97? Kona Nunu ...stars and bars..

This one gets shipped tomorrow.. my girlfriend's bike to be.

Bought from a Finnish Kona dealership in 1997, so shouldn't be a fake. The font matches 1997 and the font colour is also right for S&B. Is this some weird scandinavian model or did you get these in UK & US also?
Couldn't find it in any of the catalogues, the first nunus did come around 99 :? The previous (who was the 1st) owner wasn't sure if he had bought the forks later on.




The one star that hasn't peeled off Guess the white bits were painted on when this was a "custom paint" option with the Hots etc.


Pretty badly chipped..

I agree that the decals look like authentic 97 decals, but I've never heard of a Nunu before 99 and the frame is from 98 or later, as 97 Konas had downtube rear mech cabling. It's probably a 98 frame as it has no gusset nor replaceable hanger, which they had by 99 (although not in the catalogue for some reason). I think the fork is a 99, but it could be 2000, I'm not an expert.

To be honest, I'm slightly suspicious of it - and if it were a US-built and painted frame, I'd expect there to be a sticker staying so

For comparison purposes, here are two photos I have - of a 98 Ku (which did have a replaceable hanger) and of a 99 Muni Mula (ditto, and also a substantial gusset)

Anthony":ow8snrnm said:

I agree that the decals look like authentic 97 decals, but I've never heard of a Nunu before 99 and the frame is from 98 or later, as 97 Konas had downtube rear mech cabling. It's probably a 98 frame as it has no gusset nor replaceable hanger, which they had by 99 (although not in the catalogue for some reason). I think the fork is a 99, but it could be 2000, I'm not an expert.

To be honest, I'm slightly suspicious of it - and if it were a US-built and painted frame, I'd expect there to be a sticker staying so

Click to expand...

No worries, I'm suspicious too - but got it dirt cheap so no worries!

So they S&B scheme was for the Us-built ones.. that makes sense

I have a couple of close-up shots and it seems that it has a replaceable der. hanger. Most likely it was painted at the dealership or something.. Btw, the sticker on the seattube also says double butted alu, and the 99-onwards nunus were normal 7005.

Hopefully things will get clearer once I see the frame.. Even though it isn't a full blown custom hot, the stars and bars will be rescurrected as the we both love the scheme and it is the original paint of this particular bike
...and I'll probably never have enough funds to justify a S&B hot

If it helps, the decals aren't 1997.. The 97 headtube badges don't have kona written on them and the Nunu name should have some foliage behind the 'N' - but if there wasn't a Nunu in 97 anyway??

Still, looks cool to me..

Indeed, they look like 98 decals to me.

Never seen that green Ku before...

Wandering through the net, stumbled upon this avatar text at mtb-news.de forum..

justice_france
Mitglied


Registriert seit: Feb 2008
Ort: Pforzheim
Bike: /03'er Cyclecraft F1 Dirt /01'er Steppenwolf Tycoon CR/ 98'er Kona Nunu ,,Stars`n`bars 10th anniversary le"

http://www.dirtrag.com/print/article.php?ID=54&category=features
...The NuNu is available now, but you won't find it in Kona's 1998 catalog - it's a mid-year introduction... ...I liked the yellow-to-blue-fade paint job - a classy touch at this price point...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilgwhite/455005091/

...Launched in Stab colours and...

http://www.bikemagic.com/forum/forummessages/mps/utn/2193/v/1/cp/4/
...NuNu was brought out after Kona's tenth year in the Business, 1998 to be exact...

That's good detective work! I remember the blue and yellow Nunu coming out very late in the 98 cycle (and with 99 decals), but I'm still not quite clear what your bike is.

When I said I was suspicious of it, I only meant I couldn't see it being a hand-built frame, I'm not saying it isn't a good-quality frame. My best guess is that it's a 98 Nunu with special paint/decals. In both 98 and 99, the Nunu frame was identical to the Muni Mula, and that means it was a good frame. I haven't got the specifications of the 98 bikes (I don't think they're on the web anywhere, but if they are maybe you're the guy to find them), but I doubt whether they were much different to 99.

The 99 Muni Mula, Cinder Cone and Nunu were "Constructed of custom butted 7005 aluminum tubing, with tubing dimensions: Top - 35 x 1.6/1.3/1.6t, Down - 44 x 1.8/1.4/1.6t, Seat - 31.8 x 2.5/1.0/1.6t, Seat stays - 19 x 1.8t, Chain stays - 22 x 2.0t"

In comparison, the Kula and Pahoehoe frame specs were "Constructed of Easton Ultralite tubing with 7005 aluminum custom butted stays, with tubing dimensions: Top - 35 x 1.6/.8/1.3t, Down - 44.5 x 2.4/1.0/1.3t, Seat - 31.8 x 2.45/1.8t, Seatstays - 19 x 1.8t, Chain stays - 22 x 2.0t."

So basically the 98 Nunu/Muni Mula is a double-butted frame, slightly more burly top and down tubes than the Kula, but sharing the same stays. If you picked it up cheap, you got a bargain I'd say.

Ltd Edition 1998.5 Konas

Very interesting, i have the mid-season Pahoehoe from 1998, it came with Z2or3 lights (in lime green) and an xt chainset over lx on the standard one.
I've recently dug out a load of stuff from my parents loft but cant find all my old catalogues... seems they're gone forever :cry:

question - does anybody have the mid-year insert for the 1998 catalogue? i remember it was a single page with the ltd edition bikes on. i got it from my lbs. would love to see a scan - just for old times sake...

The blue paint on the front end is similar to the S&B paint scheme, but the red colour on the rear end is different. The S&B red is a darker, metallic "cherry" red. Similar to the old Hutch BMX colour.

The "transition" between the red and blue is more gradual and neater on the S&B and yours also lacks the white "bars" in the middle of the frame that separate the red and blue bits.

Both the "bars" and the "stars" would have been applied before the final clear-coat (though some scammer added some EXTRA stars to mine, like the military logos on plastic model plane kits :roll: )

... so it's quite unusual... but hey, it's a little Kona - So still cool IMO.