Kona Explosif 1997 team edition

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Definitely leave the original decals otherwise you may as well colour match any old Atombombs

Very much looking forward to seeing these on!

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Another wicked update from Mark:

Every part has been cleaned inside and out with a toothbrush or similar clean device, all small parts have been cleaned in the ultrasonic parts cleaner (boy did they need it) one station has been replaced, your rebound cartridge has been flushed and cycled clean, crown has been polished, new uncut steer tube, factory seals, Springs have been set up for your weight, factory oil, factory tweaks, 4 hours up to this point.

Click to expand...

He's shared the pic's with his network and they agree it's a rare colour. Now I thought these came on the 98 U'hu as standard. Am I'm off-base there? And can anyone remember if it was a colour option on it's own? I've checked my magazines and I can't find any records so far...

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Over a year ago, you asked me for some photos and tales from that 1997 Canadian National Championships event. Here's what I could dig up, photo-wise.

Some are over-exposed and as you can see, they are all printed pictures but still fun, right?

Lesley Tomlinson


Roland Green


Alison Sydor


Andreas Hestler


Kirk Molday


Me, the year prior at the Rocky Mountain trailer


As far as tales go, this was my second National championships. The first was in that photo of me above, where I admittedly looked pretty skinny and awkward. By the next year, I had moved up to a higher category, was more fit and also more aware of what was going on around me, haha.

What was interesting in the second year (where most of these photos came from) the influx of BC racers who came in hard and strong. They completely crushed most everyone in each of their respective categories. Between the Kona team, Rocky Mountain, Norco and Brodie their top racers were all from the Vancouver or Victoria, BC area. It really showed on what was at the time, considered a very technical course. Their skills were next level.

Also, the Kona team stood out in their bikes and kit. I had never seen such wildly coloured team gear before!

Geof

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geofharries":2cnlxzu9 said:

......As far as tales go, this was my second National championships. The first was in that photo of me above, where I admittedly looked pretty skinny and awkward. By the next year, I had moved up to a higher category, was more fit and also more aware of what was going on around me, haha.

What was interesting to me in the second year (where most of these photos came from) the influx of BC racers who came in hard and strong. They completely crushed most everyone in each of their respective categories. Between the Kona team, Rocky Mountain, Norco and Brodie their top racers were all from the Vancouver or Victoria, BC area. It really showed on what was at the time, considered a very technical course. Their skills were next level.

Also, the Kona team stood out in their bikes and kit. I had never seen such wildly coloured team gear before!

Geof

Click to expand...

Thank you Geof for those pictures. I think that I also speak for Alasdair here when I say that I am particularly interested in the bikes ridden by the Kona Team from 1996 -1998.

What with the rumours and anecdotes surrounding the painted Hei Hei and King Kahuna frames (and the reason that it was done!), there are very few decent pictures of these frames. The picture of Lesley Tomlinson above seems to show her riding a 1995 or early 1996 Hei Hei painted in the 1997 Kona Rasta Green / Yellow flame livery. I have another picture of her riding what I assume to be this bike. I could be 1995 as it appears to have a short Seat Tube extension (flatter Top Tube Geometry), otherwise an early 1996 model as it has Front & Rear Mech Downtube routing with a clamp-on Cable Stop on the Top Tube for the Rear Brake.

These has been discussion on the internet regarding the painting of these frame, some of which is rather tactless - see P25 of this thread. I did however receive a reply from Kona when I asked them about it, which I assume to be more accurate.

If you can add anything, or point us towards any pictures of these frames, I would be most grateful.

Pip.

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geofharries":yk3ejcbe said:

Over a year ago, you asked me for some photos and tales from that 1997 Canadian National Championships event. Here's what I could dig up, photo-wise.

Some are over-exposed and as you can see, they are all printed pictures but still fun, right?

Leslie Tomlinson


Peter Wedge


Alison Sydor


Andreas Hestler


Kirk Molday


Me, the year prior at the Rocky Mountain trailer (haha)


As far as tales go, this was my second National championships. The first was in that photo of me above, where I admittedly looked pretty skinny and awkward. By the next year, I had moved up to a higher category, was more fit and also more aware of what was going on around me, haha.

What was interesting to me in the second year (where most of these photos came from) the influx of BC racers who came in hard and strong. They completely crushed most everyone in each of their respective categories. Between the Kona team, Rocky Mountain, Norco and Brodie their top racers were all from the Vancouver or Victoria, BC area. It really showed on what was at the time, considered a very technical course. Their skills were next level.

Also, the Kona team stood out in their bikes and kit. I had never seen such wildly coloured team gear before!

Geof

Click to expand...

Hey Geof - this is superb, thank you very much for taking the time to get this together. If you have any other shots or stories I'd love to hear them. I can tell you the Kona rider behind Kirk is Seamus - he rode #23 in this race. That's Roland as #11 not Peter. I haven't seen any shots of Peter riding, just the ones I have of him sitting/standing. Same for Ryder.

Your comments about the BC boys and girls...well, we also know, as I think you're alluding to, there was a darker under-belly filtering into the sport thanks in part to the "professionalism" and road influences.

That all said, super-cool insight and for the most-part, super-cool times!

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pipmeister":36fxlw4i said:

geofharries":36fxlw4i said:

If you can add anything, or point us towards any pictures of these frames, I would be most grateful.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Sorry, those are all of the photos I have of the Kona crew and their bikes. I have many more of the Rocky Mountain side of things, but that's probably not interesting to this thread!

