No, they are not hand made. They are made in factories overseas. I think it's Taiwan. Very well made.

Someone else can chip in...

 

I thought they started growing them on trees back in the early 90's.

 

They are made by hand (mostly in Taiwan) on a production line. One person cuts the tubes, another welds the fronts, 2 more straighten the frame etc. No robots.

Maybe you're thinking custom where one welder builds up a frame himself one step at a time? None of those left in the lineup since the Hots/Ku's.

 

i used to own a caldera frame, back when they were chromoly, that i bought from a buddy who worked at a LBS...but anyway he said (i dunno how FACTUAL this is) that the frame was hand built in washington state, like the last year before they started farming out the work overseas...and i wanna say the frame was a 96 or 97 model. i mean it was a good story, not that it was the deciding factor of me buying the frame or not...i dont care if they're build on an assembly line, or if they're made by some frame manufacturer that builds frames for 20 other companies...to me there's no other bike that matches the way a kona handles and feels, so that's why i ride a kona.

 

i had a marin last year and i think it was built by a dog before they ate it, i.m.o cant go wrong with a kona and this is my first kona, dont really matter where they are built these days as long as the quality is there and with the konas its there in spades

 

Aren't all bikes hand-made?

You have to cut the frame tubes and weld them together...

I could be wrong, but it's WHERE they're hand made that varies not how.

 

Aren't all bikes hand-made?

You have to cut the frame tubes and weld them together...

I could be wrong, but it's WHERE they're hand made that varies not how.

actually there are such things as completly automated band saws, tubing notchers, and milling machines....as well as automated TIG welders, however the welding machines cant do complicated fits like you would find on a bike frame. only an underpaid laborer in taiwan who's skills would be well compensated in the us...

 

This is Lil' Fred. He welded my Stinky. It took him 4 minutes and he recieved a chunk of bread for his efforts. Thanks Lil' Fred!

 

Don't knock automation. It's the only way to statistically control the manufacturing process. Handmade, though sometimes works of art, tend to be more like snow flakes. The guy welding has a pedal that controls the heat and he varies this setting to suit what he experiences during the process. A craftsman with a great deal of experience does a nice job but the inexperienced may not. It's also the "Friday afternoon" frame that nobody wants. On the other hand when a welding cell is tuned and optimized you'll get the same weld time after time. Same goes with tubing components. Hand shaped ends will never be the same twice. I wouldn't let the idea of automation deter me from buying a frame one bit. It's more about the design and quality of materials in my opinion that makes one frame work better then the next.

 

I wouldn't let the idea of automation deter me from buying a frame one bit. It's more about the design and quality of materials in my opinion that makes one frame work better then the next.

i totally agree with you about the design aspect of a frame....and i'm not knocking automation either.....i'd much rather have a company cut, bend, and notch their tubes on a cnc machine, that way every frame will ride close to the same, have the same geometry, etc...but haveing been in the welding industry before, and done some tig welding, the difference in quality of a weld from an automated machine, or a trained hand, is honestly no differerent. you can tell a lot about a weld by a visual inspection...the start/stop, the uniformity between puddles, width of the weld, and if it's centered on the joint, can all tell me if it's generally sound or not...i've also found that some of the wost welds around, will still hold together under the most extreme conditions and treatments...that's why i agree with you, that frame design, and material quality make a much bigger difference to me in selection of a frame. so yeah, some automation is the only way to go, and some is just a quicker way of doing the same thing.

 

This is Lil' Fred. He welded my Stinky. It took him 4 minutes and he recieved a chunk of bread for his efforts. Thanks Lil' Fred!

For a small insight as to who-where-how Konas are built, check out www.konabiketown.com

The blog archive for March 2006 has photos of Lil' Fred's Taiwanese cousins putting together the first of Kona's Africa Bikes, which were designed and built for a joint program with Bristol-Myers-Squibb and Bicycling Magazine to assist Botswana health care workers in distributing medications to AIDS patients in remote rural areas. The whole blog is worth the read. Instead of just buying another couple of vacation homes or a fleet of exotic cars, the Kona guys would rather hand out a few more grants to grassroots folks who are building and maintaining trails, and helping to making the world a better place. Way cool, Dan & Jake! :thumbsup:

Near the bottom of the page, there's a group photo of the team at Insera that built the Kona Africa Bikes -- presumably, Insera is the contractor for Kona's other products as well.

 

Back in the mid 90's some high end frames such as the Hot (Reynolds), the Ku (Aluminum), the Hei Hei/ King Kahuna (Titanium), and I believe even the Caldera (Cromo) at some point (maybe one year) were "custom made". Those frames sported the decal "Kona Custom" on the top tube near the seat post, and also the decal "Made in USA" on the seat tube. These frames, if you can find them are fetching higher prices - especially the Ti. Is that what you mean by "handmade"?

All others are made overseas but don't let that desuade you from buying one. I own a 97 Explosif made of Columbus Max OR tubing. Great XC geometry and a fine ride.

 

The first Caldera was a made in the USA custom. It was a stab at making a less expensive custom, but it petered out. Custom guys wanted the top end frames and parts, and budget guys wanted a production frame with better parts.

Should be red, or blue and as far as I know the only Kona ever to be powder coated.

 

yeah mine was a dark red with yellow graphics...had the "kona custom" logo on the seat tube..and now that i think about it, it prob was powder coated, b/c it didn't chip NEARLY as easy as the paint on my 06 kula frame does....damn i wish i hadn't sold that thing for so cheap....or sold it PERIOD. oh well if i come across another i'll snatch it up...