Late 80's/early90's Kona - worth a rebuild?

development_cycle · May 18, 2007

Hey there, I have been hanging onto this old frameset for years. I rebuild retro mtb's for people in my spare time and source a fair number of old parts. The question is, is it worth me rebuilding this old frameset either to sell or as a museum piece?

No pictures at the mo, but it's a Lava Dome, in yellow with red, white, and black fleck paint job. It has the letters TBG on the head tube, and what look like the first generation of straight Project Two forks on a 1" threaded headset.

Any thoughts?

street · May 19, 2007

I love old Konas, so its a resounding yes from me!
I reckon they make fantastic retro trail thrashers, and unless theres anything particularly wrong with it I reckon it should be built up with something not-too-flashy like a DX grouppo along with some other choice retro components from the right era to make a nice all rounder that your not afraid to use

Pics would be good too!

suntour · May 19, 2007

Hi,
donÂ´t waste it!!!

Make sure to have a look here:
http://www.konaretro.com/showarticle.ph ... atalogues/

Around Â´92 I had a Lavadome 2nd Hand from a bikestore where it was abused as a rentable (?) bike. They changed some parts to DX, frame was red with black project2 fork, looked nasty.

It was heavy and rock-strong, but the 18" frame and Position was perfect for me. I had "better" bikes before and after this one (which was stolen summer 1993), but the Lavadome was the one I loved.

ItÂ´s about the feeling when you ride, how the bikes answers your movement...

People are different, so not everybody will coop with my opinion

Your Lavadome.description sounds ugly- but give it a chance!

Best regards, Markus

development_cycle · May 23, 2007

Frame looks very very good, some scratching on the chainstays but hey. I'll try to get a pic up on the site soon.

I had a look through the catalogues, and it wasn't in any of them, so this is def' pre 1990!

I can't remember what kit this bike had, maybe Suntour, but DX would be nice although I think I remember the Cinder Cone at the time had DX.

I might just clean it up and sell it on as sourcing the parts for a resto would require mucho patience and poss' money too.

Watch this space

Late 80's/early90's Kona - worth a rebuild?

development_cycle

street

Retro Guru

suntour

Retro Newbie

development_cycle

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