Sabine saves her Dawg!

As captured in the San Jose Mercury News! One of the many California wildfires this summer forced Sabine to evacuate her house in Corralitos. Faced with only moments to decide what to save, she picked up her two cats, and her Kona Dawg and fled for safety (with the help of her neighbor).

Saving the Kona Dawg was a no-brainer.

Bicycle Trip Now A Kona Dealer

 

Bicycle Trip has long been a sponsor of Velo Bella’s Surf City races, and now we are happy to announce that Bicycle Trip is a Kona dealer too.

Winter Traning on the Kona

 

Gravity Girls in Cyclingnews

Introducing the Kona Lisa Supreme RD

The official bike of the Velo Bella-Kona race team!

How lucky (and cute) are we?!

More info on the bike can be found by clicking here

Our team bikes are outfitted with:

SRAM Force drivetrain
SRAM Rival brakes
Easton Orion II Wheelset
Easton handlebar, stem, seatpost
Selle San Marco saddle
Crankbrothers Quattro pedals
Schwalbe Stelvio tires
Fuzzy flair

Those who opted for standard geometry will be riding the Zing Supreme

More details, links, photos and fun about this bike on our forums.

2007 Gravity Girls

By Allie

You’re a fashionable, hip-and-with-it Bella, so of course you want to know in for the 2007 gravity scene. Below you’ll find the proper gear and accessories so that you too can fly past the boys in style. Say Ciao, Baby!!

Giro Remedy Helmets are awesome. The fit is very comfortable and they vent so well in hot conditions my goggles didn’t fog!

Zeal Goggles: These have been my absolute favorite long before Velo Bella for downhill and for snow skiing. They fit inside helmets perfectly, the lenses are resilient and if scratches do appear the lens replacement is easy and they just look cool!

Fox Racing Protective Gear: Velo Bella Pro Downhill Squad wears the following from Fox Racing:

Unabomber Glove: Even the men’s gloves fit a long, narrow hand with long fingers. It’s the only glove I haven’t poked nails through. The hard plastic pinky and ring knuckle protection is key.

Blitz Short: They’re comfortable and non-restrictive while the skin-saving fabric takes the brunt of “rock rash”

Launch Knee/Shin Guards: These are the very best knee/shin guards I have ever used! The behind-the-knee cris-cross strap keeps the guards perfectly in place! Crash after crash and even after pedaling hard for a good distance, guess what? The knee guard is still over your knee! They snap off in front for ease of removal. These are easily climbing to the top of “my favorite gear” list.

Launch Suit: Fox has done a service to the riders with their “Launch” gear line. The suit is comfortable and all of the padding stays over the respective body part that it is meant to protect. The back plate zips off for free-riding or less treacherous conditions.

Launch Short: These shorts are GREAT for many purposes. They have a chamois build in along with hip and tailbone padding. These shorts are perfect for free-riding trails either by themselves or as an under-short.

Shuttle Gear Bag: LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT! It fits All of the above gear (including helmet) with room to spare in the center compartment. The two side compartments fit clean clothes on one side and shoes and dirty clothes on the other. Both are vented. The top compartment is padded to accommodate goggles and glasses (we also found it doubles nicely as a cooler for b…uh…snacks.) The bag has a bottom frame and telescoping handle for rolling it around. There is also a changing pad that rolls out so as not to soil or put undue wear and tear on your precious Velo Bella socks.

Fluid Rain Jacket: We haven’t been able to test this yet, however it will come in handy for keeping our kits nice and clean during muddy qualifying and practice.

Stan’s no-tubes Wheels: Get them. Get them NOW! Everyone needs a custom set of wheels from Stans! I priced them out at retail for another bike and they were a few hundred dollars less than other popular wheel brands. I cannot believe how LIGHT and strong they are! (a friend held the box they came in and had to check to make sure a wheel was really in there) When you want to go, they’re ready to roar forward and stop at nothing. So far they’ve handled some good-sized hits and they’re still round! (The Stan’s hats are the bomb as well)

Easton Stems and Monkey Lite Handlebars: The bars are strong and I’m amazed at how the carbon is holding up to DH abuse. They’ve done a lot to lighten up my bike as well.

Crank Brothers Mallet Pedals: These clip in with ease, release when it counts and shed mud and dirt like no other pedal on the market. Huge platform in case you miss a clip or need foot freedom in hairy sections. They’re light and they just plain ol’ look cool!

Sidi Shoes: Another favorite. I love my Sidis! Strong, stiff, durable and I can literally walk around in these all day long. You’ll never see me with a pair of Pradas but I will spend the money on a pair of Sidi shoes!

Avid Code Brakes: These worked in really well. I found them to be tune-able to my liking of lever position. They are strong and powerful and I didn’t find them to pump up at all. They were consistent even after heating up. Come to think of it, there was no arm pump from the using the brakes at all! (and I used them plenty) WELL DONE AVID!

Kimber is racing on the Kona Stab Deluxe this year. I had a chance to pedal it around a bit and wow this thing wants to go forward. I wish I would have had one of these while trying to pedal my rig along Fontana’s “Wall of Pain”. The floating brake will ensure there is no “brake jack” and provides a consistent line of rear travel down the gnarliest of descents.

