Kona explosif 1995....

konaben82

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Been after a decent old steel Kona for a while now, got chatting with Rojo and he had this little beast in his treasure trove... So after a swift drive down the West Country yesterday (5 hour round trip!) I now have it in my living room

The plan is to build a single speed rigid bike with good kit and kept quite light... So far all I have is some cannondale p-bones up front which arrived this morning, I'm getting a doner bike in a couple of weeks so the build will start then, one question.. Shall I leave it in its original state or get it re-sprayed?! I have new decals ready but Im not sure I want to lose the original paint ... I gues the paint is 5 out of 10 condition, plenty of chips and scrapes and lots of cable rub/tyre rub and generally quite scruffy :-( I do have a touch up pen though...













 
I'd say keep the paint. A good clean, t-cut or similar then a polish will probably make a hell of a difference. Wrap the drive side chainstay to hide the paint damage and protect from further chain slap. The decals look pretty good from your pics and the 95 is a nice colour so it would seem a bit of a shame to repaint.
 
I think I'll have a go at it with t-cut and see how it comes out, I always like to see original paint especially on an 18 year old beast like this, if the re-spray does happen it will be as close to the original colour as possible :)
 
No respray will ever equal the quality of what you've got. I wouldn't T-cut it too much, you just need to clean it really, not remove the surface. Also the usual formula - 1. remove any surface rust with a fine craft file, 2. seal all bare metal with Kurust, which will stabilise any remaining bits of brown, 3. touch in with a reasonably close colour, darker better than lighter, gloss modelling paint the best vfm. Once you've done that and polished it, if you stare at it from a metre away, you will see all the repairs. But as a built-up bike out on the trail, nobody will notice them.

The correct length P2 fork is 41cm long from where the crown race sits to the centre of the axle. I may well be wrong, but the one you have looks a bit like an earlier 39cm fork.
 
Yes to keeping original paint.. It's amazing what you can achieve with a good clean/touch up and polish :)
 
+1 for keeping original paint.....its looks grand to me but I'm biased.
A while back an over-enthisiastic spray shop resprayed rather than touched up (as requested) the fairings on one of my motorbikes. Ever since, I've felt the bike has been mucked about and wish I could have its old battle scars and originality back again. But ultimately its down to your preference and taste. Enjoy the build and the bike!
 
those cannondale forks look chunky! not seen them on a kona build before. keep the paint as it is bud-shows its been well ridden/loved :)
 
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