Drop bars on a retro kona 1994

[Skeeter1]

Hi all,I have a 94 kona kilauea and currently is set up as a retro mtb with marzocchi Bombers on.
I am seriously thinking about buying a gravel bike but cant afford to have both. So I would love to set up my 94 kona kilauea as a gravel bike with drop bars.
Visibly the dimensions look similar between my kona and these modern gravel bikes.
Is this a good move or not? Can drop bars be fitted to my kona or is it just more trouble than it's worth? I also would think about going rigid on the front end or choose a lighter sus fork with less travel or if there is any retro fork with a lockout option?
Many thanks.

 

[one_bad_mofo]

I'm afraid I don't have any pictures but I used to have a steel single-speeded Kona with drop bars. I can't tell you which Kona frame it was as I bought it from the late, lamented Recycle who had the track ends fitted and the frame resprayed.
I ran a pair of Project 2 forks on it and some old XT canti brakes to work with the drop bar brake levers.
It was fun to ride and I went London to Brighton off-road on it. It got sold about 20 years ago when I got my SS DogsBolx.

 

[hamster]

I've done drop bar conversions - I tried it with Konas and certainly by the late 90s they were quite long in the top tube and didn't work for me, even with a stumpneck stem. A 1990 Lava Dome was OK though.

Being at the racy end of the scale your Kilauea might be too long - but as always it's suck it and see. Personally I'd run a rigid fork as I would want to ride out of the saddle more, but it depends on where you want to ride. I'm currently charging around on a 1995 Dawes Edge with drop bars and semi-slicks - it's great fun and well suited to routes combining road with Forestry Commission tracks.