My new old Explosif (1993)**Now with Z links**

[JeRkY]

I spent the morning queuing around the M25, the idea wasnt to discover if i thought sitting in stationary traffic for hours on end on one of the nicest days so far this year showed any potential to be a new hobby, it was infact in order to collect my new project a 1993 Kona Explosif.

The condition is not great but it seems to be cosmetic.
The only non-cosmetic damage to the frame is where some one in the bikes 14 year history some one took a hack saw to the top 1.5/2" of the seat tube that stands proud over the top tube in a kona sort of a way.

There is a lot of original spec bits on the bike:
Sugino XP mighty chainset
XTR M900 rear mech
XTR rear hub on Mavic 231
Diacompe ss7's hooked up to 987 cantis
XT thumbies

The only things that seems to differ from the original spec is the large threaded headset (I think its a tioga)
The front wheel is a Suntour XC pro hub laced to an un identified rim.

And the pedals are random cheapo plastic flats instead of the SPD's that would have been on it new.

The last image shows the "sawn off" seat tube, bit of a messy job but i suppose there are worse places to attack a frame.

And what the bike should look like, would be nice to see this one done up to former glory, albeit with a limb amputation.

( Image from www.konaretro.com )

For the price i paid, I'm very happy with it.

first thing on the list...decals & pedals

 

[billinjah]

thats the best bit about collecting bikes sitting back after a long journey and realising how good the bike really looks, noticing all the components you missed as you picked it up right im off to ebay!

 

[BoyBurning]

Nice one! You can pick up NOS impact h/sets pretty easily if you want to make it truely original.

 

[Geoff]

They cut off it's konas? :shock:

Seriously though, good find!

 

[JeRkY]

OK, i had stripped it down, however i couldnt resist building it back up briefly now that my z-links have turned up.

I looks better with rc36's but im quite liking the odd look of these

 

[mamadirt]

Whoa! - looks great with those Z links.

 

[Iwasgoodonce]

Someone took a hacksaw to it? Nutter! This is what happens when weight weenieism (new word I think) goes bad! Great looking bike and forks. Are forks of this design still made? I'm sure I remember seeing an advert BITD for a sort of retro fit thing that kept your original forks on the bike and used the springy properties of a bungee cord or two as the suspension medium!! I wonder if he sold any?

 

[ededwards]

Very tidy looking bike but why on earth would you cut off the seattube? If it was weight saving that could be much more easily achieved elsewhere.

And if you were going to cut the seattube down wouldn't you get a frame builder to do it instead of attacking it with a hacksaw? Then again, any self-respecting frame builder would probably tell you not to be so stupid. Totally crazy.

Still, none of that detracts from the fact it looks a great bike that is (I hope!) unique.

 

[JeRkY]

My theory regfarding the cut seat tube is that the previous owner managed to jam the wrong size post into it, and cut the tube to loosen it off. This is backed up by the seatpost that came with the bike when i collected it being very tight in the frame. Ive not got any callipers here to check the OD of it, but i swapped it out for the 27.0 syncros post that is a much better fit in the second set of pics.

Now for the tricky one, does any one know what the decals would have looked like on the z-links, i think im going to get them resprayed to fit the explosifs colour (at the same time i get the frame sprayed). Framesw decals im OK for, as with P2 decals, but im lost on the zlink decals, any one have any scans showing them?

 

[Wold Ranger]

Nasty Seat Tube

Bob Jackson at Leeds, would fit you a new seat tube for £70 for you and a a full bare metal multcoat re-spray and rust proof for about the same again, they can also produce any decal/transfers you want.

On the seat tube clip, did they have an integral/captive clamp? These were terrible on all bikes for taking a "set" at the pinch bolt slot, which would then at the least, badly score the seat post and at worst lock the post in. The answer on extended seat tubes was to remove the captive clamp and then fit a push on clamp as per all bikes now, which result in a more even allround binding pressure.