New to me: 1995 Kona Kilauea

Long story short, I bought a '98 Rocky Mountain Blizzard when I was still in school, but since then I've grown out of it. I've been looking long and hard for a replacement steel hardtail and I think I've found it.

I picked up a 1995 Kona Kilauea frame today. From the serial number it looks to be a '95er, but I'm unsure of its size.

How are sizes measured? From Bikeradar, I'm hoping it's a 20", though the seller made mention that is was a 21". I don't have the rest of a bike handy, so I'm not sure how to measure it (from centre of the head tube straight across to the centre of the seat tube). It's 20" from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the seat tube.

I'm planning to move all the components from my 18" Blizzard to this Kona. What v-braked rigid fork would you suggest? Also, should I decide to go with a suspension fork, what would fit? I'm thinking a Fox 80mm or something similar, but the v-brake bosses are a requirement.

Thanks!

lovely frame you have there, i have a 97 kilaeua and she is just a joy to ride. Konas are measured centre bb to top of seat tube, so if you have measured correctly it sounds like yours is a size 20. On my kilaeua i run fox f80 which seem perfect for the geometry and lots of modern gear, the purists out there might prefer you to run something with 60mm travel like an old marzhocchi fork.

I dont suppose you are selling the rocky are you

If you're going to stick to a rigid fork, then there's only one option and that's a Kona Project 2

Obviously other rigids will fit, but the Project 2 would be the fork that most people would use. They crop up for sale fairly regularly on here, so keep your eyes peeled. They're not expensive either which is always a bonus!

Lovely looking frame by the way, and welcome to the forum

Lovely that

Personally I think that Killauea's are a bit more discrete than Explosif's.... when people are mad about Kona's it tends to be Explosif or nothing, whereas a Kili tends to just queitly go about its busniess without making a fuss. You'll be VERY happy with her

I love mine, and will never be parted from her

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=167659

Haha, no - I'm not planning on selling the Rocky Mountain. It's my first "real" bike, lots of sentimental feelings attached to it.

Here's a picture of it..

I started to strip it tonight, and put some parts in Zap degreaser diluted with some water, and some of the black anodized parts came out silver.. looks like it's still overkill..

Must use some more gentle, maybe the citrus degreaser my local bike shop sells to degrease the parts.

How did you run the cable on the top tube for the rear V-brake? I just posted about my Kona Koa build.

Little update.

Nice but, that modern P2 looks way too long...

It's a 410mm C-A fork. I know the original came with a 392mm.. but after some searching I wasn't able to find one of those with an uncut (or 9
") steerer.

I did find one on a display bike at my LBS, but they were shut down under receivership later that day after I offered them a chunk of change for it.

If it's a 410mm it should be ok, I'd have thought.

How does the bike compare with the Rocky Mountain?