1988 Kona Fire Mountain - finished!

mynchiboy

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Well, I really needed another project like a hole in the head, especially as I've already several other bikes in a state of flux right now. This one was however calling me somehow, having been outed on the 'bay. Possibly it was it's forlorn, saddle-less appearance, or maybe the splatter paint as I'm a sucker for this sort of thing. And then there is of course those mysterious curved P2's, only featured on this model and never to be seen again.

One auction win later (for the princely sum of £10) and it was mine... It turns out that the chap I bought it from was it's one and original owner, having received it as a thirteenth birthday present. The bike seems to have been stored in a nice dry garage for some time and I was informed that the plan was to take it to a LBS for a rebuild that never quite materialised. I actually felt strangely guilty for taking away a once-treasured ride that the previous owner had kept at hand for almost 30 years. This feeling was not helped by the fact that I only had two fivers to hand over (not even a proper tenner thanks to the local ATM!)

The plan will be to hopefully turn this one around a bit faster than my other projects. The Exage shifter/brake things are pretty much shot (never liked them anyhow), as is the rear wheel/freehub, I do however have some Deore thumbies spare and some slightly younger M735 wheels that will still look period-ish. The Front brakes may be replaced with some DX cantis that I've had sitting in the toolbox. Seatpost and saddle are a bit of a necessity of course, I doubt I'll find an original Avocet one but a Turbo will look nice I reckon. The temptation to add neon cables is worryingly strong :oops:

The pictures below are of the bike as received. There's a bit to be done but it ain't that bad:
 

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Re: 1988 Kona Fire Mountain

Looks good! Agree that a Turbo would be a good match for it - mentioned in my own thread that I may well have done that on my own FM if I hadn't sold my Turbo.
 
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Re: 1988 Kona Fire Mountain

Great bargain there mate,glad it went to someone on here,it looks like it should clean up nice aswell.
Id seen it but there was no postage and it was way to far to collect if i'd won. If you decide to move it on though i've always got room in the stable for a splatter paint kona,i'll just kick a non kona out :LOL:
 
Re: 1988 Kona Fire Mountain

Like Spanky, if you ever want to move it on I'd be happy to give it a home. :) ( In case he deices against of course )
That's really nice, and flouro cables are surely the thing to do :) Pink, Obv.
 
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Finally made some progress, as from 2.30am this morning after a Friday night beer :facepalm:

Frame stripdown was easy enough, but the stem didn't seem to want to move, as I sort of expected. Normally I would they to hammer the bejeezus out of the thing in order to try and move it but in a rare moment of clarity I decided to venture out in the darkness armed with Plusgas and leave it soaking overnight. Anyhow, I didn't think the neighbours would appreciate the hammering :oops:

Next morning all was well and out came the stem. After a couple of hours cleaning off 20 years of caked on shed dust, old mud and grease I can now see that the frame has indeed has a busy life! The original paintwork will still stay so I will prime and gloss black the bare metal areas and touch these up, they were never splattered with much of the pink so there overall look should remain the same. It will then be a case of hitting the car polish as the paint is a bit flat looking..hopefully it will have a nice survivor look then.

Parts wise I'm not retaining much other than what can be seen on the table, the bar ends look like they could be Deweys so it would be nice to try and repaint these. Most of the parts fitted were okay overall bar the back wheel and headset, but I've now opted for a little upgrade in the form of Mountain LX - this was original to the '88 Cinder Cone so suits this well. I'm also still planning to use the XT wheels that I have kicking around. I've also some other ideas to reveal later ;)
 

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anyone know what the decal on the front of the frame is ?

my Kona has one ... id been thinking it was an after market addition ?

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