Kona Explosif '97....TANGO'D

Afflicted.John

Dirt Disciple
Hi all,

I thought I would share with you my pride and joy. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best bike I have ever ridden. I wanted to get fit, and get back to my "glory days" of riding a steel Kona around South Wales. After getting royally pissed off with my Giant MCM, I explained one day to my wife "I need and orange bike". I did not mean the make Orange.

And this is what I made earlier....
P1030882.jpg

A big thanks to all who contributed to my project on the original thread.

I. Love. This. Bike.

First i needed a frame and so scoured Ebay. I spotted a couple of nice ones but I did not want to faff around with cantis so the frame needed to be V compatible to fit my current XTRs too. Cost was a factor! So I spotted a slightly battered '97 Explosif which needed some metal work. My father is a welder and did a great job of filling in the dented top tube, and then I only had to pick a colour. A fine Traffic Orange was the order of the day and the boys at Castle Coatings in Caerphilly did a great job. Apart from me not masking the bosses....ouch.
The frame needed prepping and I dropped it into Muddy Bum in Llanishen who helped me out with the BB and head tube facing.
I had the wheels and the groupset, but needed a new seat post. Finding an insanely cheap RaceFace XYO post on line, I then went into an odd fascination with Race Face and decided the bike needed to be decked out with it. A race face bar, headset and stem were all gotten from the internet but I had a puzzler with the forks.
I got rid of my Marzocchi XC700s with my Giant, and if I am honest they were shit. I have never ridden proper decent forks but my old XC racing days were turning me off the majority of wares in the modern mountain biking world. Plus, I had V Brakes! I took at gamble and ordered a set of Manitou R Pro's with MILO lockout from Ebay. Not entirely sure if they were legit, they turned out ok. In fact they turned out fantastically.
All that was left was to order a few bits and tools and away I went. I converted the kitchen into a workshop for a weekend and in the end gave birth to a beautiful orange Kona. I named him Tango.
I have become a weekend warrior again, finding time between kids and family but really enjoy hitting the trails. This is the best bike i have ever ridden and captures the exact feel I wanted. It may be a modern take on a classic Kona, but there's nothing wrong with that I think. It is very reminiscent of my old '93 Lava Dome and that is what I was searching for,
 
Love it. Orange is such a cool colour.

If you have some before pics put them in this thread too!
 
Nice ...i currently have a koba bolt but just won a 93 cindercond off ebay this is giving me inspiration stunning bike

This pic taken at center parcs by any chance longest by t looks of it
 
Never replied but foolishly my before images got deleted. My father did the repair himself - long time welder and ironically the only damned constructive thing he ever did for me …. HA HA FLMAO!!!

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread but I am planning on getting more active and realised I never finished this one off ;-)
 
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