It’s that time of year when you see things that you can’t buy yet. And not wanting to be left behind Kona gave us the low-down on their ’01 products.
First out of the can is the Stab Primo, Kona’s uber downhiller weighing in at £3499. 9in of travel at the rear, damped with a fox DH Vanilla RC, and 7in upfront courtesy of the mew Marzocchi upside down Shiver forks. The Canadians retain their robust four-bar linkage suspension system. But change pretty much everything else: custom drawn 7005 alu Kona Clump tubing main frame, beefed up chainstays, new dropouts and much more.

Elsewhere in Out Of Bounds full suspension department are the Stinkys; Stinky, Stinky Primo and Stinky DeeLux (pictured), all built with the now classic Kona linkage/rocker system. Designed for a bit of everything these bikes have 5in travel front and back, splined cranks, a full length seat tube and Hayes discs on the top two bikes.

Kona are best known for their XC hardtails and they told us they’re going to be pushing them hard over the next twelve months.

All the old favourites are in the line up, albeit with a tweak here and there. Bikes like the Cindercone, £699, haven’t changed because they don’t need to. Next year’s bike is black has 7005 alu tubing and black everything, Deore bits, RockShox Judys. It feels heavy in the show room but comes alive on the trail. Nice.

Brand new for this year is the Major Jake cross bike, pictured right. Very tasty if you’re wired that way. £1299 buys you a Easton Ultralite frame, Race Face, Shimano, Mavic, Sugino, etc. Love one.

Quick, my boss isn’t around take me to the Kona website…