where to start ?? on a lava dome ......

hello mountain bikers....i posted this in the intro section but noe sure if it would be as well read as if i put it here....

google brought me here and my recent purchase of a 1993 kona lava dome..

not sure of the extent i am going to restore/ fix it up but if any body can recommend me some wheels and rapid fire gear shifters that would be great.

the wheels that came with it are pretty poor so i swapped the front one with the wheel off my girfriends bike (kids too small for her to use it)

the old back tyre was pretty knackered so i put on a speed king 2,1 that was lying around but it is too fat and catches the frame. Before i buy any new tyres (i will want slicks as mostly i will commute on it ) but would like to know what wheels are best .. or if i could get away with using the back wheel of her carrea commuter... will the back cogs match or would i have to swap them..

also the stem needs some attention .. will try to post some pictures soon

anyway.. if any one can offer me any advice on how to get this old bike back up to speed .. would be much appreciated..

Cheers

Hiya,
well some more info would be useful, such as what kind of wheel is on your girlfriend's carrera and what was wrong with the wheels already on it.

93 Konas all came with thumbshifters, and most ( up to I think Explosif) were 21 speed so had 7 speed cassettes ( cogs)
So you will need 7 speed rapidfires: anything Shimano from 93 up ( you can still buy new ones) IF you use a 7 speed block: so, how many sprockets are on the commuter's cassette? That said, the thumbies that were filled to Konas could deal with an 8 speed cassette too, which rapidfires of that time couldn't do.
And what's the problem with the stem? I am sure someone here can help.

Anyway, good luck with it, hope you get it looking and riding as well as it used to

Buy a cheap wheelset from the 'MTB For Sale' thread (you won't find any rubbish on here), preferably 7-speed but 8 would be ok with the right rapid-fires, and put some 1.9 Schwalbe City Jets on 'em...

...7 or 8-speed rapid-fires readily available new, S/H from eBay or on here.

Welcome to the fold BTW

I have a set of Schwlabe city jets, if the continental is any
good I would be up for a swap the pair of schwalbes for the conti

integerspin":2q2baqsb said:

I have a set of Schwlabe city jets, if the continental is any
good I would be up for a swap the pair of schwalbes for the conti

Click to expand...

the speed kings ? sure lets do it. one is a bit worn .. the best one can be in seen in the photos below. I'll work out a way to send photos to you.

ok ..

thanks for the replies. I have taken some photos to help illustrate .....

I want to change the wheels firstly because i had a boardman comp with richly wheels and it glided along so smooth it was such a joy. The front wheel of this one hardly turned and made a terrible clunking noise. Its a lot better with the carrera wheel as seen in the photo.
The wheels that came on it are like the back one in the photos. I am told they are not the originals.

The stem.. well its a bit wrong. The previous owner said he took out the bolt (?) from the middle and replaced it as it was all seized up. The bolt in there now can only be undone with some kind of extended spanner. There is nothing to hold the 'cap' on top and the 'cap' doesn't really fit.

so what else..

the 'collar' that hold the stem to the bike looks a bit shit and i think i fancy some cooler pedals.

I have had a go with some t-cut and metal polish and am confident of getting the paint job looking better. I respray would be an expense too far but is there any way to get the rust off the frame ?
I asked the guy in halfords when i went to buy some cleaning stuff but he told me steel frame mountain bikes didnt exist and in the old days the used titanium! anyone know any good cleaning products for titanium ???

ok .... lets figure out how to get these photos up here.....

and here is some details

hoe do you get multiple pictures in one post ???

oh....

after hacing a bit more of a go i think the shifters it has got are ok ... at least for now.

Rapid fires... might ask santa claus

criisbike":3n0s4f2t said:

I asked the guy in halfords when i went to buy some cleaning stuff but he told me steel frame mountain bikes didnt exist and in the old days the used titanium! anyone know any good cleaning products for titanium ???

Click to expand...

:shock: Seriously - never let that bloke near this site. He'll be shot on sight!

In terms of your stem.... it would look a bit like this (if you removed it)



So basically.... as you do the bolt up, it pulls up the wedge shaped bit and jams it in to the forks. So guessing that the old bolt was knacered and he put something else in it's place. If that's the case the the top cap isn't doing a lot more than keeping muck out.

By the way - what exactley do you mean by, 'the collar that holds the stem on to the bike'? The big round bit at the top of the head tube (that's the tube at the front that the forks go through)? If so that's probably the top of the headset.

To be honest - I might be tempted to buy some tools (if you haven't got any) and strip the lot down to a frame and put it back together again. Really not that difficult and will give you a good idea of what you're dealing with and also is a good way to check that nothing cracked or broken.

To be fair, looks like a nice enough bike. Certainly worth putting some effort in to.