Hei Hei or King Kahuna? Who prefers what?

[Kona Paul]

Sweet. Thanks Anthony. Definitely rounded tubing and no gussets, so the 6/4 must be the only difference that year.

PS the Score review "scans" are on the scan thread if you want to add that to your collection. It's the only review as far as I know. When I get a proper scan I will still send you the full size files if you like.

 

[slacker247]

i have a 1996 kk without the gussets and i can honestly say i love this bike and have done for the fifteen years ive owned it

 

[Pipmeister]

i have a 1996 kk without the gussets and i can honestly say i love this bike and have done for the fifteen years ive owned it

Hello and welcome.
I think that I am correct in saying that 1996 was the first year that the King Kahuna was produced. Although the difference between the Hei Hei and the K.K. that particular year was was only subtle, I believe that the K.K. did have slight gusseting, while the H.H. did not. Perhaps you could post up a picture of your bike.

Pip.

 

[slacker247]

KONA 1996

check out this site for a pic of my bike,too large a pic to put on here apparently, www.moredirt.co.uk/ratebike.php?id=25969 you can also lookup konas 1996 catalogue which shows them having no gussets

 

[Caramba Kid]

Finally got my hands on a 19" 1997 King Kahuna
Have also previously owned a 19" 1993 Hei Hei (and 20" 1992 Hei Hei) so thought I'd better dispel the myth that the KK is MUCH heavier than the HH

The frame weights include seat collar & 4x steel bottle cage bolts and were measured on the same scales.

19" 1993 Hei Hei 1660g / 3.66lb

19" 1997 King Kahuna 1720g / 3.78lb

 

[Pipmeister]

Finally got my hands on a 19" 1997 King Kahuna
Have also previously owned a 19" 1993 Hei Hei (and 20" 1992 Hei Hei) so thought I'd better dispel the myth that the KK is MUCH heavier than the HH

The frame weights include seat collar & 4x steel bottle cage bolts and were measured on the same scales.

19" 1993 Hei Hei 1660g / 3.66lb

19" 1997 King Kahuna 1720g / 3.78lb

Good man - well done you.

My 1997 19" King Kahuna frame weighed in at 1,750gr on my digital scales, although mine has a disc tab, and I don't know how accurate the scales are are.

Could you tell me the serial number - mine is K19088.

May I ask where you found it - mine came from California after spotting it on MTBR classified in Oct '09.

I weighed it with nothing attached, but I will now try to calibrate the scales with a known weight. Doesn't a litre of water weigh 1Kg?

I'd appreciate some pictures of yours too - I've got a good collection for mine from the frame arriving; My original build - strip down for removing the decals - re-furbish with successive grades of Scotch Brite, wire wool and G3 compound & finally new decals then re-build.

Pip.

 

[andrewl]

I weighed it with nothing attached, but I will now try to calibrate the scales with a known weight. Doesn't a litre of water weigh 1Kg?

In a previous life I did a lot of scale and balance calibration and 1 litre of water can under the right conditions equal 1 kg but more often than not it isn't. You also introduce another error by using this method as can you accurately measure a litre??

The load cells in many cheap digital scales almost always have more than one component of error (offset, linearity and scaling) and can be damaged if you overload them too.

Depending on the scales I wouldn't say they are much better than say 5% of the reading and that you are best to use the same scale to compare things as at least the error function will be the same (although it will change with time).

Anyway thats getting off topic...

In my own measurements the weight diference between the same size Hei Hei and King Kahuna of the same year is minimal.

 

[BarneyRubble]

I'd still love either in large....

 

[Rod_Saetan]

Hei Hei

 

[Woodsman]

Ok, so what year Hei Hei would have been available with, and have the right geometry for the 390 ti P2's then.......

That would be my dream retro bike, in full period xtr and whilst we're dreaming NOS!

Cheers