After dusting down my 18" 91 Fire Mountain the other day and making sure everything that needs to be tight was tight, pumping up the tyre's and checking the gears and brakes (SAFETY FIRST peeps 
) I decided to take her out for a quick spin. Its probably been around 15-18 years since I last rode her properly and that was with the anger and recklessness of a teen. Man, the memories came flying back, good and bad (don't remember the saddle being as uncomfortable as it was on Sunday though :shock: ) Unfortunately a few problems which should have been fixed a long time ago also showed themselves, nothing major but these were niggling things that I really should have sorted back in the day which is how I came to find this forum and some very interesting threads on Kona's
When I first got the bike I was glued to the Kona Catalogue for weeks, as much as I would have loved a Lava Dome or Cinder Cone I went with the Fire Mountain as it perfectly suited my needs and the price was bang on budget, components were of a reasonable spec and it was a Kona!! The plan was to lightly upgrade her as time passed which is what I set about doing. A few things have been changed but in my quest to get fit or at least semi fit I have decided that instead of buying myself a new bike I am going to continue where I left off with this bike. The plan is to get the bits and pieces I always wanted for it, trying to keep it as period correct as possible. Hopefully if all goes accordingly I will slowly keep this thread updated. I am hoping you guys will join me for the ride and chip in with as much useful info as pos as I really am back at noob status on the cycling front and have a lot of revising catching up to do
The first mod I did was the removal of the STI changers. I hated them from the off and as soon as I got some cash together the hacksaw came out, the mount was removed from the brake levers and XT thumbies were installed. While I had the hacksaw out I also opted to whip approx 3 inches off the handle bars, this was done for the sole reason of allowing me to get the front end through a fairly narrow gateway without catching the end on a post and launching me face first into a rose bush. The origianl Kona grips were replaced with some Specialized grips as I could not keep a hold of the original slightly hexagonal shaped ones. Next came some Onza bar ends which were closely followed by a pair of Rigida Rims after a freakish mishap claimed the pair of original Araya's. The Rigida's were meant to be a temporary fix but I thought they looked really cool being all black so was happy with them. Following the rims I had to rebuild my mod's fund and eventually got myself an XT Front and XT Short Rear Mech which was soon followed by a DX Chainset in black just to complete the stealth look of the bike. Other than that I think the only other change has been the Farmer John tyre after the original Reaction tyre bit the dust.
I will be back in a bit to list the planned changes and hopefully get an answer on a slight problem I have with her but for now will leave you with a load of pics of how she currently stands, not too bad for a 22 year old I think, enjoy .
) I decided to take her out for a quick spin. Its probably been around 15-18 years since I last rode her properly and that was with the anger and recklessness of a teen. Man, the memories came flying back, good and bad (don't remember the saddle being as uncomfortable as it was on Sunday though :shock: ) Unfortunately a few problems which should have been fixed a long time ago also showed themselves, nothing major but these were niggling things that I really should have sorted back in the day which is how I came to find this forum and some very interesting threads on Kona's When I first got the bike I was glued to the Kona Catalogue for weeks, as much as I would have loved a Lava Dome or Cinder Cone I went with the Fire Mountain as it perfectly suited my needs and the price was bang on budget, components were of a reasonable spec and it was a Kona!! The plan was to lightly upgrade her as time passed which is what I set about doing. A few things have been changed but in my quest to get fit or at least semi fit I have decided that instead of buying myself a new bike I am going to continue where I left off with this bike. The plan is to get the bits and pieces I always wanted for it, trying to keep it as period correct as possible. Hopefully if all goes accordingly I will slowly keep this thread updated. I am hoping you guys will join me for the ride and chip in with as much useful info as pos as I really am back at noob status on the cycling front and have a lot of revising catching up to do
The first mod I did was the removal of the STI changers. I hated them from the off and as soon as I got some cash together the hacksaw came out, the mount was removed from the brake levers and XT thumbies were installed. While I had the hacksaw out I also opted to whip approx 3 inches off the handle bars, this was done for the sole reason of allowing me to get the front end through a fairly narrow gateway without catching the end on a post and launching me face first into a rose bush. The origianl Kona grips were replaced with some Specialized grips as I could not keep a hold of the original slightly hexagonal shaped ones. Next came some Onza bar ends which were closely followed by a pair of Rigida Rims after a freakish mishap claimed the pair of original Araya's. The Rigida's were meant to be a temporary fix but I thought they looked really cool being all black so was happy with them. Following the rims I had to rebuild my mod's fund and eventually got myself an XT Front and XT Short Rear Mech which was soon followed by a DX Chainset in black just to complete the stealth look of the bike. Other than that I think the only other change has been the Farmer John tyre after the original Reaction tyre bit the dust.
I will be back in a bit to list the planned changes and hopefully get an answer on a slight problem I have with her but for now will leave you with a load of pics of how she currently stands, not too bad for a 22 year old I think, enjoy
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