1996 Kona Cinder Cone - a little goes a long way...

[Ghosty]

Re: 1996 Kona Cinder Cone - here we go again

Yep - Fire Mountain is pretty much fixed now, frame is fine and I've got a new wheel sorted, swapped over the cassette/spacer and all should be good when I replace the BB. Will be back on commuting duties after Christmas!
Agreed re mechs too - I got offered one from a wanted ad a while ago but it was on the continent, I forgot about it and haven't seen one since. Might have to enquire about it again.
Annoyingly there's one on the for sale forum, but it's top pull according to the seller. I suspect the Fire Mountain has one but that achieves nothing :roll:
The limit screws don't appear to work/be of use, and it takes serious effort to get the mech to shift upwards but not down, it does that readily. The mech runs out of pull a fair bit before the big ring, too. Will have to take a look at the cable.

 

[Ghosty]

Re: 1996 Kona Cinder Cone - mini update time

Sunday night spannering mini-update.


Spot the difference!

The Cindy's been sitting unused while the worst of winter passes, but on yesterday I decided to look at the front mech and shifter to see what was going on. In the process the shifter somehow clicked onto the 3 position for the first time ever, and now it won't release. By now I'd lost my rag and just left it, went out on the MBK.
Due to an errant pedestrian, I fell off it. This somehow knocked the front wheel out of true. Now I'm no good at wheel truing so I today went to put my spare front on it... not going to work, seems the rim is too wide for the brake, and it's well set up so I daren't touch it. So, this puts me in need of a bike until I can get someone to true my wheel for me. This meant the Cindy was the closest thing I have to a functioning bike, wanting a front mech and an inner tube. I really miss riding it, so today I decided to have a little tinker.
Seeing as the Fire Mountain is no good to me any more, I took the ODI X-Trainer grips off it and stuck them on the Cindy instead of the tan Kona things on there, that always seemed to disintegrate in my hands. Looks great. As a bonus I found out the GoFast bar is uncut and in really good shape.
Took the Sachs front mech off and put one of my XT 737s on, but it'd only shift between the granny ring and the big ring, and the '3' postion on the shift pod just wasn't engaging. Then, it did, and it stuck there.
I can't be bothered with the thing, and I've no idea what the problem is, so considering I've been running the thing as a 1x8 as long as I've had it (never use the granny ring), tonight I just took off the mech, the front shift pod, and stuck the chain on the big ring.

And there we have it!

Going to part out the spine destroyer and use some funds on one or two choice bits for this - Flite, some nice tyres (RaceKings?), and some nice s/s cranks.
Tomorrow is shakedown day!

 

[Ghosty]

Re: 1996 Kona Cinder Cone - mini update

Well, I headed out on Monday morning, got 2/3 of a mile... and the chain snapped.

Actually, that's not exactly true. I'd put in a split link and well, it fell out.

So I put the bike back at home and went back to bed for a while (having depression is fun!). I initially thought about just buying split links and shoving in another, but just how dirty the chain and cassette were (the rear wheel was the original Mavic 221 with LX Parallax hub, so the 8 speed Hyperglide on there was something of an unknown quantity) was really bugging me. Seeing as my new tyres arrived today, and I needed some supplies for the Tufftrax I'm collecting, I went out today and got a new cassette and chain, as well as an innertube as the one I put on on Monday was slow punctured. :roll:

Anyway, as people say, a little goes a long way:





Blackjacks! No stupid Splashbacks here. You can almost pull the things off the rim with your hand :roll: pitiful.
I decided to put my fancy front wheel on instead of selling it, as it ties up the front end nicely and looks a whole lot better than the all-silver previous wheel did.
I had no choice but to change the rear wheel to a spare I had as the old cassette was really stuck on there and er, I don't have a chain whip. No matter anyway as the rim is rather dull, then again it's 20 years old now. New one looks nicer - same goes for the new cassette (11-30), that and the chain make a world of difference.
Now it's just to take off the two smaller chainrings I'm not going to use (turns out the granny has lost a bolt!), and to find a Flite for it, and I'll be happy!

 

[Dare]

Give us some outside pics

Why weren't you satisfied with splashbacks? I read people saying it is quite the tire for the money...

 

[Ghosty]

I shall when I get out on it!
Splashbacks: well, for one I'm not sure how old they were but they were cracking up a fair bit. I also found there was no strength at all in the sidewalls and it was giving a stupidly spongy and unresponsive ride. Both tyres punctured within a month of each other, too. The sidewalls got ridiculously dirty in no time, as well. I think the black gumwalls and grips go better with the rest of the bike than the tan.
Splashbacks were £13.99 for a while (can you even still buy them?), and you can get a pair of 2.1 wire bead Blackjacks for £14.99 - considering the difference in tread, sidewalls, folding/wire bead, I think I know what I'd rather for the money.
I've really not heard that much postitive about Splashbacks - especially here on RB. :?:

 

[The History Man]

Splashbacks are shite. Never had a pair. Black looks betterer.

 

[Dare]

Well I am sorry to hear all this bad rep thrown Splashbacks way. Now I cannot wait to try them

This bike looks so nice, I am seriously considering getting myself '97 Kona after Brodie is done.
Did you manage to fix that left shifter?

 

[Ghosty]

I'd send you mine if they were in better condition and a matching pair (I have a 2.1 and a 1., but they're only fit for the bin really.
I can't be bothered with a front shifter as I never really use them anyway, I'm leaving it 1x8! I'll have a look at it though in case I ever do want to put it back on.
The higher end '97s are nice - I really like the jungle decals.

 

[Muddy paw]

It's a pity i didn't know you were picking this up when you did as i'm not far from cheadle and you could've called round for a brew mate and yes that's a cracking bike by the way ..

 

[Ghosty]

Give us some outside pics

Since you asked...



Went on a pretty nice ride this morning. A pedal cage screw has gone missing though so I need to sort that out.
All working order and not a problem, it rides good. 8 gears is all you really need.

The water bottle is from the 2014 Tour de France - was discarded by someone in the peloton going over Woodhead and it landed in my open backpack at my feet!