My Retro Cannondales and Kona HOT '98

Here is my '98 Kona Hot; its built up with some not-very-retro parts becuase its my main mountain bike...


Then there my 1995 Cannondale F500; this has its original forks, headshok unit, bars, stem, chainstay protector and retro front mech. Everything else on it is a bit newer


And finally, my first ever MTB built up for my girlfriend as its now far to small for me. Its a Mid-ish 90s Cannondale M300 CAAD1 with original forks, wheels and chainset off a Super V from the same year(ish), Some bits less retro-cool but thats the way my girlfriend likes the bike...

Beautiful 853 Hot!

mechagouki":32ps32cy said:

Beautiful 853 Hot!

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Thankyou. It doesn't have my fornt wheel in the photo as i had a pucture that day and nicked a wheel from another bike...

Welcome to Retrobike! That Hot is great and well worth a few more pictures. You don't often see single-colour ones for some reason, even though single colour was the basic deal for your £800 and the famous flames and stars and stripes designs cost even more.

The design itself is a bit of a puzzle as it combines 98 decals with downtube front mech cable routing, which was last used in 96, but it also has a rear brake cable stop which wasn't used before 97. It isn't quite clear from the photo whether the top tube is a 28.6 or a 31.8, but if it's a 28.6 it dates the frame to 96 or 97. The downtube was size-specific and if that's a size 19, it should be a 34.9 tube.

It's a lovely bike whatever it is, and all those years Hots were made by Altitude Cycles of Chico California in 853, so it doesn't make any difference to its value, its just a bit of a puzzle that's all.

Ah ha! it must be '96 then, i knew it was one of the two, it was once a stars and bars (or a similar fancy design) but it was resprayed when it belonged to its first owner, the respray was done by pashley; and it had new decals at the time. I think, though not for sure it was built by tom teesdale???

KonaHoathy":1078zbvq said:

Ah ha! it must be '96 then, i knew it was one of the two, it was once a stars and bars (or a similar fancy design) but it was resprayed when it belonged to its first owner, the respray was done by pashley; and it had new decals at the time. I think, though not for sure it was built by tom teesdale???

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No, I would doubt it. Tom Teesdale made the Hots up until 1995 and the catalogues always listed his Hots as being made of Tange Prestige. He still builds frames (and uses 853 nowadays) http://www.tetcycles.com/index.html but Altitude Cycles seem to have gone out of business and I haven't been able to find out anything about them other than that they were in Chico California. They built the Hot and Ku frames from 96 to 98 and the custom Caldera in 97, the painting being done in Washington by a firm called VeloGraphics.

Obviously the adoption of 853 for the Explosif for 1998 must have hit the Hot trade and that was the end of the line for custom Konas unless you count the titanium frames. You'll find a few in this site, but I'll just show you the one that justly won Kona of the Month in January owned by Kase1983 and an extraordinary frame owned by Mr Zero that has the fattest tubes I've seen on any steel Kona of the retro era, as well as a biovalised down tube, presumably as some kind of experiment. Note that both have top tube cable routing, indicating 98, whereas 97 was a hybrid, tt for fm and dt for rm.

Yes, i guess mine is one of them then.

I knew I was getting something a bit special when I got it as I have been riding reynolds frames forever (mainly old skool 531 machines) and I has a 631 dawes at the time aswell, I had been after a cindercone or alike for a while and then while I was working in a bike shop someone wheeled this in, the guy was mates with my manager and he was getting a deal on a road bike, so my manager asked if I wanted to buy the Hot, for £225! the complete bike, I have changed every part except the seat clamp and headset since then, but the spec I got originally was ok, it had SIDs and an old lx/xtr group mix with the wheels and finishing kit of a cannondale Super V + a USE seatpost. I was well happy that day, and even happier once I did a bit of reasearch on what I had just bought.

I was considering getting it resprayed and having a disc mount fitted to the rear; as it rides so well. Argos racing cycles quoted my £150 for the mount and the re-spray. Are they any good? The current pashley job is a powdercoat.

Thought I'd post the spec (i nicked this from that spec topic sticky):

Frame: Kona Hot 853 18"

Fork: Rock Shox Duke

Headset: Cane Creek C2
Stem: Bontrager Race
Handlebar: Easton EA70
Grips: Bontrager Lock-ons
Barends: None

Brakes: Magura Louise FR Front and Magura HS33 Evo Rear
Brake Pads: Aztec
Brake Cables: Magura Hoses
Cantilever cable hangers: N/A
Brake Levers: Magura Louise and HS33

Shifters: Shimano LX 9S
Front Derailleur: Shimano LX
Rear Derailleur: Shimano XT
Derailleur Cables: Shimano XTR
Cassette: Shimano XT
Chain: PC951
Cranks: Shimano Hollowtech 2 XT
Crank Bolts: N/A
Chainrings: Shimano XT
Chainring bolts: Shimano XT
Bottom Bracket: XT Hollowtech 2 External
Pedals: DMR V8s

Hub Skewers: Shimano
Rims: Mavic XC717
Hubs: Hope XC
Nipples: DT?
Spokes: DT Champion Silver
Tyres: Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1s
Tubes: Specialized

Saddle: WTB Rocket V
Seatpost: Raceface Evolve XC 27.0
Seatpost Binder: Kona

Weight: ~26lbs

£225?! F*&! You lucky sod!

I agree with Geoff - I'd say the bike as you bought it was worth between two and three times what you paid for it. Having said that, the original paint job was the only truly custom part of a Hot (I believe the frames were built in batches), so once the original owner changed the paint the value of the frame was diminished to some extent. If you change it again now, you could diminish its value further, which may or may not matter to you, but it would matter to me if it was mine.

One aspect is proof - I for one wouldn't pay a Hot price for a bike unless the seller could prove it was a Hot. In this case, as the bike is a 19, it should have a down tube two sizes bigger than the top tube, and that would be definitive proof, as lower Konas weren't size-specific. That and the serial number would establish its authenticity, but if you're going to get it resprayed again, it would probably help to have some 96 decals made (examples below).

Yes Argos is a very good firm and £150 is a reasonable price. Having said that, I wouldn't give them the work myself, partly because their paint is extremely fragile and partly because they will give you a very rich sumptuous finish in the Italian style and to me it wouldn't look like a Hot. I am in a minority, but I think powdercoat is a better option for a mtb and the Pashley finish actually does make it look like a Hot, which would be important to me. But you'll find that most people on this site would use Argos.