Dario Cioni's Kona steel bike 1998/99: what do we call it?

[raidan73]

Sandor just made me aware of this thread. I saw the bike in Cambridge last August, locked up on the corner of Bridge Street and Trinity Street. My knowledge on late 90’s Konas isn’t too hot but I knew when I saw it that it was something a bit different, hence sending the pic to Al. I was tempted to leave a note and really should have taken a few more pics but I always feel a bit self conscious showing interest in locked up bikes! Here's the two pics I took in full (phone) resolution.

 

[Pipmeister]

Re:

Thank you very much for the extra picture, which I hadn’t seen before. I know what you mean with regards to loitering around a locked up bike and taking pictures .

It would appear that it’s common practice to remove the custom decals on Team member’s bikes when they are moved on. I have a picture of a 1996 Hot Team Bike where the rider’s name has been removed rather badly leaving some evidence behind.

The 6-4 King Kahuna that I stumbled across in was in a shop called Back Country in Tahoe, California. When I asked for the serial number, the owner of the shop replied with something a bit odd. At the time, it didn’t make any sense to me as I thought it should be a standard serial number format for a 1999 King Kahuna.

Anyway, we think that there may be more than one of the Columbus Foco Team frames, but that is still ongoing. Needless to say Raidan, if you ever see the one in Cambridge again, perhaps you could pop a note on it with a view to contacting the owner.

Cheers.

Pip.

 

[al-onestare]

Right then, some excellent insight folks.

When in doubt, ask Kona. As we're blessed to know and experience, if you take care and time to forge good relations, they are super good and insightful, taking time to answer our crazy, geeky musings.

Over to the snake:

The Dario frame was the result of a Columbus sponsorship that was part of the Mapei team.

That era with Dario and Roland began with the Explosif green/mustard flame frames that were built with Tange Prestige with fluted down tubes.

Many of them broke and we switched to Ti Hei Hei and King Kahuna frames for the team in 1997 and into 1998. Those frames were and still are extraordinarily reliable.

This Columbus Foco frame was built for the 1999 team, and was very light. We have one left at Kona Canada, it weighs 4.2 lbs.

The frame was a special edition and each one had the rider's name on the top tube. So I suppose we'd call it a Dario Cioni team edition.

The tube sets were as light as Columbus could make them for a race frame, and were essentially built for one or a part of one season's racing, much like the way that road frames are built for the pros.

As a comparison in weight and durability, the King Kahuna 6-4 Ti frame that's hanging next to it at Kona Canada is 3.8 lbs.

There's a lot to pick apart here; for me, the 1997/98 piece is gold.

And to the original question, what do you call it, the answer could be Dario Cioni team edition

Now we need to find one again!!

 

[Pipmeister]

Re:

Well I think that this calls for a well-deserved round of applause .

From a random picture of a curious looking Kona locked up in a Cambridge Street, to establishing a Team Issue frame that up until now we didn’t know existed.

For those of us who were born B.C. (Before Computers), we still marvel at the power of the Internet when it provides us with gems like this.

As you say Al, there’s a lot to pick apart here.

Pip.

 

[albash82]

Some seriously good geekery infused investigation here gents... I like it.
Be great to find one of these frames, since they all look to have been made for long humans.