Pre Kona lava dome?

It looks as though that may well be a 1988 Cascade Lava Dome. It is certainly noticeable that although the Lava Dome name pre-dated the first Kona range, there was no 1988 Kona Lava Dome (at least not in the UK catalogue). So maybe TBG retained the Lava Dome name for a final Cascade, sold alongside the new Konas.

The T88etc serial number is exactly in the format of the early Kona bikes, and indicates that the frame was built in Taiwan in 1988. Aside from the location of the U-brakes, your bike looks very much like the 1988/89 Kona frames - and the fork appears to be the same as the one on the 1988/89 Kona Fire Mountain - see below.

The second page of the '88' Kona brochure gives all the history I'm aware of. It says Joe Murray had been with TBG for 'many years' at that time. He certainly raced for TBG, latterly on Brodie bikes (which were at that stage distributed by TBG), but I don't know whether he ever raced on Cascade-branded bikes.

Thanks alot guys.Also to Dave H. I have seen those and that info.
As for Anthony ,those two cascades are similar ,They show a fire mountain and a lava dome.Now does that mean that Cascade had 2 bikes only.The firemountain as you can see has a 4130 chromolly sticker and the lava dome has a tange cromolly sticker.Also the seat lugs at the bottom edge are contoured .Where as in mine or other konas of this age are straight ...Also as far as i know and i found an article where they interview Joe murray and he states that he left Fisher in 1986 and stayed at Marin for a year and a half.That would put him with Tbg in mid 1987.
But i think he rode races for Marin till end of 87 because in the Mountain bike hall of fame in colorado,under archives,mountain bike magazine feb of 1988 shows races gc standings and there is joe murray in 3rd place for Marin.If you find it you need to magnify it to see it.I will post the links as soon as i can.I have them at work.Thanks

Ok.Here is the info.
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac35 ... /5_790.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac35 ... /4_156.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac35 ... titled.jpg
You can find the info in this article.
Also there is a pic i found of the 1988 Norba National and this is the info that is states.......
Joe Murray with the yellow TBG/Kona jersey facing backwards beside Paul Thomasburg,... So now in 1988 he is riding now for Tbg and Kona.
Let me know what you all think.

Ok.Here is the info.
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac35 ... /5_790.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac35 ... /4_156.jpg
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac35 ... titled.jpg
You can find the info in this article.
Also there is a pic i found of the 1988 Norba National and this is the info that is states.......
Joe Murray with the yellow TBG/Kona jersey facing backwards beside Paul Thomasburg,... So now in 1988 he is riding now for Tbg and Kona.
Let me know what you all think.

Anybody?
Well for info purposes here are the specs on this bike.
Tange mtb chromoly with shimano dropouts
Levin cd tange headset
Brakes are mt60,shimano deore mt shifters,light action.shimano deore rear deralluer.
Grab on grips
Sugino ML 110 with cycloid gear rings
Exage mountain m450 hubs with Ukai rm 20 rims
Sn t8804 0745

Update.
I took the forks off and found this stamped on them.The fork ends say Spinner X1.The post say cr mo 22 2x26 5 and 1988 P 2.
Here is a pic. http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac35 ... re1777.jpg
So are these project 2 forks first design?Instead of straight?

There's no doubt that your Lava Dome was made at the same time as the bikes in the 1988 Kona brochure. They will all have had T88 serial numbers as well. We're assuming it wasn't marketed as a Kona because the paint style is different and there was no Kona Lava Dome in the UK. If it wasn't a Kona, why it wasn't is a mystery, as the Hawaian theme was already there in previous years in the Fire Mountain and Lava Dome names. But either way, it was surely sold alongside the 88/89 Explosif and Cinder Cone, which had the new Project 2 fork. I have little doubt that it must be the same fork as that on the 88/89 Kona Fire Mountain, on economic grounds. Spinner made all of those forks.

Is it possible that The Bicycle Group were distributors for Marin? I know they distributed other makes before they invented Cascade and Kona. If so, it could be that Joe Murray was racing under TBG sponsorship when he was racing Marins. Just conjecture, but it would explain some of the claims made in the Kona brochure.

If only i could get a scan of Cascade mountain bikes brochure....oh well.

Hi again.Got another question.
The 88 kona brochure as all 3 models for 1988,but how come the components on these bike are for 1989 models.Shimano history has the Deore II came out in 89?

my purple lavadome circa 1991 has a TBG sticker on it, original shop sticker is 'the cycle shop',lisburn northern(?) ireland.