Kona’s troubles began in the pandemic with the volatile boom-and-bust that occurred after most brands sold through their season’s stock before the Fourth of July in 2020. The founders sold to Kent Outdoors—once a maker of bikes themselves, but now largely a holding company for other outdoor brands, which include Arbor Snowboards, Bote, Connelly, O’Brien and Onyx.
Kent implemented consumer-direct sales, which didn’t go well—some retailers dropped the brand because the pricing undercut their profits. Once they were able to restock their inventory they soon found themselves heavily overstocked and began a jaw-dropping BOGO—buy one bike, get one bike free.
Kona also struggled with leadership turnover, going through four CEOs since 2023.
With the announcement that they were buying the brand back from Kent, founders Jake Heilbron and Dan Gerhard issued a letter to the industry, which read, in part, “We believed that the new owners would carry our vision forward and continue to build great bikes, employ great people, and deliver on the promise of quality, fun and a little weirdness that had defined Kona for so long. Unfortunately that plan unfolded quite differently, so now we’re buying Kona back.”
Heilbron and Gerhard have ceased the consumer-direct program, choosing to return to the brand’s roots of supporting a network of bike shops.
