Graham Agassiz Says Goodbye to Kona
After 12 years, Graham Aggassiz is parting ways with Kona. Check out his full statement from an Instagram post below:
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"12 years ago I signed with the Kona Grassroots team, I was 16 years old. I had been riding Ian Duncan's old Kona Chute for well over a year before hand, and that thing really changed my life. It had Mag 30’s, a single crown long travel Sherman with a 15mm bolt axle I think? It was a beast, and nearly indestructible. Ian had already hit everything in town on it before me, including the ol' valley gap, which is still a very burly gap if you don’t know what I’m talking about! I was racing BMX for nearly 10 years at that time, and was getting burnt out and over the race scene. I needed a change, and I was very fortunate to grow up here and be exposed to mountain bikes when I was through the Bicycle Cafe Kamloops.
"A lot of people took me under their wing, and showed me the ropes if you will. Ian Duncan, Scottie Duncan, Stevin Tuchiwsky, Matt Hunter, Lone Wolf Productions, Kyle Proznick, Taylor Hollstedt, Brad Stuart and many more... The culture here was very genuine, and truly helped shape the person I am today.
"I had a hard time throughout school and bikes became my escape, something I could channel my energy into and build up my confidence. Every day after school waiting at the bottom of Rose Hill road, thumbing every passing vehicle for a lift up to the top of the once iconic trail. Those were some of the best days of my life. The range of people you would meet from all over the world who came to Kamloops just to ride that trail, it was mind blowing!
"I would religiously watch movies like the Collective and Freeride Entertainment's NWD series. I quickly idolized the Clump Team and aspired to one day be apart of it, film video parts every year, compete in Crankworx, Rampage, and ride with all my idols & now good friends Derren Berrecloth, Cam Zink, Paul Basagotia, Robbie Bourdon, Andreu Lacondeguy, Cam McCaul, Kyle Strait. Unfortunately the Clump team didn’t stick around as long as I would have liked— but it was a dream of mine, and we did have one really fun trip together. Reno/ Mammoth, what a time it was!
"In a few hours that chapter will be over, but I’m so excited to soon reveal what’s next!"
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As for your feelings that True freeride and true DH as you call it are still counter culture, thats fine. I am talking about the sport in a whole, not just two disciplines within the sport. I grew up during the days of monster huck to flats, Skinnies 15 feet in the air, the north shore being fueled by monster chaos and do what you want mentality, it was a great time... other than all the derailleurs I broke, rims I warped and headtubes I cracked... lol. To see the sport plant its foot in the ground as an extreme sport that came with a Counter Culture lifestyle was awesome, gave us all a higher feeling of validity in what we were doing as things got more popular. I still think It's okay that the sport as a whole is now becoming more and more for the masses and the major companies begin to have a lineup of bikes that suit the needs of everyone instead of just a few.
It would seem that your hate fueled reply to my comment is because of getting screwed over by Kona and from the sounds of it maybe a buddy or two of yours as well... I have owned Konas in the past, sometimes the customer support was good and sometimes it was downright shit... its the same for many companies unfortunately.
for the past 4 years I have owned a new Fuel and now a slash and both came with that Stupid rear shock that has both times failed me and neither the manufacturer of the shock or trek want to take proper responsibility for the failures. I told them every chance given to shit on trek's stupid shock I was gonna do it, still ride their bikes as they are great bikes but it shows no company is perfect. find a company you like ride their bikes and hope they treat you well, if not move on .
Personally Im always happy to see dudes out there still promoting the zero f*cks given lifestyle side of mountain biking, it always pumps me up to go ride when I see pros or none pros just sending it and having a f*cking riot.
I'm too old to post comments like this but wtf Aggy is the man!!!
I bought my first mountain bike (a Transition Scout though, sorry dude) like 6 months later. I know my limits and lack of skills well and I'm not about to emulate just about anything I saw him do in that film, but I guess it's fair to say Aggy got me into mountainbiking. Cheers, thanks and all the best!
Aggy has been with Kona for almost half my life, and seeing big FR names change teams (a la Berrecloth leaving Spesh) is weird!
And somehow I still felt Peaty fit best on Orange bikes with Hope brakes and TF Tuned suspension. There is something British about the man.
But haven´t seen this coming btw