96 Kona Lava Dome - current pic on page 3!

not exactly original, in fact i think the only original bit is the seat collar, but this is roughly the bike i lusted after as 14yr old in 1996. obviously i'd rather the frame was an explosif, but i'll live :p

the control tech post is my favourite bit

things are gonna change around here. the black stem and spacers, their days are numbered in favour of a nice period polished alloy setup when i find one. i quite fancy a blingy chainset, and a proper 8-speed XT rear mech. avid arch v-brakes would be nice, with early XT v levers. gonna use my DX thumbies with hidden click too.

the cheap saddle has already gone, in favour of a fizik nisene, and i'm gonna sort out some tidier rear brake cable routing soon

Nice ride. There's something about the old Kona hardtails from that era that just looks so right!!

Yes, I agree the frame colours are stunning. Agree also that silver post, stem and bars are required for this period. My one issue is with the pink grips, which don't pick up any of the colours anywhere - it'd look great with blue grips!

I have a 97 - the dark green one with yellow letters - which I've always liked, although I must admit it's hard to top burnt orange as a colour for an mtb. I do trump you in one sense though, as my frame is a 16 and small is beautiful.

the pink grips are faded out from red, and are my beloved onza ules. i do have a set of blue grips in the garage as it goes, and have been considering a few touches of blue on it....

You should be able to pick up a nice silver stem for not a lot of cash. Love the colour, but why is the rear brake cable "straight through" and cable tied to the top tube?

Old Kona's rule , Problem with the early kona's is that the canti cable route was through a clamp on the rear seat tube or a brazed on tube on the real early ones. My 2 Cindercones suffer the same problem when running Vee's

that's exactly why the cable is run like that. i have the wrap-round clamp, gonna drill it out to take housing

does anyone know where i can source a smaller-than-typical v brake noodle?

You need Canti's then to keep it original, they work way better than V's anyway. Vee's are just so much easier to set up, but less modulation and mud clearance.

it's 1996 so was born in the crossover year.