1992 Kona Fire Mountain

[marge602]

Hi folks

Thought I'd post some pics of my latest Kona project. As usual I got carried away building it up, so forgot to take photos of every stage of it.

I got it as a frame, fork and stem some time ago. Got it sand blasted, powdered in a sort of Kawasaki green, then emailed Gil M for the decals

 

[marge602]

Re:

The eagle eyed Kona fans on here may have noticed that it's actually a '93 frame. My reason for turning it into a '92 replica was the almost complete 300LX groupset I had. Needless to say, that's exactly what the '92 came with.

The Project 2s and Velocity stem were powdered in black, and I put the lot together with the addition of a 1 inch Ritchey Logic headset.

 

[k-rod]

That's gonna be sweet.

 

[Muddy paw]

Mm this looks tasty already mate so have you got everything for it yet ? .

 

[marge602]

Re:

Through the magic of eBay, I managed to buy a pair of NOS Exage hubs. I laced them to a pair of silver 32h Mavic XM317 rims. My Kilauea has a pair of these Mavics, and they're plenty strong....and that's with me building the wheels.

I bought a pair of Schwalbe Black Jacks, 2.1 front, 1.9 rear. TBH I didn't try to find a pair of Maximum/Reactions, as I don't really rate 20 plus year old bike tyres. Turned out the 1.9 was more like a CX tyre, so i swapped it for the 2.0.

 

[marge602]

Re:

Certainly do Muddy Paw, in fact I finished it this morning. More later, when I've charged my tablet.

Regards

Marge

 

[Muddy paw]

Re: Re:

Certainly do Muddy Paw, in fact I finished it this morning. More later, when I've charged my tablet.

Regards

Marge

That's awesome Marge and i'm really itching to see it finished mate as this is one lovely bike that you've completed and i'm well pleased you had it painted in this green as it just looks spot on mate ..

 

[marge602]

Re:

Next up, gears and brakes. 300LX mechs and cranks, with 28/38/48 Biopace chainrings. I got all this from a Dawes Wildcat I had a few years ago. It all seems to be in good nick, but needed plenty of cleaning and polishing. The B/B is a really nice Tange separate ball bearing job that came in my Trek 1200 frame. The cartridge B/B's have been around so long, I'd almost forgotten about what we used to have to strip, regrease and service regularly. It's a quality item though, and really suits the bike.

Brakes are Shimano M320 cantis, with new Aztec pads. I'm guessing they're Exage too, but have no markings on bar the info cast into the back of them. Maybe someone can enlighten me. I bought them to replace the plastic Exage cantis the Dawes had, which were rubbish.

Brake levers are XT(bit overkill but I couldn't resist them), and some Deore thumbies I bought when they were new! Can't believe that last sentence. Gil supplied some new decals to make them look new(er). Non period parts fitted include: bars, grips, seatpost and saddle. The initial "complete" pic includes a Vetta SL, which was once the saddle to have but now feels more like a medieval torture device.

 

[marge602]

Re:

Final post and pics. All that remained was to hook up the mechs, fit the grips and chain and change the saddle for a WTB Speed V that came with the last new Kona I bought, an '08 Lanai. Comfy, and it kind of suits it. Guess a Turbo would've suited it even better, but I'd spent a fair bit as it was. A pair of Brand X plastic bodied but metal caged pedals and it's ready to go. Only had a quick spin up the street so far, but it felt really good to ride. Will sort out a spec sheet tomorrow, might have to fire up Ye Olde Deske Toppe to cut and paste it.

Thanks to Gil M and Raidan73

Regards

Marge

 

[k-rod]

Re:

I have a fairly used but reasonable condition Turbo saddle just sitting in a box on my shelves ...