My First Project - 1995 Lava Dome - Completed (for now!!)

Hi there,

Well, here is my first project build that I have done. Ok, so its not the most involved one, but alas it was my first one and I have now fully stripped and rebuilt everything on this bike and I am most pleased with it. Like any good story, however, we shall start from the beginning.

So, I recently gave into a friend of mine with several retro Konas and decided to get in shape by getting back into bikes. My first bike was a (Raleigh?) Wildcat. Later years saw the arrival of a Raleigh Activator (which is STILL at my parents house!). After that, a mid to late 90's Specialized Rockhopper FS which I sold to a friend, a custom jump bike, a 2005 Kona Stinky with Jr T's then a very short lived BMX! Over time, all bikes went to new homes (bar the Activator!!) and here we are with my first bike in several years.

Bought from eBay for £120, as seen below, my 1995 Kona Lava Dome:



The cables were all shot, the stem was a travesty, and for some reason the bike had no grips, just the grip shifters. So, I thought I would have a little tinker, which developed into an entire evening stripping everything down to the wheels being pulled open and serviced.





Please excuse the quality of these pictures, they are taken on my shoddy iPhone camera, the pictures of the finished project are in glorious HD!

More to follow...

So, the bike is now stripped. It was during this time that I discovered the lower headset race was buggered and I spent a solid 5 minutes scrabbling around trying to locate the bearings that had all done a runner! I later replaced the bearings with some loose 1/4 inch ones from Nirvana Cycles in Westcott, Surrey, (top LBS, well recommended) and replaced the upper race anyway.



I then removed the cassette, freehub and axle from the rear wheel ready for cleaning too. Pleasingly, the cones and bearings were all in pretty good condition.





With the bike now stripped, Operation Clean all the bits can begin. This bike needed it. Badly.



In the picture above I had already cleaned the cassette. This was just dunked and left in Fenwicks FS1 degreaser for a good 10 minutes. Anyone needing a good cleaner - I cannot recommend it enough. Just make it really weak if you want to clean paintwork and don't leave it on the paint for long!

Right then, with Operation Clean all the bits underway, it was high time to start replacing some of the bits that were either showing age, neglect, or a combination of both. First up, a nice new NOS Shimano LX front mech (no idea what model number, sorry!).



Then, to replace the GripShift were some Deore DX thumbies because, personally, I hate GripShift!



Again, I apologise for the quality of the pictures, I really am not an iPhone camera fan, but this is what I used for the shots during the build, I didn't want to damage the Sony camera or get it dirty

Next job was to replace the Kalloy stem that someone had fitted in place of the original Velocity stem. IMHO, to replace the stem on this bike with the Kalloy effort it came with should be a criminal offence. Big thanks to thefunkymunki for sorting me out with an original unit.



I also replaced the bottom bracket too with a Shimano unit to get the pedals turning all smoothly again.

By this point, the cleaning was well underway and really almost done. I was particularly pleased with how well the front rings turned out after a good wash in the Fenwicks.



So, it is now time to start rebuilding it!

First items to be reunited after the cleaning were the frame, forks, bars and the Velocity stem.



Then the following bits all made their way back together too:











Got to promote the cause!!:



So, with the rebuild well underway, I ordered the last few bits it needed to complete it, including a pair of Continental SportContact tyres which are very quick, but not pictured yet!





Then the last few bits were fitted together to finish it off.









Around this time, all the bolts were replaced with A4 Stainless pieces which I think really added a nice touch to the bike.

So there we are, after a few weeks, a Lava Dome was reborn with a new lease of life (and a freshly trued rear wheel by the chaps at Nirvana Cycles).

I hope you all like it, I wanted the red in there to add a little something to it and personally, I think it turned out pretty good.

very nice bud..nice "dashes" of red..those sports contact tyres are superb got them on 2 of my konas..very quick..nice build

Ernie

Cracking first build, that looks very nice.
Think I'm going to have to get myself a Kona one day.

great work!

Thanks for the comments chaps, glad you approve

Next items are a slightly more forgiving saddle and lights for the evening rides!! After that, who knows...

Very nice & tidy