Advice please I had a Kona Lava Dome 1992 but it died .....

[cjrretro]

I then replaced that with a Cube Ltd Pro CLS ....... but not a patch on my old Lava Dome (so gave that to my teenage son). So I am currently looking at old school retro bikes....looking for a simple hardtail, no shox, nice simple steel chromoloy or aluminium......

I have seen Kona later efforts from 1995 onwards what would you buy at the £150 - 200 end of the market (Hahanna). Bike is required for long off road approaches to munros etc.

Final thing ... been reading this forum now for a few months and think it is the best bike forum I have seen on the net. I also road bike with a Focus Cayo 2.0 Di2 and an old specced up Specialized Allez Sport 18 as my commuter bike. But I am hankering after a lightweight like my old Kona.

Any advice good or bad accepted!

 

[Anthony]

I think you might find a mid 90s rigid Lava Dome a bit lighter and livelier than your 92. We're not supposed to give valuations here, but that isn't quite what you want, so I hope it's ok to say that a rigid Hahanna shouldn't ever cost you £100, usually rather less. A mid 90s rigid Lava Dome or Cinder Cone £150-200 depending on condition. Make sure you get one with a triple-butted P2 and it's a good bike and fair value for money. Although not of course as good vfm as an Orange Clockwork or better still C16R.

 

[cjrretro]

Cheers Anthony....I noticed a very nice example of a 1996 Kona Hahanna (Gold/Grey P2s) just sold for £200 on Ebay. I actually joined this site after daily droolings on the MTB sale forum.!

 

[Spudly]

I would sit and keep an eye on the for sale/ebay section on here and obv trawl the bay yourself, as said above you shouldnt be paying £200 for a Hahana, unless its full xtr


Ive got a 1993 19" Lava Dome, that was in almost original spec barring a rear mech replacement, and obviously seat/tyres/grips, but other than that it was in really good nick and had some interesting history behind it as i found when i collected it, this cost me £90 if i remember right!

I was waiting a while for something to pop up and i originally wanted it for parts but its just too good, grey to blue fade paint and triple butted P2's aswell, took it on the muddy stuff weekend before last and loved it, but its in skinny tyre'd road mode for now and its awesome to ride, really nippy and climbs very well!

So in short, dont just hand over your wedge at the first reasonable bike that comes your way, hang about and get the feel of what they go for and when the right one comes up you will be very happy!


Oh and welcome btw

 

[cjrretro]

That looks identically like my 1992 LD .... in fact mine may have been a 1993. I hear you brothers about budget - was just not sure of the Kona range after 1995! as I was happily using my LD, my old LD just succumbed to all old allen screws corroding.....never even knew of this site when I skipped it ... sacrilege I know. Kept the wheels/rims though.

 

[cjrretro]

Definitely be keeping my eye on the classifieds this is exactly what I'd be looking for .....

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=223508

Lovely lovely .... so hard trying to find a simple lightweight MTB hence going retro ... some of the bikes I see in here are stunning.

 

[Anthony]

As I said above, after 92 came the move to lighter weight. By 94, things had stabilised at a lighter weight level. Lava Domes and Cinder Cones had identical frames, just different components. I would say an LD or CC from 94-96 was a better bike than a 92.

 

[cjrretro]

I recall the Shimano DEORE Groupset Anthony on mine......Anyway I am becoing better informed on the years/variants. I never appreciated what I had until I lost it. . Wonderfully light, really responsive on any hill, just a perfect bike for my needs.

This is the cube that replace it ....... £500 when I bought it in 2010.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=44376

Not a bad bike...but heavy and not a patch on the LD.

 

[My_Teenage_Self]

Why not get hold of a 92 (or 93?) Lava dome?

A lot of us search out what we had/wanted back then.

93 was a FINE vintage...

 

[Pyro Tim]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kona-Lava...1122959434?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item3ccc24284a

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kona-18-L...sure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item4abe369bb1