BCBusiness

14 B C B U S I N E S S . C A M A R C H 2 0 2 5 culminated in the best news possible: in their "love letter to the bike industry," found- ing owners Heilbron and Dan Gerhard had bought back the company. For decades, Kona's owners basked in its storied reputation as the "smallest biggest bike company in the world." While big-budget brands like Trek, Specialized, Cannondale and Giant produced highly innova- tive mountain bikes for World Cup and Olympic calibre athletes, Konas found favour with a rowdier, more punk- rock kind of rider who was far more excited by magazine cover stories and segments in high-profile mountain bike action movies. The Kona Clump freeride team featured John Cowan and Paul Basagoitia, whose starring segments in videos like New World Disorder and the Kranked series turned an entire generation not just to trail riding in the wilderness but also to innovative concepts such as the Whistler Bike Park, where Kona was the official rental bike for over a decade. Team rider Dave Watson put the sport of dirt jumping on GO FIGURE by Michael McCullough ARE THE KIDS ALL RIGHT? This year's 30 Under 30 (p.26) may have the world by the tail, but how are their age-group peers do- ing in the workforce? These statistics pro- vide some clues. People under 30 occupied 24.1% of all jobs across Canada in 2022. The workforce participation rate of 15-to-24-year-olds declined 5.3% year over year in October. 181,800 B.C. YOUTHS AGED 15-24 WERE EMPLOYED FULL-TIME 179,700 WORKED PART-TIME 55,400 WERE OUT OF WORK BASED ON RESPONSES TO THE 2021 CENSUS, THE AVERAGE TOTAL INCOME OF BRITISH COLUMBIANS AGED 20-24 WAS $26,520. FOR AGED 25-29, IT WAS $44,400. MEN AGED 20-24 MADE $28,040 AND WOMEN $23,600. MEN AGED 25-29 EARNED $48,120 AND WOMEN $40,600. THE TOP ONE PERCENT AVERAGED $90,000 IN THE YOUNGER COHORT AND $144,000 IN THE OLDER GROUP. " It was definitely a bubble. We didn't have time to develop new products; we were simply giving stores whatever was selling. We knew that it would end, but we didn't know when." the map when he shocked the crowd at the Tour de France by jumping over the road bike rac- ers in a crazy kind of anarchy that came to define the sport and the Kona brand. Spanish rider Andreu Lacondeguy took home first place at the 2009 Crankworx festival in Whistler. Kona even partnered with Ford Motor Company when they launched the Ford Focus in North America. By the time COVID hit in 2020, Kona was a mature company producing solid, high-value, blue-collar mountain and gravel bikes. "At the outset of the pan- demic, we didn't even know if we could stay open or not; we literally wondered how we'd sell our bikes," says Heilbron. Kona's fortunes reversed as the bike industry rallied to promote cycling as the perfect activity to counteract COVID. Most brands were left scrambling to meet unprecedented demand, using forecasting data and anecdotal evidence to place orders as quickly as possible. "It was definitely a bubble," Heilbron admits. "We didn't have time to develop new products; we were simply giving stores whatever was selling. We knew that it would end, but we just didn't know when." In 2021, Heilbron, Gerhard and a third partner sold Kona to then-called Kent Water Sports for an undisclosed sum rumoured to be as high as $75 million. Kent already owned a suite of watersports brands and the pandemic offered the perfect opportunity to expand into another recreation sector. "People were horny for bikes at the time, and private

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