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al-onestare":2rymvgow said:

Hey Geof - this is superb, thank you very much for taking the time to get this together. If you have any other shots or stories I'd love to hear them. I can tell you the Kona rider behind Kirk is Seamus - he rode #23 in this race. That's Roland as #11 not Peter. I haven't seen any shots of Peter riding, just the ones I have of him sitting/standing. Same for Ryder.

Your comments about the BC boys and girls...well, we also know, as I think you're alluding to, there was a darker under-belly filtering into the sport thanks in part to the "professionalism" and road influences.

That all said, super-cool insight and for the most-part, super-cool times!

Click to expand...

Thanks, I changed the titles and names on some of my photos so they are now accurate.

Did you ever see this article about Roland Green in CyclingTips?

https://cyclingtips.com/2016/11/whateve ... -champion/

My last ever Canadian National Mountain Bike Championships race was in 2001 at Sun Peaks in Kamloops, BC. Both the high and low-point for me was getting lapped by the man himself, Roland Green. He was on a tear, at the top of his game and I was at the end of my racing career. It was both exciting and utterly depressing.

I believe Roland was racing for Trek at the time.

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al-onestare":2clj2fgn said:

Another wicked update from Mark:

Every part has been cleaned inside and out with a toothbrush or similar clean device, all small parts have been cleaned in the ultrasonic parts cleaner (boy did they need it) one station has been replaced, your rebound cartridge has been flushed and cycled clean, crown has been polished, new uncut steer tube, factory seals, Springs have been set up for your weight, factory oil, factory tweaks, 4 hours up to this point.

Click to expand...

He's shared the pic's with his network and they agree it's a rare colour. Now I thought these came on the 98 U'hu as standard. Am I'm off-base there? And can anyone remember if it was a colour option on it's own? I've checked my magazines and I can't find any records so far...

Click to expand...

Ahh nice to see my old bombers are being bought back to life, as you promised!

Definately off a very neglected U'hu... the frame was just as bad! i can confirm this.

Re: Re:

geofharries":22uzbn3r said:

al-onestare":22uzbn3r said:

Hey Geof - this is superb, thank you very much for taking the time to get this together. If you have any other shots or stories I'd love to hear them. I can tell you the Kona rider behind Kirk is Seamus - he rode #23 in this race. That's Roland as #11 not Peter. I haven't seen any shots of Peter riding, just the ones I have of him sitting/standing. Same for Ryder.

Your comments about the BC boys and girls...well, we also know, as I think you're alluding to, there was a darker under-belly filtering into the sport thanks in part to the "professionalism" and road influences.

That all said, super-cool insight and for the most-part, super-cool times!

Click to expand...

Thanks, I changed the titles and names on some of my photos so they are now accurate.

Did you ever see this article about Roland Green in CyclingTips?

https://cyclingtips.com/2016/11/whateve ... -champion/

My last ever Canadian National Mountain Bike Championships race was in 2001 at Sun Peaks in Kamloops, BC. Both the high and low-point for me was getting lapped by the man himself, Roland Green. He was on a tear, at the top of his game and I was at the end of my racing career. It was both exciting and utterly depressing.

I believe Roland was racing for Trek at the time.

Click to expand...

Thanks again, yes I've read that and it's always worth another read. Until I'd read it I had no idea he'd had that accident.

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Once again our wonderful customs/Royal Mail delivery service lost the reference details for the serviced forks. So after some investigation and some painful telephone calls, I could finally pay the customs charge EVEN though they were mine. The arrived with 3 days to spare before the latest adventure.

The planets aligned and after a crazy week with work, I picked up a hire car and started to explore the trails around Phoenix, Arizona.

Below are a few highlights from 2 solid days of riding. Day 1 was at Pass Mountain, to the east of Phoenix. Right in the sticks, visually it was out of this world with breath-taking vistas everywhere you looked. It was the hardest riding I've ever done and to be really honest, it was a real struggle. The trails were super-gnarly and even on a modern bike it'd be uncomfortable and in many spots, unrideable. It was heavily worn, I guess due to it's popularity with the final stretch from the base back up to the top-end trail-head the only solid bit of riding all day. That all said, it was an adventure and I survived although my bars did their best to puncture by chest on one super-sketchy decent.











I even found a desert mini version of Mountain Mayhem...8 hour enduro.







Day 2 took in the Desert Classic trail at South Mountain. It's a gigantic public park, one of the biggest in the US and this was a delight to ride. Perhaps not quite as visually stunning to begin with, once you headed out of the gated communities and passed 1,500ft, you were right back in the middle of nowhere. The trails were brilliant with a real mix of rock, rocky sections, loose gravel and sand, some flow and lots of undulation. It kept your attention all the time. As an out and back, it was a good grind followed by a very welcome and super-fun return. As a proper trail I did meet a few folks - all commented on the bike, one on my accent and best of all a fellow Kona-nut. Yep, in the middle of the desert I found myself chatting about A'ha's, Explosif's and Manomano's.







As for the bike, once again it was faultless and particularly on Desert Classic, it was right at home. Mark worked his magic on the forks which performed amazingly (again) and well, they look the nuts right? The red accents of the decals and top-caps reflect the flames.



PS: everything you've read about cycling or running at altitude in the desert is true. It's brutal. I was getting through 4-5 litres of water and anything over 1,500ft...boy you feel it more than say the Alps.