'96 Explosif

[Matthew F]

Hi everyone,

I bought this Kona off ebay recently for a pretty reasonable sum. While it appears to be wearing '99 style decals, I believe its probably a '96 model as the front triangle is constructed with that distinctive Columbus Max tubing and the colour seems about right.

The only thing that's confusing me a llittle is the top tube braze ons - they appear to be designed for V-brake cabling, although the '96 Explosif came with Maguras. In fact, you can see in the photo below that there are adapters for a hydraulic hose which someone's left in place, forcing them to run a full frame's length of cable outer for the V-brake.

The serial number stamped on the BB shell is 2880. Might someone be able to help shed some light on the origin of this frame?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Matthew

 

[KDM]

This is the kona 96 catalogue from the catalogue archive

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/d/7 ... d904462e28

 

[Anthony]

Yes it certainly looks like a 96 Explosif with the original paint and 1999 decals. Actually, the other part of the serial number is more informative, probably starts with an H. I think some of them were built with V-stops, although as you say most had Magura guides.

 

[dvatcmark]

If the decals aren't laqured why not peel them off and see what is underneath

 

[We_are_Stevo]

IMO those are the best Kona decals anyway, and look good on the green '96 paint...

 

[Matthew F]

Thanks for the comments!

I agree with Stevo that the newer decals look good, but unfortunately there's quite a lot of paint missing and some rust developing, so I think this frame will need a date with Armourtex at some point soon. Now to find gil_m...

 

[Anthony]

unfortunately there's quite a lot of paint missing and some rust developing, so I think this frame will need a date with Armourtex at some point soon.

Nothing visible in your pictures comes anywhere near indicating a need for a respray. A respray would cost a lot of money, reduce the value of the frame and would look worse in a year's time than this original paint would if you just repaired the places where there is damage.

 

[We_are_Stevo]

My Saracen frame (click here) is far worse than your Explosifs but it was only ever intended to be a cheap build in the first place...

...it has a couple of small dings in the top and down tubes, numerous chips in the paint, rust coming through in a couple of places and scratches where the OEM decals were removed prior to my ownership but once the new decals and cables were on it looked okay; and certainly doesn't affect the ride at all.

If I were you I'd find a suitable automotive touch-up pen from Halfords, tidy it up and build it into the rather nice looking bike it could be. A mid-90's Explosif is never going to be BoTM so why go to a load of expense that isn't really necessary?

 

[Matthew F]

Some good points there, thanks again for the comments!

If I leave the paint as is then I think I'll need to treat the rust in some way to prevent any further deterioration. Searching around here has thrown up Hammerite Kurust which sounds useful for treating external surfaces, and Frame Saver which sounds like a good plan for the inside. Would you recommend trying to use some sort of rust converter inside the frame before the frame saver?

Cheers for the tip on the Halfords touch up pens - I'll take the frame in and hope for a decent match!

Matthew

 

[Matthew F]

A few months later and I'm finaly getting this (re)build started! Below is a photo of the frame, mated with some TB P2s, control centre headset and velocity stem. (Apologies for the poor picture quality!)

I'm currently having difficulty with a seatpost related issue - the previous owner had fitted a 26.8 mm post and, as a result, the upper end of the seat tube has been over tightened to the extent that a 27.0 post won't fit without lots of grease and, er, elbow grease. Furthermore, rust and general crud which has built up further down the seat tube makes things even more difficult once the post has been forced in a few inches. Fitting an old post in this manner left it very scratched and has deterred me from attempting to insert my nice new ControlTech 27.0 unit. So my question to those with more experience than I is: would you attempt to widen the upper end of the seat tube to its original diameter and ream out the rest, or just be happy with the snug fitting 26.8 unit which came with the bike?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

Cheers,

Matthew