Kona Bikes is based in Ferndale, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia, in the volcanic Cascade Range. They specialize primarily in high-performance mountain bikes; their product line also includes racing bicycles like the King Zing, cyclo-cross bicycles including Jake the Snake, and touring bicycles like the "Kona Sutra". The company name comes from the owners' love of Kailua-Kona in Hawaii.
The company was founded in 1988 by Jacob "Jake the Snake" Heilbron, Dan Gerhard and early MTB racer and champion Joe Murray, who has since moved on to Voodoo Bikes. Kona's Jake the Snake model has won the national championships in cyclo-cross. The team bike differs from the retail model in that the team model comes equipped with a full Shimano Dura Ace gruppo, while the retail is downgraded to a Shimano 105 outfit.
Kona Full-Suspension bicycles use the "4-bar" linkage system, which can be identified by the swingarms (mostly black until 2005, mostly silver after 2006) attached to the seat tube, that activate the rear suspension, inverting the forces generated by the swing of the chain stay.
