I agree with all you say Geoff, in particular that 'best' depends on what you want the bike to do. The early Explosifs were full-on racing bikes (although the team often used Hei Heis), whereas from the 853 onwards they were designed as all-round XC bikes as nobody was going to race on steel any longer and longer-travel forks were leading to heavier duty action.
I may be wrong, but I haven't heard of any actual record of breakages on the Scandium Explosifs. It's true that it was regarded as difficult to weld when it first came out, so Kona (foolishly in my view) restricted the warranty to 12 months. But the numbers in circulation may relate more to pricing/marketing. The 1999 853 Explosif cost $1,450 with LX/XT kit and was marketed well below the Kula ($1,900 with XT/XTR). But for 2000 they swapped the order, down-graded the Kula to LX/XT and $1,700 and put the Explosif well above it at $2,300 with an SID SL and XT/XTR. In 2001, the Explosif was $2,600 and the Kula still $1,700. I think we can take it that this marketing ploy was a flop, as the OX Platinum 2002 Explosif cost $1,400 and slotted in below the Kula again.
I've just bought a 96 Explosif similar to the one in this auction (but lacking a top tube dent!) and it's a quarter of a pound lighter than my 98 853 frame.
I may be wrong, but I haven't heard of any actual record of breakages on the Scandium Explosifs. It's true that it was regarded as difficult to weld when it first came out, so Kona (foolishly in my view) restricted the warranty to 12 months. But the numbers in circulation may relate more to pricing/marketing. The 1999 853 Explosif cost $1,450 with LX/XT kit and was marketed well below the Kula ($1,900 with XT/XTR). But for 2000 they swapped the order, down-graded the Kula to LX/XT and $1,700 and put the Explosif well above it at $2,300 with an SID SL and XT/XTR. In 2001, the Explosif was $2,600 and the Kula still $1,700. I think we can take it that this marketing ploy was a flop, as the OX Platinum 2002 Explosif cost $1,400 and slotted in below the Kula again.
I've just bought a 96 Explosif similar to the one in this auction (but lacking a top tube dent!) and it's a quarter of a pound lighter than my 98 853 frame.
