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KONA warranty experience

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KONA warranty experience
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flag blowmyfuse
O+
Posted: Jun 5, 2020 at 14:55 Quote
bhampaigefam wrote:
I had a 2016 Process 134 crack at the seat tube, Kona shop in Bellingham had me a 2020 Process 134 DL frame within a couple weeks. They were great to deal with, and have been my go-to for service since.

Customer service experience within a few hours drive of their national headquarters doesn't seem to be very relevant though
flag kona-jon
Posted: Jun 15, 2020 at 13:17 Quote
Dhjmn wrote:
Hey all,
Just wondering what your experience has been with Kona warranty, I’ve only ever heard bad things. Interested to know what sort or time frames you got responses?
I have a 2019 Kona operator carbon frame with a bb crack, still under warranty, claim logged and no response

Nothing but positive experiences here. I broke two 2012 operator frames, one back in 2011 then the second in 2012. After the first frame they let me change sizes for my replacement and even gave me the choice on color, the second frame they warrantied through a different shop than where I bought it without issue as they had gone under.

Also had a buddy warranty a broken 2010ish stinky in 2015 and they sent him a carbon operator for a $1200 up charge, then they warrantied that operator again for him a year later when he cracked it.
flag TMBell
O+
Posted: Jun 17, 2020 at 21:05 Quote
I just got my Kona Pocess 134 carbon frame replaced because of a crack by the peddle crank It was actually very quick considering it was during the COVID issues. I stayed in contact with my bike shop and had to bug them a couple times to follow up but it worked out well.
flag Zappaa
Posted: Oct 15, 2020 at 5:17 Quote
Hi,any experience from europe or italy?
flag Elchiludo1
Posted: Oct 27, 2020 at 9:09 Quote
I bought a pair of Wah Wah ii pedals earlier this year from my lbs, the shop is currently closed due to renovations because of a fire in the building . One of the pedals cracked so I contacted Kona because my shop is closed I explained that to them , they asked for a receipt which I don’t have and honestly who saves a receipt for pedals? After that I haven’t heard back from them . Kinda shity if you ask me , I also own a 2020 process hopefully I don’t have to go through warranty. The only other experience I have with warranty is with specialized and they responded promptly and took care of my issue right away
flag wheelsmith
Posted: Jan 20, 2021 at 12:34 Quote
rahrider wrote:
My first ti honzo cracked and they replaced it fairly promptly (a few weeks maybe). The replacement also cracked and they couldn’t replace it so they gave me a process 134 cr dl for a small fee. Very easy to deal with and took care of me. Went through dealers both times. Lesson learned - yes kona, no Taiwanese made ti frames.

I just broke my ti Honzo, at the dropout rear triangle juncture. Dealing with warranty now just wondering where your ti cracked?
flag kaiserchief
Posted: Apr 12, 2021 at 2:42 Quote
I have a Kona Wo 2019, well actually I'm about to take delivery of my 4th frame in 2 years. The previous three having failed at the top tube/seat tube weld. Intially they questioned me about how much seat post was in the frame when it failed. More than enough on all occasions. Warranty wise Kona Europe have been quite good after the first claim but haven't offered an alternative or a solution so this is just going to keep happening...
flag Texicans
Posted: Apr 13, 2021 at 7:25 Quote
cuban-b-can-blow-me wrote:
bhampaigefam wrote:
I had a 2016 Process 134 crack at the seat tube, Kona shop in Bellingham had me a 2020 Process 134 DL frame within a couple weeks. They were great to deal with, and have been my go-to for service since.

Customer service experience within a few hours drive of their national headquarters doesn't seem to be very relevant though

Here in North Texas, there are three dealers. I contacted two of the three about trying to locate some G2 Process pivot hardware after a ball end allen broke in the back up pivot bolt. The OEM torque spec was either too high and/or the pivot had nothing to prevent seizure during assembly. Either way, one dealer was maybe just over a year with Kona and didn't really want to deal with my bike and had yet to even receive a Process bike from Kona to sell. The other dealer only sold hardtails as they are mostly a road/gravel shop with nice builds. Only answer I could really get from Kona was I needed to work with a local dealer. I solved the problem on my own. Still love my Process. Fuk Kona's warranty.
flag Magmafish
Posted: May 11, 2021 at 13:43 Quote
I purchased a 2021 Kona Wo in November 2020 and had the rear hub replaced "on warranty" after it broke in April 2021.

I'll preface this post by saying that I am 6' 4" and carrying a few more pounds than I'd like -thus the reason for buying the bike. The bike itself is a beefy fat bike in size XL, and I assumed it was constructed accordingly.

What happened was that the 3 pawls on the (Novatech) free hub body sheared off (one at at a time) - and caused major damage to the ratchet teeth on the inside of the (KT) hub.

Kona assessed the photos of the damage sent to them by a Calgary Kona dealer and determined that the warranty solution was to provide me an identical factory stock spec hub or a $75 credit at the store.

I took the $75 dollar credit because IMHO the Novatech free hub body is poorly constructed and can fail -and if it fails the overall poor design of how it works with the hub (because the pawls are external to free hub body) is guaranteed to damage the ratchet teeth of the hub as happened to me. Also, because I am a big guy and broke the free hub body once, I can do it again.

It is very important to note that KONA WARRANTY DOES NOT INCLUDE LABOR. So even though IMHO my 5 month old bike with 240 km at the time should not have broken, and may have been built with substandard materials in the rear wheel, it was clear I'd be out-of-pocket to get it fixed.

