91 or 92 Lava Dome project

just got my Lava Dome unboxed, it was waiting on the front porch when i got home this evening!!

its got the wrong rear cantis, and i will be looking for a fd-m735 28.6 BP front mech [i have a rd-m735 to put on it].

i have a sweet set of m730/732 hubs with araya rm-400 pro rims i think will work real well on it.

always wanted a Kona, guess i will be busy this fall.

edit: looking in the 92 catalog scans it seems as if the rear cantis may be right, listed as low profile for the rear? and it did come with a brace for them as the catalog states.

i dont see any down tube decals like the ones on this bike, does not say KONA like the catalog scans and the stem doesnt have the cable guide like the scans.

Got the same bike 19" purple not sure what's std but I'll haves look what son mine if you like....


Tony

Thanks Tony, that would be great......

for what i can tell the measurements make it an 19" frame.

most components seem to match the 91/92 spec, the crankset[500 LX],thumbies[Deore DX][91 catalog says rapidfire?, 92 says Deore DX top mount, and it has the thumbies],frt/rear mechs[ 500 LX] etc, though it came without any wheels, and as i mentioned earlier, the stem does not seem to be a KONA velocity stem[brake cable runs through it, instead of guided underneath like the catalog scan pictures][ i will take a pic this weekend and see if anyone can say what it might be ]

seatpost is all scratched up, dont see any markings on it, gonna try and clean it up a bit this weekend but i think overall the bike will turn out great.

It's a 1992 frame, you can tell from the removable seat clamp, whereas 91 had a braze-on. Could it have been sold in Europe? Kona had to badge their bikes as 'K' in some markets at that time, owing to a dispute over the rights to the name Kona.

If it's a size 19, it should have a seat tube measurement from centre of bb to top of seat tube of 19.75". It looks bigger if anything, judging from the head tube. I thought the 1992 size 19 had a 15cm head tube, but that one looks longer.

ok, i WAS going to throw some wheels on this and ride it a bit, but further inspection found that the bottom bracket is toast[lots of play in it] [ebay ad stated crank was "smooth"] oh well, i wanted to make it real nice anyways.

so i been having a few beers and.........
i have stripped it except for the BB and will probably take it to one of the local lbs's as i dont have this type BB removal tools, then start checking on decals and see who i can find around here to match that purple paint. It will be a nice winter project i think.

The fork decals are pretty beat up but it does say on the decal that its a project two tripple butted fork, so thats a plus.

serial number is F1080552

the handlebars are kona 165 but the black paint[anodizing?] has faded to raw aluminum on the top
the stem is def not a kona, there is a DB on the front clamp, so i will try to find a velocity stem, this seems to be 1 1/8" ?
headset is kona impact in real nice shape, a few marks on the lower cup, the top nut is raw, i guess the paint[anodizing?] is gone, i can probably respray this or maybe polish it up a bit but i think this headset is gonna stay
brake levers are mt63 also one of them is faded pretty badly and one lever[silver] is chewed up on the end
thumbies are mt62 in really nice shape
front cantis are b-rm 454 [black]
rear canties are b-rm 501[silver] there is a horseshoe [not installed] black on the outside, raw aluminum on the inside]
crankset is a fc-m500 [46/36/24] [175mm]in pretty good shape, a couple nics but nothing major, all threads great , it came right off without a wimper

As for the size, i was going by the geometry numbers in the 92 catalog [bottom of page 8] i measured after stripping as follows:
center of BB to top of seat tube = 21 1/4"
center of BB to center of top tube =18 1/2"
center of seat tube to center of head tube = 23"
rear dropout to fork dropout was measured at 42 1/2"
the catalog states that the 23" top tube and 42 1/2" axle to axle corresponds to a 19" frame?

decal on top of seat tube say MTB chromoly dubble butted
there is a decal at bottom of seat tube that says "the bicycle group" [seems to be the same as other decals? but maybe not]
there is a shop decal from Century Cycles Bend OR on the bottom of the down tube
and then there are the "K" oval and the "mountain bikes" and the american flag decals on both sides of the down tube [where all the catalogs have a "KONA"]

my first kona, i like it !!!

doug

Had a quick look at mine dia comp 985 front brakes, rear brakes are shimano, front mech deore dx rear LX 500 thumb shifters deore 7 speed..... So some bits maybe STD but not all.


Tony

still trying to figure out whats up with this bikes decals, a lot of the spec seems right with the 92 catalog and it does have a seatpost clamp vs a brazeon the seat tube, but the project two fork is decaled as a tripple butted job, however the catalog does not say this and upon better examination the fork steerer is stamped 1991 and CM/SB so i am going to say its a chromoly single butted P2 :-(

still havent figured out the downtube decals saying "mountainbikes" instead of kona either.
stiil, its kinda cool so i will procede, and it is what it is.