The catalogue picture is interesting in another way. For the first time, it had riser bars.
I had a test of the 98 Muni Mula in MBUK. The bike was basically much like the 97 one. The Indy had been replaced with a Judy TT, which I think was the fairly hopeless Indy internals in the slightly stiffer Judy lowers - a bit of an improvement, but still a pretty crummy fork. But the testers all said that the simple change to a riser bar completely changed the character of the bike, from being a head-down racer style to a fun bike that turned them all into hooligans. Surprised it took that much really.
Kona that year went to riser stems for all bikes and riser bars on the aluminium frames. I guess they thought steel buyers being traditionalists would all want flat bars, but the aluminium buyers were modern types, so a fun riser bar was the thing for them. Thus was the gulf between retro and modern set at 1997/98.
Treat it to a 98 Z1 and you'll have a good fun bike.