The 2007 Velo Bella Pro Downhill team is fortunate to promote some of the best equipment on the market. We’re very excited and very thankful for the companies that make the gear to keep us rolling safely. I’ve given my opinion on the products below, I hope that it might be helpful information for anyone looking to purchase gear in the future.

Let the Racing Begin

Its on…

And once, when I went to Kona Headquarters…

By Alex Burgess

A few weeks ago I travelled to Seattle for the fifth round of the US Grand Prix of Cyclocross and decided to make a quick pit stop at Kona Headquarters in Ferndale, WA. Not knowing the trip would take a total 4 hours roundtrip from SeaTac airport, I figured it would be nice to see where our frames come from and the folks taking care of us.

Kona is located on a side highway about 110 miles north of Seattle a few miles off of Puget Sound in a pretty town called Ferndale. The geniuses designing and selling our frames are housed in a non-descript warehouse with a couple of offices and all one needs to throw a fantastic party. There are two stoves, a coffee maker, and espresso maker, fuseball table, pool table, basketball net, ski boat, showers and A LOT OF BIKES!

Entering the front door, one sees years and years of memorabilia from world champions to national champions in many cycling disciplines. One also sees more bumper stickers and anarchist propoganda than one would normally in the average place of business, but hey, it’s Kona… A stereo connected to an Ipod pumps out a wide variety of tunes including everything from Dance Hall reggae, funk, folk punk, house and other styles of chemical-infused music.

Dale, Sarah, Ruth and Cory all work the phones in this area and sell Kona products to dealers all across the US. Dale and Cory tried to explain their sales territories to me, but I quickly got confused as they each have states all over the place and certainly someone was enjoying some good Washington micro-brew when the territories were drawn-up.

The Road team swung by the headquarters a few months ago on their way to British Columbia for races and signed one of our jerseys for the entire office. The jersey is located right next to the front door and one can’t help but see our glorious colors as soon as one walks through the door. No wonder everyone was smiling!

Just to the right of the front door sits our venerable ally and all around cheerleader/supporter, Mark Peterson. Mark has worked at Kona for almost 11 years and done everything from selling to marketing to shipping to barbecuing, and now heads worldwide team sponsorship. Mark is the guy who approached us a year ago about sponsoring the organization and has been instrumental in encouraging Kona to incorporate our design change requests into their Lisa line of women’s bikes. Mark also encouraged Dan and Jake (Co-owners) to include the Velo Bella logo on all 2007 Lisa frames/bikes. Thanks Mark!

At first I was a little taken aback at how small the office was and thought to myself, “this is it?” Well, like Alex in Wonderland (work with me), all I had to do was open a camoflaged door in the back left to see where the rubber meets the road (so to speak).

I have never seen so many bikes in all of my life. Boxes piled three and four high full of frames and components. Stacks of shirts, jerseys, pedals, forks and all manner of cycling gadgetry, the Kona warehouse was impressive to say the least.

Bre, Trevor, Dennis and Ed are the ones who make sure your frames have all the bits and pieces they are supposed to, as well as sending you all the items you’ve ordered from Kona. They are in the process of bringing the warehouse into the 21st century with a new barcoding, scanning and inventory management system and I found them hard at work drinking coffee and preparing to prepare to move boxes from end of the great hall to the other. Ed was a little shy, but Bre, Trevor and Dennis were kind enough to pose for this photo.

All in all, my visit to Kona was fantastic. I really enjoyed meeting Ruth (who I speak to all the time on the phone) and Cory (who is responsible for much of the midwest including my local Kona dealer), as well as the rest of the team there. Definitely a happy group who clearly love creating and selling bikes. Not a bad gig! The drive back to Seattle along the coast helped me understand why they love living here so much. Breath taking…

Thanks everyone! We love our Kona bikes and hope to see you all at some races soon…

2006 Velo Bella Pro Team Cross Frame

Friday, October 13th, 2006

There is still time for you to purchase your own 2006 Jake the Snake Cyclocross frame in Team colors! The frames are GORGEOUS and made of Easton Ultralite aluminum so they are super light, strong and durable.

Frame Geometry can be found here:

http://www.konaworld.com/bikes/2k7/JAKETHESNAKE/index.html

Besides, who wouldn’t want a kitty and our logo on their bike?

Special Thanks for BC Super Week and Kona

I just wanted to send a special thanks to the people of Delta, White Rock, Vancouver, and Tsawwassen BC.

This past season Jamie Davidson and the folks of BC SuperWeek invited the Velo Bella-Kona team to attend the BC SuperWeek events and we were glad to have gone. Gastown was amazing, huge crowds so loud it was hard to here. You got to get there early to get the good spots! *read Jen Chapmans race report!

The support and crowds were some of the best in racing we have seen. The people in these areas were super gracious by letting us stay in their homes and supporting the huge community events. The gals went on a massive community ride with families where it ended in a fun BBQ and music.

The team and I would highly recommend this series of races to anyone who is interested in some tough but fun road races as the purses are pretty nice and the folks are some of the nicest we have met! Canadian cycling is alive an well, and should be looked at by anyone serious about racing that doesn’t want to fly back East.

We also want to thank Kona bikes of Vancouver for the super BBQ, Matt hooked up a good one!

-Brent Chapman
Velo Bella – Kona Road Team

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