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TECH NEWS

Kona launch 2014 road bikes + video

Zone Two and Zing Supreme head up Kona's Endurance and Race ranges

Kona have produced a new video to showcase models from their 2014 range, the Zone Two and the Zing Supreme.

We took a peek at the 2014 Kona range last summer so check out that piece for an overview of the road-going bikes that are available this year.

The video – shot on Maui, one of the Hawaiian islands – features the Zone Two (£3,299), the top bike in Kona’s three bike Endurance range. Kona see this as an all-rounder suitable for everything from road racing and sportives to gravel-road riding.

It’s built around a sub-1kg carbon monocoque frame built by Dedacciai that comes with enough clearance for oversized tyres (28mm Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tyres are fitted) and mudguards (you get hidden eyelets for fitting them).

The carbon fork is from Deda too while the groupset and wheels are Shimano’s second tier Ultegra. The exceptions are an FSA Team Issue Compact chainset that spins in an FSA BB386Evo Press Fit 30 bottom bracket and TRP RG957 brake calipers.

The Zing Supreme (£1,999) sits at the top of Kona’s three-bike Race range. It also uses a monocoque frame from Deda with a tapered head tube and an integrated headset, and a full-carbon fork.

Kona say, “Custom-designed spines on the chainstays and seatstays produce a more vertically compliant rear triangle that still effectively reduces side-to-side deflection. The result is a comfortable, confident, road-race bike designed to excel at everything from crits to long and arduous Gran Fondos.”

2014 Zone Two and Zing Supreme - Doing Road Different from Kona Bikes on Vimeo.

 

This time the groupset is a mix of Shimano Ultegra and next level down105 with an FSA Gossamer chainset – again, it’s a compact (with 50 and 34-tooth chainrings). The wheels are Mavic’s ever-popular Aksiums shod with Conti UltraSport 25c tyres.

For more info go to Kona’s website

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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6 comments

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nowasps | 10 years ago
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Possibly to do with bringing their existing MTB customers over to road bikes?

Avatar
joemmo replied to nowasps | 10 years ago
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nowasps wrote:

Possibly to do with bringing their existing MTB customers over to road bikes?

surprising not to see disc brakes on these really, given the company's background. Maui looks grim though doesn't it? What a dump.

Avatar
psychonabike | 10 years ago
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Harking back to their mountain biking roots? I've a soft spot for Kona- an early nineties cromoly mountain bike from them started this whole obsession

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captain_slog | 10 years ago
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It's Hawaii - they probably want to be able to hop off the bike straight onto the surf board.

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mcaley | 10 years ago
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Baggy shorts?!

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badback replied to mcaley | 10 years ago
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mcaley wrote:

Baggy shorts?!

Just thinking about that myself. A little 'Fred'-ish  105

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