The fix: With a LOT of help from a friend "I" rebuilt the rear wheel with a Hope Pro 4 Fatsno Mountain Bike Rear Hub ($345), but I also had to buy new spokes because the old ones were too short. Because of COVID I couldn't buy enough standard spokes at $1 each, but had to buy the competition spokes at $4 each. For good measure I bought new nipples too (total of about another $175).

So now I have a kick-ass rear wheel, but it cost me a net of about $445 to go through the whole rear wheel "warranty" process -and it should have cost at least $100 more for the wheel build if it weren't for my friend. Yes, it was "my choice" to upgrade the rear wheel as much as I did, but the only other viable option I saw was to have the bike repaired to factory spec and sell it, because I likely would have broken it it again.

Sadly, I did break the bike again (or perhaps it was broken and I didn't notice?) -after riding the bike only 3 times since the rear wheel rebuild I noticed 3 cracks in the frame on May 9, 2021. The cracks are at the top of the right seat stay, and both ends of the top tube. Each crack is clearly the result of brittle failure because the frame exhibits no strain (bending deformation) -only hairline cracks, and each of them is right beside a weld -in a potentially heat affected zone.

I still need to get the "new" damage assessed, and I am confident Kona will warranty the frame -but again, NO LABOR INCLUDED. So either I strip and rebuild the bike myself, or I'm out-of-pocket again for something that should not have broken.

Thanks Kona!
flag crankeyspudmonkey
Posted: May 19, 2021 at 14:35 Quote
Thought I would post my recent positive experience with the Kona Warranty process. I purchased my Kona Big Honzo in 2018 and has been a great hardtail and as my N+1, I've been quite happy with it. May 10, 2021, I finished my ride and discovered there was a crack at the weld were the seat stay meets the seat tube. I took it to Kinetik Cycles the next day and they advised it might take weeks to complete but would get back to me asap. A little over a week later, May 19th my bike shop called and said my bike was ready! I was floored how quickly Kona and Kinetik turned things around and as a bonus I have the 2021 Kona Big Honzo DL frame in Green.

I have had great previous warranty experiences with both Trek (FuelEX) and Rocky Mountain (Altitude Carbon) when those frames broke. Kona is right up there in my books! My other bike, a Devinci Spartan, has been bullet proof so haven't had to test that warranty experience yet but I certainly hope they would live up to all my other experiences.

Nice work Kona!
flag tossedsalad
Posted: Jul 4, 2021 at 5:55 Quote
I have observed first hand that Kona owners who bought their bikes 2nd or 3rd hand tend to have more positive outcomes. Granted, they still end up paying some money, but they usually come out ahead. The logic being, "keep 'em on a kona". After a high point of having 6+ konas hanging, I'm down to two, a 3rd hand Chute (glow in the dark decals!) and my wife's jake which is ignored since she got a Cannondale Topstone. They'd have to give me a bike for me to own another, ha ha.

Note, I'm in Canada. This probably varies worldwide.
flag Stumtb420
Posted: Aug 2, 2022 at 7:26 Quote
I have a Kona lava dome and it developed a crack under the seat post collar a sent the photos to the shop a got it from a few weeks later they gave me the option to upgrade to the honzo for a little fee as a was riding the lava dome to intensively
flag blowmyfuse
O+
Posted: Aug 9, 2022 at 9:56 Quote
So my 2018 Process 153 SE has some very odd aluminum starting to come off at the forward mount for my shock. It almost looks like the alloy is dissolving/going away. Anybody have an idea what could be causing it?

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flag BenLow2019
Posted: Aug 9, 2022 at 10:21 Quote
blowmyfuse wrote:
So my 2018 Process 153 SE has some very odd aluminum starting to come off at the forward mount for my shock. It almost looks like the alloy is dissolving/going away. Anybody have an idea what could be causing it?

photo

That is the equivalent of rust on aluminum - you are observing the corrosion of the aluminum alloy in the presence of reactive elements - aluminum oxide is being formed. The oxide layer, while unsightly, may actually protect the alloy from further corrosion; however, it may flake off or be otherwise removed and further propagate the destruction of the material. Proper cleaning and repairing any of the preservative coating on the material prevents the aluminum from being exposed and prolongs it's usefulness.

Bottom line: keep the bike clean and repair paint chips quickly to prevent your bike from dissolving on its own.
flag blowmyfuse
O+
Posted: Aug 10, 2022 at 15:10 Quote
BenLow2019 wrote:
blowmyfuse wrote:
So my 2018 Process 153 SE has some very odd aluminum starting to come off at the forward mount for my shock. It almost looks like the alloy is dissolving/going away. Anybody have an idea what could be causing it?

photo

That is the equivalent of rust on aluminum - you are observing the corrosion of the aluminum alloy in the presence of reactive elements - aluminum oxide is being formed. The oxide layer, while unsightly, may actually protect the alloy from further corrosion; however, it may flake off or be otherwise removed and further propagate the destruction of the material. Proper cleaning and repairing any of the preservative coating on the material prevents the aluminum from being exposed and prolongs it's usefulness.

Bottom line: keep the bike clean and repair paint chips quickly to prevent your bike from dissolving on its own.
appreciate the info. Makes more sense now. Was looking and thinking "is my bike dissolving?
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