Rumors that Kona was in trouble have been swirling for a while now — their recent BOGO sale on complete bikes sure seemed like a sign of a company with a cash flow problem — and we’ve now got confirmation that Kona’s owners, Kent Outdoors, are shuttering the company.
That unfortunate news seemed inevitable when Kona employees began setup on their Sea Otter Classic booth earlier this week, only to tear it down on Wednesday before the show started. The word at the time was that a company meeting would be held on Thursday (the first day of the show) to explain what was going on, and we’ve been told by a Kona employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, that Kent Outdoors has shuttered Kona, effective immediately.
Kent Outdoors bought Kona from its founders in 2022, and Kona seemed to be trying to operate as normal until just a few days ago — including launching the Ouroboros gravel bike earlier this week. But Kona had already closed its longstanding shop in Bellingham, WA, launched direct-to-consumer sales through their website with deep discounts on a lot of bikes, including the aforementioned by-one-get-one promotion, and generally seemed to be on shaky footing.
It’s still sad to see them go, though. Kona played a big role in the mountain bike world for decades and their sudden demise is a huge bummer for a whole lot of reasons — for their employees, their customers, their dealers, and for everyone who just liked having another quirky bike brand doing things their way, and making some really good bikes in the process.
Here’s to hoping that Kona can find a buyer and new life going forward. They’ll be missed.