Early Kona Cindercone question

My brother in law showed me his "new" bike this afternoon. It's fair to say he's never quite understood my collection of bikes, but appreciates them nonetheless.

So, when I asked him what his "new" bike was (knowing it was passed on to him from a cycling enthusiast) I was disappointed by the response of "I can't even remember the make, let alone the model" .... until I saw it.

That's a Kona Cindercone, I said. An early one, original paint, a few new bits and in good nick.

Now the questions:

- The year: frame number starts F906. Does this mean anything?
- Headbadge says "The Bicycle Group" - is this a pre-cursor to Kona?
- There's been some respraying so the bike doesn't say Kona anywhere. Is this significant? Could be linked to the probably repair (see pics)

I took some pictures on my blackberry, and will get some better ones.

I looked at the lug on the seat tube and said I thought it had been repaired, especially as there was some painting been done. Can anyone confirm this?

Pics below (sorry for quality)

looks like the the one i posted in off topic see 2 condercones and an owl. the only difference being the u-brake, i dident think you can mount v brakes on u-mounts so this must be a later one, 89/ 90 i think

Hope this helps.

Here's an example of how the 88 "Kona" looked. Really just a big "K" which you have, and then Kona written in rather small letters over that.

Looks like it's an original Cinder Cone.

Oh it is! The Kona people here are just a little unsure of the differences between 88 and 89, if there were any, or if this catalogue is for both years. The Explosif pictured here matches the 88 I posted.

Interesting! Thanks for the responses.

The "owl" cindercone looks like it has the lug on the seat tube, but it might be a trick of the light. Also looks as though it doesn't have Kona on the top tube (which I'm sure my brother in laws didn't have before some more paint was applied)

Also missing on his is the cable guide that appears in the catalogue.

Sounds like the back brake is an area for investigation, too ...

So, looks like it's not a repair - great news

The seat clamp seems to have changed from the back (older) to front (newer) as well

88' Cindercone

Here are a couple of pics of my 88' Cindercone for your perusal
Has the Bicycle Group logo on headtube...

This is a slight puzzle. The lugged seat tube construction and rear-facing seat clamp conform to the '1988' (i.e., 88/89) pattern, while the canti mounts conform to the '1990' (i.e., 89/90) pattern. Two possible explanations for this are that the frame originally had U-brake mounts but was subsequently modified and repainted just at that point, or perhaps that there was a more piecemeal transition between the '88' and '90' designs than we had previously noted.

Unfortunately, there were two different formats of serial number in use, but your F906 could be in the same format as my 94 Kilauea which begins F309 - the Fs indicate they were made in the same factory, the 9 and the 3 indicate that the frames were built in 1989 and 1993 respectively. But note that my frame built in 1993 is a 1994 frame - just as at least half of the 2009 frames have obviously been built in 2008, as they are already on sale. But unfortunately, this doesn't help in identifying your frame, as the 9 indicates that it could be either an '88' or a '90' - but in either case built in 1989!

Better quality pictures and closer inspection might indicate whether the canti mounts are a modification or not, but if the work was done well it might still be difficult to tell.