95 Kona Kula help needed no longer needed, now 96 Lava Dome!

Monkeeee01

Retro Guru
Hi there,

I need some help/advice with my build.

Like a lot of peeps on here I am an avid Kona fan especially the 95-97 era.

I have owned a number of Kona's some photo's attached

98 Lava dome
97 Koa
2001 Kula (which I crashed and broke my collar bones on, didn't really like the colour though)
95 Kula

I have always wanted either a 95 or 96 Kula and last year the 95 Kula frame was on ebay. The seller described it as good conditon with a few scratchs and scrapes but nothing more than to be expected for a 13 yr old bike.

So i drove 100 odd miles to collect it and boy was I dispointed! As you can see from the photo's it is absoultly battered! Some one has even painted around the seatpost.

It looks ok under artificial light but when you look closely it looks awful. the first photo it looks ok but the camera doesn't bring out all the blemishes in the paint or all the marks. If I was selling it I wouldn't be able to discribe it as any thing less than battered!

My heart was broken and it has sat in my wardrobe for a year now because I couldn't bear to look at it!

So now I have decided to do something about it and I need some help. I want to make it look brand new off the shelf and as close to the original as possible. I am thinking about sending it to Argos Cycles for respraying as I have used them before and they have a gold colour that looks very simular but I am worried about the decals. Argos Cycles painted the "KLEIN" on my Attitude that they resprayed but even though I sent them the template they didn't get it quite right (you can see what I mean on the edges of the letters in the photos.)

A few people on here have said that they got "greenstiles - gil_m" to do there decals for them? If any one knows him can they ask him to reply to my post or e-mail me? Or give me his e-mail?

I have also downloaded the 95 decals from Kona retro but there is no "Kula" writing and I don't know how to use Corel draw to chop the Kilauea into Kula?

If any one can help me with the decals - give me any advice about the respray, help me make the stickers etc I would be eternally grateful and I am prepared to pay (within reason ) what ever it costs to make my frame look mint again

Please help!

Thanks for reading

Gaz
 
Photo's

kulae.jpg

dodgypaintwork.jpg

decalsy.jpg

kula2.jpg

dscf0010uja.jpg

dscf0014uke.jpg

30072005004.jpg

image382.jpg

image343o.jpg
 
Hate to kill your enthusiasm but that Kula is indeed in a sorry state - the seat tube looks to have been (very badly) rewelded and the slot for the seat clamp looks badly damaged too - I'm not sure any amount of work by Argos is going to make it as good as new. To be honest, I certainly wouldn't contemplate riding it...
Sorry! :?
 
yeah I had wondered that, it was the main reason I had ignored it for so long.

Do you really think its unrideable/un repairable?
 
Monkeeee01":273fsvtn said:
yeah I had wondered that, it was the main reason I had ignored it for so long.

Do you really think its unrideable/un repairable?

I really wouldn't like to say - I wouldn't risk it...
That isn't to say that it isn't repairable - just at what cost? Surely it would be easier and less expensive to find another frame?
I know you said you left it about a year but couldn't you try to get your money back on it? Or would that be more hassle than it's worth?
Sorry I can't be any more helpful than that!
 
Oh well if it really is un fixable at least I have just bought this Lava Dome on ebay for a good price.

I was planning on using it till the Kula was sorted but maybe I should just focus all my energy on the Lava dome and say farewell to my dreams of an 95/96 Kula :( (till another one appears on ebay) :D

Need to remove the mud guards, get some new peddles, remove the bar ends and the reflectors and it will look at lot better!

Then I am going to upgrade the group set to XTR and get new bars/stem a pair of v brake crossmax etc.

Not sure if I will ever get some front suspension on there or not?

272757431o.jpg
 
Corduroyboy":2beu823q said:
Monkeeee01":2beu823q said:
yeah I had wondered that, it was the main reason I had ignored it for so long.

Do you really think its unrideable/un repairable?

I really wouldn't like to say - I wouldn't risk it...
That isn't to say that it isn't repairable - just at what cost? Surely it would be easier and less expensive to find another frame?
I know you said you left it about a year but couldn't you try to get your money back on it? Or would that be more hassle than it's worth?
Sorry I can't be any more helpful than that!

Doubt I could ever get my money back to be honest. I paid cash on collection for a start.

Oh well, I would like to find out excatly how much it would cost to be repaired but i guess that would involve sending it to Argos or someone else so would be costly.

I just love the 95/96 Kula - I love the graphics of that era and both of the frames were such beautiful colours and the Kula is the best/lightest Aluminum frame they make

I would also like a Hot or a Ku but not sure if the Ku was aluminum or not? I know the Hot wasn't.

Would also like a 96 Explosif in the green.

Need to find a pair of biscuit coloured tyres as well LOL
 
in 96 the HOT was Reynolds 853 and the KU was like the KULA from Easton Elite
I also like the 96 EXPLOSIF in green ;)
 
Monkeeee01":pde9vb8e said:
I just love the 95/96 Kula - I love the graphics of that era and both of the frames were such beautiful colours and the Kula is the best/lightest Aluminum frame they make
The repaired frame is a 94, the first year the Kula was made. It's made of Easton Varilite ProGram. The 95 was a violent ice green colour and made of Easton Elan, while the 96 was a kind of mustard/gold colour and made of Easton ProGram Elite. All good tubesets, but advances were still being made at a rapid pace in aluminium tubesets at that time, so I would say the quality of the 96 frames was slightly higher than the 94.

As to whether it's rideable, I would guess it's probably stronger than it looks, but the real question is whether you would ever feel confident on it. Partly depends on what you want to use it for. Corduroyboy is more of an expert than I am, but personally I would use it for commuting/light off road and watch carefully for cracks.

The problem with repairing aluminium frames is that, unlike steel, the alloy loses so much strength in the welding process that the whole affected area needs to be heat treated to regain that strength. It seems evident from the survival of most of the original paint that the repair of your frame was not heat treated, but on the other hand it's such a bodge that it's possible the 'repair' wasn't at a high enough temperature to do much damage. Who knows?

Monkeeee01":pde9vb8e said:
Would also like a 96 Explosif in the green.
Might sell you the one below one day then - at least we'd save on postage.

Maybe you'll find the Lava Dome will do you, but IMO an XTR groupset would look better on the Explosif!
 

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