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KONA CARBON RACE

To create our growing fleet of Kona Carbon Race bikes, Kona has partnered with some of the most reputable carbon manufacturers in the world. Our design team works intimately with our production facilities to ensure desired ride characteristics, durability demands and weight stipulations are met to the highest standards possible. Kona Carbon Race bikes are featherlight, super fast, and tough as all hell.

STEP 1: APPLICATION

At Kona we are very selective when choosing carbon fiber for specific bicycle frames. Each riding discipline requires a different balance of weight, strength, frame damping, stiffness, compliancy and durability. With over 25 years experience making bikes for every known cycling discipline, the first step in the design phase is ensuring how carbon fiber can be optimized for its intended use.

STEP 2: DESIGNING AND ENGINEERING THE KONA RIDE

For the good guys and girls in the Kona Product Development and Sales Teams, it's imperative that key elements of the Kona Ride manifest in our carbon bikes. Efficiency, agility, comfort, and overall strength are all key considerations when we begin to work on the design of a carbon frame. Of course, we aim to leverage all the inherent properties of the material, but it's crucial that it still feels, rides and lasts like a Kona.

STEP 3: MATERIALS & FABRICATION

THE WEAVE: Kona Carbon Race bikes use TORAY fibers, what we have determined to be the most technologically advanced in the industry—this is the same carbon weave used throughout most Formula 1 racing cars. Our carbon weave also features NANO TECH, a process that injects carbon nano cups into the weave matrix, bringing more strength, stiffness and impact resistance to the finished product. The results are frames with industry leading weight, stiffness and durability. Our entire structure is always built with unidirectional prepreg carbon fiber underneath a frame finish that is either UD or 3K.

THE FRAME:

Kona Carbon Race frames are always built with a MONOCOQUE main triangle. While a tube-to-tube process similar to welding is cheaper to build, we choose only to use the monocoque process as it alone allows for continuous fibers where the tubes join, creating a much stronger and lighter structure.

Our production process also eliminates as much bonded-in aluminum inserts as possible. While we bond in thread inserts for durability, you won't find us taking short cuts with aluminum inserts for bottom brackets, headtubes, front derailleur mounts, or seat tubes. When we do put alloy into the frame we take very specific steps on their surface treatment and have special jigs for each step to ensure proper alignment.

Another thing you won't find inside our frames is foam. Laying up the carbon around foam mandrels is another trick that makes bikes cheaper and easier to build, but leaves the rider dragging around a bunch of heavy foam. Kona Carbon Race frames are only molded with internal air bags, which are removed after the molding process. This means our carbon frames are made from only the best ingredients: carbon fiber and epoxy.

STEP 4: TESTING

During the prototyping process, our frames are tested for weeks at a time on veritable bike torture machines that push our designs through tens of thousands of cycles. What we learn from this directly translates into making strong frames, while eliminating unnecessary material. Kona Team athletes—experts when it comes to pushing the limits of our bicycles in real world scenarios—are the next in line when it comes to testing our prototype Kona Carbon Race bikes. Even after the tests rigs and pro rider testing, our product team continues to abuse the same prototypes day-in and day-out to make sure we are building the best Kona Carbon Race frames we possibly can.

COMPACT REAR TRIANGLE

Short chainstays and seatstays provide a perfect balance of stability and power transfer when out of the saddle and pedalling hard. Shorter seatstays also have less deflection during braking and accelerate faster than longer stays. The shorter rear triangle also helps the bike to negotiate tight-twisting sections of trail. Our new Entourage short-travel downhill bike is a good example of an incredibly compact rear triangle. Our goal was to create a bike that was easy to jump and trick, and could also corner aggressively. With seatstays measuring just 415mm, we've created one of the most nimble short travel DH bikes in the industry.

INTERNAL HEADSET

By having the headset bearing located inside the headtube (called zero stack), rather than the top and bottom, we are able to achieve a number of advantages when it comes to front-end stiffness, durability and overall riding performance. The major benefit of an internal headset is the extra layer of protection it provides the bearings against the elements. Additionally, the bearings are commonly available angular contact bearings, which are easily and inexpensively replaced. An internal headset also reduces stack height, so the height of the stem and bars are more adjustable, giving the rider the best fit possible.

TAPERED HEADTUBE

For 2013, you'll find a large majority of Kona bicycles featuring zero stack and tapered headtubes. From cyclocross to cross-country, 29ers right through to longer-travel dual-suspension models, like our Entourage and Operator, a tapered headtube provides more support at the intersection of the toptube and downtube, greatly improving stability and overall performance.

Aside from improving the aesthetic due to its cleaner lines and smooth transition between the fork crown and the headset cover, tapered headtubes also offer a more solid interface between forks with tapered steertubes and the bicycle frame itself. More girth at the bottom of the headtube better distributes shock force, prolonging the bearing life of the headset itself. The inherent strength of its triangular design also means a stronger steering position and improved balance, giving the rider more control in rough terrain. A zero stack, tapered headtube also puts strength where the load is going—into the lower headset cup—maximizing bearing durability where it's needed.

12x142 REAR AXLES

A 12x142mm rear axle provides two major advantages to the Kona rider: the 12mm diameter of the rear axle provides the rear hub and frame with a stiff interface, while the 142mm outer diameter of the hub allows the wheel to be quickly and properly positioned in the frame before the rear axle is inserted. The definition of all-mountain: DH stiffness with the speed and ease of XC.

TUBELESS COMPATIBLE RIMS

A number of 2013 Kona models feature the benefits of tubeless compatible rims. Tubeless rims allow for tires with more puncture resistance, better tire grip on the trail, lower rolling resistance and weight savings over traditional tube + tire systems. For 2013, you'll find tubeless compatible rims on most of our XC race and trail bikes, as well as our carbon fiber Major Jake, Red Zone and Zone Two.