1988 Kona Fire Mountain - finished!

[mynchiboy]

Re:

TBG = The Bicycle Group. Aka Kona before they were Kona. Defo not after market!

That be the one - such a cool decal, although I've always liked the look of all the TBG/Kona decals up until around 1999-ish. My faves are probably these very early ones and the '97-8 jungle style ones..I owned a 1998 Kilauea with these and they were ace.

Anyway, here's something else I've discovered whilst stripping down. There's a security post code on the BB which is wonky enough to suggest a drunken home job by Dad or a copper fresh from a late night shift? . It seems to read BN20 8JS which is an address in Eastbourne - I should have been a detective I reckon

Next up will be some light repainting and a attack with the super resin polish

 

[Muddy paw]

Re: 1988 Kona Fire Mountain

Lovely bike and i remember seeing a pic or 2 of the curved P2s back in 89 and that's all i ever saw of them but to actually see them on a Fire Monutain is just amazingly ..

 

[mynchiboy]

Re:

Lovely bike and i remember seeing a pic or 2 of the curved P2s back in 89 and that's all i ever saw of them but to actually see them on a Fire Monutain is just amazingly ..

Thank you! I'm actually really enjoying this little project so far

I've been busy harvesting together some more parts, the cool thing is that I now have a near complete Mountain LX drivetrain to add on as pictured, thanks to another member on here. The only exception will be the XT wheels that I mentioned earlier, these will be dressed down a bit with standard chrome skewers though.

I also received a longer T-bone stem with the package as a nice little bonus - this may prove useful should I find the original version a little too short.

The frame has cleaned up well, I'm just waiting for some touch-up paint to dry off and I'll hopefully be able to start putting the thing back together

 

[Muddy paw]

Re: 1988 Kona Fire Mountain

Wow ! you have been busy getting a nice collection together and i can see your Fire mountain looking a real treat when you've assembled all those parts on it , i remember T Bones being really popular back in 89 and always looked the part on just about on any worthy mtb ..

So may i ask what paint your using for touching up as i'll be doing the same soon on my 89 fire Mountain and i want to make sure i get a decent finish and as for the chromed skewers i reckon they'll actually add nicely to the overall finish ..

 

[mynchiboy]

Re:

Little late update..

I've been cracking on with this over the weekend and now it's looking much more like a bike again.

There's been a couple of small niggles, namely the headset crown race not fitting and my not checking the rear axle width properly (should be 130mm). I've solved the former by attacking the crown race on the replacement headset with a dremel. The latter will need a new axle and a bit of wheel dishing in the long term, but I've managed to squeeze the rear wheel in place for now. Hopefully I'll post some pics of the build so far tomorrow, once it's brightened up a bit outside..

The frame has come up pretty well in the end as well. To answer the question the worst areas of paint loss were sanded back, primed then retouched with black enamel, which was then flatted a little with some T-Cut. I then attacked the whole frame with Autogylm SPR - lovely stuff.

The next job is to refit the brakes that are sat on the floor right now. The Mountain LX brakes that I wanted to use require brake blocks that are a bit tricky to source, so I may use some MT-60 ones that I have at hand, along with some aztec pads. I've also treated the rear u-brake to some NOS XT pads. Once they're on it's time for pedals and chain

 

[Muddy paw]

Re: 1988 Kona Fire Mountain

Thanks for the info regarding the paint as i was thinking of using Humbrol enamel and iwas going to flatback and primer the worst areas on mine to but my worry is getting the correct shade of blue but i think some white primer may help with that .

Aztecs were my all time fav bitd so were you able to source yours Okay and dare i ask how much as i think i last paid £3 for mine last time round ..

I can't wait to see your Firemountain all set up and ready to roll and i can't wait to get mine sorted too but it's mainly the wheels that are holding me up atm but i'm not worried as i'll be getting help from another member sorting them out shortly as they need truing up so that's cool ..

 

[mynchiboy]

Re:

And here it is so far! It stopped raining for long enough this morning to take a couple of outdoor shots.

I actually like the riding position and overall look with the T-bone stem so it will stay on, although I'll keep the original stem just in case. The bike has been built with regular riding in mind, so tyres are modern Splashbacks and cassette is a new retro style Shimano HG41.Saddle is a bit of a temporary measure until I can see a certain gent in East London about a Turbo, seatpost was cheaply sourced from Ebay (but is pretty much the same as the OEM version). Headset and grips were sourced from the parts bin and some parts swapping between builds. The forks seemed to have a JIS steerer so a touch of dremel work was needed to fit the crown race - all is nice and snug now though in the headset department.

I'm pretty stoked with how it's looking so far. Not too much to do now before it's back on the road... I'm doing some work on my diabolo at the same time so it's muscled in on one shot

 

[Muddy paw]

Re: 1988 Kona Fire Mountain

Damn that's looking really well so far and the T Bone stem looks really well all though i do get the impression that it's about an inch longer than the original stem ..
i'm not a fan of the splasbacks for looks as i prefer somthing a little more beefy but each to their own on that score but as for your cassette choice as i've got the same on my Raleigh which i did have on my ol Rockrider previously and the gearing is ideal for road and light trail ..

That saddle looks a little to narrow for me but seems to suit the look of the FireMountain and your Diablo looks pretty impressive by the way mind you i'm a sucker for yellow framed bikes ..

 

[mynchiboy]

Re:

Bit of a fast forward on this one - I actually finished it a while ago but Christmas sort of got in the way of updating the thread :facepalm:

To cut a long story short the FM has now moved on to a good home and will hopefully enjoy a happy retirement rolling along on the South Coast..It's been a nice little project, I'm pretty stoked with the result in the end.

Here's a picture taken before I handed it over to it's new owner. I should have taken more scenic shots but I was too busy riding it! now on to some more projects

 

[Muddy paw]

It's great to see it finally done and is the new owner on the forum by any chance ? ..