
shifterboy
a Cross Country Rider
from Nova Scotia, Canada
Date Reviewed: May 12, 2002
Strengths: Fast, Light, great for technical XC riding, stinky green and glow in the dark stickers rule, SID XC is the best fork ever.
Weaknesses: Cheap seatpost, defective rims, steap climbs can be difficult
Bottom Line:
This bike rides like a dream which more then makes up for the few short commings of the parts. When I got the bike the rims were spotted with white fatigue marks, but they seem to still be holding together, the seatpost was pure cheese though, the brass hardware striped after a good race beating. Still a great value in a raceable XC hardtale thats still comfortable and durable enough to ride everyday.
Similar Products Used: A Lot of Kona's, stinky, explosive, pahoehoe, Santa Cruz, mongoose, etc.
Bike Setup: 00 Kona Kula, stock with Thompson seatpost, Dolomiti saddle, and Specialized team control/master Pro
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
hammahed
a Cross Country Rider
from eugene oregon
Date Reviewed: January 18, 2002
Strengths: great handling, light weight, cool color, GREAT COMPANY
Weaknesses: Not as comfortable as Ti or Steel
Bottom Line:
I received this bike last year as a warranty replacement for my older Explosif when the dropout finally gave up the ghost. Because of the wear and tear on the Explosif I didn't expect any sort of consideration from Kona. However, the folks at Kona totally rock! They set me up with this mega sweet Kula and its as good a ride as I've ever had between my legs. I have a Ti bike which I mostly ride (very durable) but the Kula is much stiffer, climbs better and is a great handler. I can't say enough good things about Kona. Buy any of their bikes and you'll know what I mean
Similar Products Used: Kona Explosif, OCLV, Sandvik Ti
Bike Setup: Basic 8spd XT with Judy SL Total Air Kit
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
brad kudos
a Racer
from saskatoon,sask,canada
Date Reviewed: September 24, 2001
Strengths: Kick ass color, sweet frame, what else can I say but its a kona- forever
Weaknesses: weakness, this bike is never heard the word weak
Bottom Line:
Amazing bike built buy a wicked company. I highly advise you to try a kona out! Anyone who wants a wickedly fast ride and a bike that handles like a dream, kona kula is for that rider. Not for the weekend warrior, go to something not so stiff and a bigger fork.
Submitted by
mtbmon
a Racer
from northeastern ohio
Date Reviewed: May 11, 2001
Strengths: The bike performs as well as it looks. Geometry rocks! Very light and stiff.
Weaknesses: Are you serious?
Bottom Line:
I got this rig as part of a sponsorship deal and was a little leary of giving up my Cannondale but I am so glad I did. The geometry is near perfect. Climbs as well as the CDale (which is the best climber I have ridden) and very stable on the decents (something I can't really say about the CDale). High bottom bracket makes it a very versatile bike to ride when not racing. Looks awesome and not quite as "corporate" as some other names out there. Did I mention light? Even with the discs, this rig is only about 22 lbs. Worth any upgrade to stock you feel like doing. As I mentioned, it was part of a sponsor deal so I can't really comment on value but if $1700 stock is correct, I think it's worth every penny. As for overall rating, it's five flamin', flyin' terds for the Kula. Oh yeah, it's got glow in the dark decals too!
Similar Products Used: Raleigh M800, Trek 8500, Cannondale F1000
Bike Setup: SRAM 9.0sl, Magura Louise, SID XC, Truvativ Team SL cranks, Raceface/Syncros stem/bars/post, Time Atac Carbons, Flite Ti
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Matt Fowler
a Racer
from Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: February 1, 2001
Strengths: Quick, Strong and down right sexy looking!
Weaknesses: None this is the best bike i have ever had!
Bottom Line:
This bike is set up perfectly for me and i love it! Kona does great jobs on bikes and an excelent one on this bike! Can't wait to race it and show it off! This bike is BLING BLING all over it! Fast, light and great parts on this bike! I also didn't have to clean out the bank cause the explosive would be alot more than the kula is!
Bike Setup: XTR/XT, SID XC, Cross Link Disc, Hayes, Easton riser, Race Face System, Thomson post!
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Mike
a Cross Country Rider
from Victoria
Date Reviewed: December 17, 2000
Strengths: super light and a very fast bike, very nice handling.
Weaknesses: the pedals kind of sucked so I swapped them, and I hate SID's I had a 99 and I hated it so I put an atom 80 on it instead.
Bottom Line:
I bought this bike because I like light durable bike ( Specialized are not durable at all ) so I thought that this kona would be the best way to do it I put a few hardcore parts on it and turned this bike into a sick fast singletrack missle. It's not as fast as my 2000 RM6 on the DH's but for long distance rides it's realy good. I put the atom 80 on it and that isntantly gave the bike an amazing technical riding advantage, it descends better than any other hardtail I've ever ridden. mine is still less than 25 pounds but this is a very durable bike, before I used to buy a new hardtail every year because they'd break down, not this one it's going to get another season next year and the colours don't look that bad. The best thing you could do for the bike is put a pair of tioga factory xc's on it, or if oyu race put the green michelin sprints on this bike and it will absolutely rip, seeing as I ride my bike on trails about 6 times a week on super hairy technical very rough trails I'd say this is the best value in mountain bikes considering the durability.
Similar Products Used: 98 rocky mtn this air, 99 specialized m2-pro
Bike Setup: stock except for my 3 year old race face cranks bottom bracket and headset and an atom 80
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Eric
a Cross Country Rider
from Quebec
Date Reviewed: December 11, 2000
Strengths: Well, I got this bike with the insurance money I got when my Explosif got stolen. It took me a few rides to get used to the riser bars and on how stiff this bike was. From then on, I totally fell in love with this bike. I like technical trails with steep turns and rocky climbs and fast downhill this is probably why I think this is the best bike I've owned. It climbs, turns, and descends like a charm. What I particularly like is how stable this bike is on rocky downhills. Oh yes, its also really light but I only notice that when I'm putting my bike on my roofrack. I think that this is an awsome bike for the money and if you are into serious trailriding and/or racing this might be the right bike for you too.
