FERNDALE, Wash (Oct. 24, 2002) - This summer at the world famous Whistler Resort Mountain Bike Park, many of the Kona special edition Joyride bikes in the park's rental fleet endured almost 1 million vertical feet of hard downhill riding. The Kona Joyride is a 6" travel dual suspension rig built around Kona's Stab frame specifically for Whistler.

While Whistler mountain bike park director Rob McSkimming says that they had some issues with blown forks, bent wheels and tweaked derailleurs, Rob reports that they did not experience one frame failure the entire summer.

"Mind you, these aren't expert riders renting these bikes. A lot of times they have more confidence than skills, not a lot of finesse in their riding. So, when they crash, they crash hard. Hell, when they don't crash they crash hard," McSkimming said.

Whistler's mountain bike park had more than 50,000 rider days this season. (One rider day = one rider riding on one day), an increase of more than 75% over last season's numbers. The park is exploding in popularity and will continue to grow as the resort puts more money and manpower into designing and building additional trails.

On average, riders put in 8 laps/day. Each lap is at least 1,200 vertical feet of descending. The most popular sizes of Kona Joyride rigs were rented more than 100 days this season. Since you don't have time for the math, allow me:

8 laps/day
x
1,200 vertical feet
=
9,600 vertical feet/day
x
100 days
=
That's 960,000 vertical feet. That's like riding from the top of Mt. Everest to sea level 35 times, or riding the old Mammoth Kamikaze downhill course 475 times.

Here's the message: DURABILITY. All of Kona's bikes, from frame and suspension designs to component picks are chosen for their bomb-proof PERFORMANCE.

"We sell these bikes at the end of each season with no reservations about the conditions of the frames," said McSkimming.

For more information about the Whistler mountain bike park, visit http://www.whistler-blackcomb.com/mountain/bike/index.asp

Kona - The Official Mountain Bike of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park and for a damn good reason

— Posted by Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Gear Editor