kona hei hei & explosif

epic2008

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Evening, new to this forum so apologies if it has already been debated.

I was just wondering about the kona exotica such as the hei-hei and explosif.

Did they actually win many titles as they were sold as top end race bikes?

Have always liked the old Konas since owning my first lava dome (couldnt afford the cindercone or explosif at the time).

I always remember the advert for the explosif showing just the front end of the bike and its purple frame.

Most were hacking around on shogun trailblazer III's so the Kona was a real step up!
 
Not necessarily..

I just tried google to find some sort of XC race results history and couldn't find it. Just because no-one else can be bothered to look for you dosent mean Kona haven't won any titles in XC! Its just that you ask a 'difficult to answer' question.

Why don't you have a go at answering the question yourself. There has to be a list of all the GWC race results going back to year dot somewhere on the net. Compile a list of all the races won on a Kona and let us know :wink: If you really genuinely want to know you'll have to do some leg work.

Get pedalling!
 
I am probably wrong, but I don´t remember Kona sponsoring a top flight race team with riders that were capable of winning, so few or no national titles. However, they were very popular for the privateers, I remember seeing a lot at the races in the sport and elite classes. In the early 90´s Rocky Mountain used to say that more races had been won on the Hammer than any other bike, and it was quite low in the range, nice though, I was happy with mine.
 
Races and championships are won by the best riders, the bike doesn't make much difference. Hence most races were won by the big teams that hired the best riders, Cannondale, Specialized etc. Kona had a race team, but they never spent money on a top rider.

[I'm not sure if Joe Murray ever rode for Kona as such, although I think he rode for The Bicycle Group before they invented Kona - I think he rode Marins, but maybe TBG distributed Marins?]

Just as an indication, Frischnecht was still racing competitively on a steel Ritchey long after no other team was racing with steel frames, as aluminium, carbon and titanium were supposedly so superior. I'm not sure his results were any different on a steel frame to what they would have been riding for another team. If they were worse, he must have been some rider.

Having said that, so far as I'm aware, the Kona team riders always used Hei Heis in preference to Explosifs or Hots. But then when the stiffer and heavier King Kahuna was introduced in 1996, they used that in preference to the Hei Hei, as stiff beats light if you're a racer.
 
Kona

Did Ian Cuthbertson not win any domestic races for Kona over here ?
I do remember him riding for them in the late 90s , before Merlin . Sure he rode an Explosif ? Grey and red colours spring to mind .
 
Intresting post i might look into it, i bought mine because it just seemed a bit special , i had an early dawes then a marin bear se but the kona just looked quality and it was green :roll:
 
This thread needs some pics...


Added this one to the pile the other day:


as it was...





explosifbefore1.JPG





explosifbefore2.JPG





explosifbefore3.JPG





Originally I grabbed it as a parts donor, but as I was stripping the frame I started planning a nice re-build. Should make a very nice rider when it's done.





Steve
 
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