Weaknesses: The choice of color is somewhat peculiar but its nice that they included some bottles of touch-up paint. The stem was too short for me because I felt really cramped up when I compared my position to the one I had on my Explosif but I guess this is personal. I don't like Kona Factory tires that much.
Bottom Line:
This is an awesome bike, in fact its the best I've owned up-to-date. If your serious about mountain biking and the geometry of Kona fits you well, you just might love this bike.
Similar Products Used: Kona Explosif, Cinder Cone and Trek 720
Bike Setup: As bought, except for tires (Mythos X), stem (80 mm) and seat post (Titec) which I changed.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Stepan Velensky
a Weekend Warrior
from Prague, Czech rep.
Date Reviewed: November 24, 2000
Strengths: Stiff, light, easy to handle, looks great
Weaknesses: none so far
Bottom Line:
I got this frame as a replacement for my cracked 98 Kula. The replacement took 3 weeks and nobody asked how I ride the bike. I live in Eastern Europe so I expected something like 6 months or so..... The bike rides great. It handles so easy. Just think turn right, it does. With a little different setup it would make a perfect XC weapon too. It accelerates great, climbs well and did I mention the lightweight? Go to your nearest KONA dealer, buy one and HAVE FUN.
Bike Setup: 01 Z3 Bomber, XTR r.d. and brakes, XT shifters, f.d., b.b., ROOX stem and seatpost, Race Face bars, Mavic 517 rims...
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Greg Reynolds
a Cross Country Rider
from Chico, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: September 11, 2000
Strengths: light weight and high quality frame w/disk mounts, awesome fork (SID XC), brakes, rims, drivetrain (so far), I could go on and on... the paint job
Weaknesses: hmmm....the plastic under the saddle got injured, i didn't, when i wheelied over onto my back (twice, when i was learning about clipless pedals), but it still works fine.....the LX hubs, but that's not a very big weakness
Bottom Line:
so far i have taken it on 2 rides of road and one on the road. all were awesome. i took it up some steep, long, rocky climbs, and brought it down some similar singletrack. It performed nearly flawlessly everywhere. The sid soaked it all up and i didn't have trouble with excess flex-i only weigh in at 160 though. i could finally keep up with my friend throughout the whole ride. The short stem and riser bar are a big change for me, but i like it. that combo makes the bike handle way different. the great thing was that i did not notice the difference from a long stem and flat bar on the climbs, but the way that it changed my position on the bike really helped on the downhills. the tires are not as supremely grippy as my old velociratpors were, but they ain't bad and they are a butt-load lighter and faster rolling. brakes and drivetrain have been oh so slick so far.
so to sum it all, this is one near-perfect cross-country ride. It climbs, accelerates, handles, goes downhill, almost everything perfectly. It is comfrotable enough for the marathon rides and light enough to be raced (which is going to be put to the test next season). If you want a great XC hardtail in this price range, check this one out. the company seems cool when both i and my shop have talked to them, and from some of the other posts,they seem to be good about customer service.
P.S. the paint job (white/light stinky green) and glow in the dark decals were a pretty sweet addition.
Similar Products Used: old-arse GT hardtail (my last bike), a friend's '99 Dean Oscar (the bike that i would have gotten if Dean still made 'em), and a friend's '99 FSR Extreme (didn't float my boat)
Bike Setup: as of now it is as bought: SID XC, LX/517's, avid arch 50's, SDG satellite saddle, xt hollowtech cranks, LX front der., XT rear, Hutchinson chameleon 1.95 tires, uhh...that sums it up
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Jamie Shankland
a Racer
from Waterloo, Ont, CANADA
Date Reviewed: July 19, 2000
Strengths: Very stiff ride, Very Very Very Very VEry Light, Comfertable Ride, Very fast easy to get away from trail police or angry farmers.
Weaknesses: Origionial Fork is poo, I changed at begining to an bomber Atom 80, Paint chips pretty easy on rocks, Everybody wants to try my bike out and In return I get to try their poo out!
Bottom Line:
Well At the begining of the season I got this bike from Kona and Im still riding it hard as hell, This bike has not had one single problem and it is holding me in 3rd in ONtario!, Apart from an ugly dent in the toptube the bike still looks amazing, Although the bike does have a few diferant parts on it Other Kona factory Racers seem to like the way the SID feels on the Kula, If your look'n for a race bike that climbs amazing, decends amazing, turns and stops on a dime, and doesent give you a sore shoulder when running is nessassery, this is your bike, If anybody elese who rides a kula reads this and Races in Canada drop me line shanks_primo@hotmail.com
Similar Products Used: I tried out my brothers '99 Schwinn homgrown eliet and a buddies '99 Rocky Mtn Vertex T.O. and somguys KHS Team bike
Bike Setup: Stock KOna with Race Face Stem, Marzocchi Z2 Atom 80, Hutchinson Python Gold(I changed from Michelins) Sachs PC59 Chain
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Jamie Shankland
a Racer
from Waterloo, ONT, CAN
Date Reviewed: March 11, 2000
Strengths: Wicked colors, Very Very Very Very light, value good with use of Kona parts. Stopping power is great.
Weaknesses: The fact everybody would like to ride it.!!!!
Bottom Line:
This bike is going to be a great bike on the race circut this year. you watch and see my people. This bike is alot more favorable over the new Scandium EXPLOSIF due to not having a frame warrentee. So if you your game is XC racing this is your bike.
