1994 Kona Kilauea

Here is my 1994 Kilauea with it's recent "retrofied" drivetrain to it's original spec with a XT 737 rear derailleur and Sugino Impel crankset up front. Was running a 4 arm FSA Alpha crank plus newer rear Shimano gear changer but looks alot more pleasing with the old gear on and still works just as well.
Added Avid V brakes with original Kona levers plus Raceface XC stem and bars. Despite been in the market for donkeys it's the first time I ever used a Flite saddle and it's the most comfortable saddle I ever rested my posterior on. Brilliant bike even after all these years.

Thought I'll fit a pair of Kona Curve cantilever brakes on the rear of the Kilauea to see how they go. Abit fiddly but once you have the spring tensioned in the right way it's good to go. Definitely only made to slow you down and not a complete stop like the V brakes. Heard alot of comments in forums criticising them but at least they look good!

Yep they look good but are hopeless for practical riding! There're just about good enough for cruising on my A'ha.

Nice to see original paint and nice spec. How come the forks and stem have been changed to newer aheadset ones?

I replaced the canti's that came on my 94 Kilauea shortly after I got it, they were so bad. I used Magura HS22's, spent £280 on them!!

Have a look at my Kilauea in my signature.

When I originally bought it in NZ years ago it came with Rockshox 21 forks and the original Kona threaded headset and stem but the forks finally gave up the ghost and all the running gear was worn out so stripped it to only the frame and bought it back to Sydney to be resurrected using new and old parts to it's present form. Unfortunately couldn't track down any threaded P2 forks so had to go aheadset. Still love the ride of it and glad you kept yours near original.

If you run the straddle cable much shorter you will get them to work much better. This drastically improves the leverage. The brakes will feel a little mushy, simply because the improved leverage is squishing the blocks much harder.

somewhat limited experience on this, but it is indeed very dependent on setup...

after re-reading the sheldon brown articles on cantilevers I was able to get my '94 cinder cone setup much better than my initial attempts. Been thrashing it around the local woods a lot more in recent week (locking up rear wheels and generally stopping with much more confidence) since I adjusted everything

Key is to lower the straddle cable, but also look at the angle of the cantilevers. Braking efficiency is increased the more you can lean them back (the first time I set them up more vertically ... not good!)

I'll post some pics of my current setup if helpful...

Great bike btw !

Thanks for the set up advice. I'll give it a go in trying to getting it to stop better. Currently it needs a fist full just to slow down while the front v brakes do the actual stopping bit!!!

Re:

I recently managed to get hold of some Marzocchi XC700 forks in pretty good working condition complete with newish seals at a reasonable cost from an European Ebayer. They must be the last production run of their original style XC forks as they have been date stamped 98. Perfect to do the front end business for my trusty Kilauea and at the same time replace the V brakes with Kona own brand Curve cantilevers which I already have fitted in the back end. The forks were missing the original brake bridge cable hanger thingy so I used a Tektro brake hanger which seems to work quite well. Forks doesn't have loads of travel and the adjustment dials don't seem make a massive difference from one click to the other. However they feel alot better than the Rockshox Mag 20's that it originally came with when I first bought the bike. They were pretty rubbish. Still need to cut down the steerer tube and then I will give it a proper dig in the dirt.

> The forks were missing the original brake bridge cable hanger thingy so I used a Tektro brake hanger

Puh, that's a very hard 'design accident' ;-)
Does the candi arms lift correctly?