Class of '94/95/96... - Kona Content (EDIT)

Finally succumbed to the Kona thing last night - now I am the owner of a 'Kona HeiHei king kahuna titanium frame - vintage circa 1994/5/6'.

Seller says 'Sandvick custom drawn and directionally shaped 3-2.5 titanium main frame 6/4 rear seat/chainstays/bottom bracket shell. Size 19 top tube 23cm. 27.2mm seatpost,31.8mm front der. 68mm b.bracket shell,1/18 headset. Made in usa. Like new never been offroad.' Buyer says 'Exciting...!'

Edit - thread and catalogue searches indicate King Kahuna Hei Hei post '94. Seller had indicated it was indeed a 20" (hence me buying - as I'm 6' 3"). Cannot find a scan of a 95 catalogue anywhere - anyone got one?

So what's the story behind the two grades of Ti? Why was the Hei Hei 'upgraded' to be a KKHH? Any logical thinking here?

Need to select a decent (ie. not Marzocchi as standard) front suspension fork in anticipation - what was the class fork of '94/95/96?

Mr K

Very nice neil. Decals tell me 95? I raced that same frame for two years. Also, the King Kahuna was not a Kona model in 94, just the Hei Hei.

a lot of 94 konas came with marzocchi forks OEM. try konaretro.com for reference - it has a 94 catalogue.

Hei Hei

Think thats a 20" judging by the amount of seat tube it has sticking out above the top tube and going by the length of the head tube. Stunning machine tho Mr K. Always lusted after one.

Decals say 96 to me (when was the first KK version of the Hei Hei anyway? Can't remember). Kona was mostly using Marzocchi in 94 anyway, but it would be a pity to lumber such a great frame with forks that are so flexy...

It looks like a size 20 and the decals look like 95. The attached Hei Hei was sold as a 94 size 19 and the beautiful Explosif (which somebody on here sold for $80 whilst drunk!!) shows some 95 decals.

The King Kahuna was eventually established as a Hei Hei with gussets and shaped tubing (hence slightly stiffer and heavier), but I don’t see any gussets on that, so it must be an early one. I thought they came out c96, but maybe it was 95.

Almost all titanium frames are built with 3-2.5, but 6-4 is sometimes used for dropouts etc. I think 6-4 offers some dynamic advantages over 3-2.5 as a tube, but is harder to work with. Litespeed used to offer a complete frame in 6-4 for a top price, but I don’t know whether it was worth the extra. I expect the thinking was that a smattering of 6-4 indicates a touch of class and goes some way to justifying the extra money over a Hei Hei.

More Kahuna

So 95 was the first year for Kahunas then? Are we thinking it's just the drop outs in the 6-4 or the chain and seat stays (where the decals are placed)?

Mr K

PS> Anthony, love the way you hook the rear hanger in the garden table...