1992 Kona Fire Mountain Rebuild

[eporter123]

So I came across this bike locally. Bought it mainly for the fork to use on my Kona Hot rebuild...

Got home and realized the Hot had the longer headtube! So, the Fire Mountain hung out in the garage for months, until I decided to rebuild it into a commuter for the girlfriend.

This whole bike had really low miles on the original components, but the frame's a bit beat up from being locked up outside. Strange how the green has gotten yellowed with age. It's really noticeable under old parts/decals. The plastic thumb shifters just crumbled apart. I think this thing spent A LOT of time locked up outside, maybe on someone's sunny apartment deck?

New/new-to-it parts:
-Replaced the old grease zerk equipped cup and cone BB with a Shimano sealed UN-55. Replaced zerk w/ a cut-down, short bolt
-Like-new Specialized crank from a barely-used '92 Stumpjumper (I took all the XT parts to rebuild my Hot...)
-STX-RC rapidfire shifters/levers and brakes (removed from my MTB back in 1997! Replaced them w/ XT shifters/V-brakes. UPGRADED!)
-Kool stop Salmon Pads
-SRAM Chain
-Threaded to threadless stem adapter
-Stem & Swept-back bars
-Front Cable Hanger
-Rack/Fenders
-Continental Touring Plus tires
-Nice big aluminum platform pedals

Anyways, I rescued it and changed it up a bit. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it's enjoying it's new life cruising the streets of Portland. Maybe someday it'll get a flat bar and some knobbies! The stem swap was mainly to get a short stem, but also to have a stem that's easy to unbolt the face of and change to a flat bar.

 

[xerxes]

Re:

Nice, I have a similarly mudguard and road tyre shod '94 Fire Mountain for popping to the shops. Given that the Fire Mountain is fairly low in Kona's range and only has plain gauge tubes, I was pleasantly surprised by how nicely it rides, it feels pretty light and nimble; so much so that I often pop to the shops in the next town, rather than just up the road.

Incidentally, where you have the rear mudguard cable tied, you'll find that there is a threaded hole in the underside of the cross brace between the rear seat stays, so you could instead drill a small hole in the mudguard and use an M5 (I think, maybe M4) screw or bolt and washer to fix it to the cross brace.

 

[Ollie]

Nice .

 

[eporter123]

Re:

Xerxes, good to hear you're liking your FM setup. The girlfriend thinks it's a bit slow (compared to her old racing bike) but that it rides "like a Cadillac" so I guess that's a win. Plus it's already been put to use hauling groceries and such.

The zip-ties on the fender aren't ideal, but they worked. Kind of strange that the threaded hole in the seatstay brace points towards the hub. I was initially worried about tire clearance with a bolt head sticking out inside the fender, but agree that it would be a good solution. The zip ties were just quicker, and there are too many other projects!