1991 Kona Explosif DX

Thought I'd upgrade my city/commuter bike from Fire Mountain to Explosif, hence mint condition not a priority, just as well as this 1991 Explosif has faded from the original purple to... Blue!! :shock:

First thought was to get it powder coated, probably in black, and use it without decals, but after some furious rubbing (with autosol & T-Cut) I'm thinking the paint isn't really so bad, for a commute bike, if you ignore the faded areas.
As such I'll just transfer over the majority of the parts from the Fire Mountain (1994), so neither particularly period correct, or Explosif worthy really, but gets it rideable for now. Longer term I may go down the restore/period correct route.

What I did notice, was that the Tange Prestige Concept tubing is pretty funky looking!
And it's obviously had some Mint Sauce stickers on it in the past, they're long gone. But have left their indelible outline on the frame

Re: I'm feelin' blue... 1991 Kona Explosif

lovely frame.

I like the 'shadows' left by the stickers, would be tempted to leave the paint just to save those.

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Sod it! I dropped it off at the powder coaters place yesterday.
In the clear light of day the paint was, well... it was pretty bad.
I realise it's original colour would have been purple, but black was an option for '91, and it was easier to go black rather than match the original shade of purple, plus I' ve a few other bits to get coated black too anyway.

Re: I'm feelin' blue... 1991 Kona Explosif

U going full stealth black mode frame fork stem bars etc,had one of the black editions from that there looked good in that colour.

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I've had a Lava Dome in purple before so I thought I'd go for black as that was an option as well.
I think it'll be silver components at the moment as that's what I seem to have spare, but the full stealth black spec might be an option at a later date. I'll probably source period correct parts as I go.
New decal set ordered from Gil, and hopefully the frame should be ready sometime next week.

Memories of the Lava Dome...

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Like a phoenix from the ashes of the powder coaters oven the Explosif has arisen in its new coat of black.
A pretty ordinary plain black frame was transformed by the addition of new decals.
I've thrown a few bits at it, Flexstem, Kona 165 bars, and some Magura Hydrostop brakes, just to see how it looks.
I'm sticking with Magura brakes, if I keep the Flexstem then I've some flouro yellow HS22's that might fit in, otherwise the Hydrostops can stay.

Component wise it might be Shimano DX, I already have some DX hubbed wheels.
There's a few things I need though... A seat bolt, and a plastic cable guide for underneath the bottom bracket :facepalm:
It should be ready in a few weeks time, probably sooner if I end up working from home!

Re: I'm feelin' blue... 1991 Kona Explosif

Maguras look good on it IMO a velocity stem would be better though

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I kinda like the flex stem as it’s just that bit different.

Would like to see it fully built with the flex stem first but either way it’s a great looking whip!

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Sunny afternoon in the back yard saw a bit more progress, wheels on, brakes fitted (not adjusted correctly yet though), found some silver Magura boosters to use.
Seatpost is a 27.0 from my Fire Mountain, which I thought wouldn't fit, but it slides in just fine.
Still undecided on the Flexstem, a black Kona Velocity stem would look better, but I see those all the time. Maybe something in silver as the bars and seatpost are silver?

I'll l have a think and wait until l the rest of the components are fitted...

Re: I'm feelin' blue... 1991 Kona Explosif

great year for Kona