Testing Kona bikes at Kona Walhalla

For me Kona bikes feels a bit grunge, targeted for manly men, with messy hair, drinking belgian beer and eating burgers and fries. They do have girls models, but well girls bikes….. they always seem second tier. Today Kona organized a test day in my neighborhood. And yes, lots of manly men, they did serve burgers fries and beer and the opportunity to test rather cool bikes. A different kind of cool. Not high tech electronical, brainy bikes, but bikes for real people. Not superlight carbon flimsy things, but confidence inspiring sturdy machines, like the Honzo, the Process, Operator and many others.

No time to test them all so we chose the Process and the Rove. Pity there were no girls sizes so we both had a bike teeny bit too big. The Process was more enduro oriented then Annemiekes Fuel Ex. A bit heavy was her verdict. But her descents in the small bike park were with confidence and her jumps flawless. The Rove is a do it all bike for everything between commuting, travelbike and cyclocross. Also considerably more weight than my single speed Gary Fisher Triton. But a surprising agile climber. It is not a bike to win races with, but a bike to endlessly explore the unknown, road and offroad alike.

And the verdict after an afternoon between all those Kona bikes: Manly men bikes indeed. At first sight the bikes are not appealing for girls. But it is like dating one of those manly men, once you are used to him, you might fall in love forever.

Thanks Kona, for organizing this. It was the best organized bike testing ever. I had a great afternoon.