Kona Caldera Serial Number List - list updated 26/09/25

[al-onestare]

Fanfare please

"Officially" the 13th Caldera 1997 SN on file. Somewhat hidden away on a FB post showing a small collection of Kona Frame, this appeared.



Naturally I jumped on it and asked the usual questions. The current owner kindly shared the SN as #188 and the following details when asked how long they had it:

5 years or so , It was a backyard special!

Proof again (as if we need it) that gems and unicorns still exist.

This is an 18" frame and has most of it's original finishing components. At #188 has, in my view, confirmed that 200 were made in total, not the 50 blue, 50 red that we originally thought. How many were actually sold is a different question altogether.

The SN isn't totally clear but I defo see a 1 and 8 so I'll take the owners word for now.







So this has been added with a little update on the main page explaining the 200 total production logic.

CA 9609188 Poopsy Blue, 18" (Troy Douglas)

As @d8mok posted, there is a 14th waiting to be added but the current owner isn't responding to my messages. Has anyone state side been able to grab one?









FB ad is still live here: https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...ferralSurface=messenger_banner&referralCode=2

 

[murphy79]

Cool! Great to see another couple come to light. I was actually looking at your build thread the other day, and thinking about how many were made, and when. I'd agree this confirms that at least 200 were made, and I'd guess a few more than that.

I thought it was interesting that, looking at all of the Kona customs that Altitude were making (assuming the "date" interpretation of the format is correct), they appear to have made the various models in batches, month by month. Starting with Ku's in June 96, moving on to Hot's the next month and so on. So with a few notable exceptions all of those 200 Calderas were probably made in Sep '96. There was also the one with a Hot serial number made earlier (during July, a "Hot" month) that you thought was probably a demo bike. Then there are two that were made in October (strangely the only frames across all the models that we have in the lists for that month) with a different "KO" prefix. Maybe that indicates an additional 30 plus Caldera frames?

The full list across all models for the '97 model year is below (excluding a few earlier frames with a different S/N format). It is interesting to note the ones that seem to fall out of sequence. The first Hot in the "Ku" month for example, which in the list is marked as "1996 Burgundy rear half, Orange front half c/w Maple Leaf design, Goathead Dropouts, 1996 Cable Stops – no Decals.", maybe another demo bike for a Canadian show? Then the three previously mentioned Calderas.

JUNE 1996
K09606008 KU
K09606012 KU
H09606036 HOT
K09606058 KU
K09606046 KU
K09606051 KU
K09606064 KU
K09606065 KU
K09606075 KU
K09606099 KU
K09606107 KU

JULY 96
H09607032 CALDERA
H09607042 HOT
H09607048 HOT
H09607080 HOT
H09607087 HOT
H09607105 HOT

SEPTEMBER 96
CA960901# CALDERA
CA9609012 CALDERA
CA9609021 CALDERA
CA9609046 CALDERA
CA9609064 CALDERA
CA9609109 CALDERA
CA9609126 CALDERA
CA9609144 CALDERA
CA9609158 CALDERA
CA9609181 CALDERA
CA9609188 CALDERA

OCTOBER 1996
K09610031 CALDERA
K09610032 CALDERA

NOVEMBER 1996
H09611004 HOT
H09611034 HOT
H09611049 HOT
H09611059 HOT
H09611102 HOT
H09611108 HOT
H09611110 HOT

FEBRUARY 1997
KU9702049 KU
KU97020## KU
KU9702050 KU
KU9702051 KU
KU9702052 KU
KU9702057 KU
KU9702083 KU
KU9702085 KU
KU9702089 KU