1992 Kona Explosif Pro

[bushpig]

The great thing about the Explosif Pro was that nobody bought them so were discounted from £1200 to £850 (I think) so they were a steal !

That is interesting. The shop I worked at was the first Kona dealer in my city, and from the beginning we found the bikes very easy to sell. These particularly so - they offered so much bike for the buck and tons of unique details like all the specialty parts.

 

[jonnyboy666]

it's strange, i got mine frame only because gary at GA cycles in southampton was running kona's as the shop team brand. the riders got a deal on the standard explosif, but he had quite a few 'pro' models in stock but he struggled to sell them aswel. i think it was because they were suntour equipped and xtr was just about to come out.

the 3 bikes he had in stock became last years models then were eventually stripped down and the frames hung up. i seem to remember he had them priced up frame only at £400 but by the time i bought mine in 1994 he let me have for £250 which i was quite happy with.

i do have a build thread somewhere but since i bought it back off the guy i sold it to it has gone through several builds depending what bits i needed for other builds etc.

when i get it back from the painters i will be building it mostly with m900 xtr, there will be a few nods to modernising but only on things like rims and tyres etc, infact everything is in place except a m900 chainset so it will be built within a day or so of getting the frame back sometime next month.

 

[CADDYMATT1380]

Dribble dribble.
Swap you that for my very well behaved daughter, 2 years old very soon. Nearly house trained and in a few years time will be able to be sent out to work.

 

[Rally_cat]

Nice! I'm looking forward to more pics with the proper bits.

 

[Ally]

Yeah, pedals and seatpost would be good changes to make.

Top notch bike though, very nice.

 

[manderson1977]

I think jonnyboy is right, speccing Suntour on the bike did it no favours in the UK market, especially just as XTR was coming on stream. They most have been on to something though because I dont see the same following for the bikes my mates had at the time a Marin Rocky Ridge and an Orange Prestige

The lack of interest was great for me as I had to beg, borrow, steal and have some poor women drive into me on my Lava Dome, writing it off in the process with a resultant insurance claim to afford the Exposif Pro even at the discounted price !

No need for any offers a children in PX for the bike, the main reason I got the Kona out of the basement was that my first daughter arrived on Christmas day and I thought it was time that I sold off a few toys to pay the massive credit card bill from Mothercare but now that I have it cleaned up I can't bring myself to part with it.

Will get some more detailed pics up in due course

 

[jonnyboy666]

whatever you do don't sell it!! :shock:

i didn't regret selling mine straight away, just some months after,then 10 years later the guy came into the shop i was working in for a set of chainrings for it. i said if you ever sell it consider giving me a shout etc.


thankfully he did i rebuilt it and raced it at mayhem in 2009.

 

[manderson1977]

My NOS Suntour XC Pro MD 7 speed hub has just arrived from the US of A and the 8 speed cassette.

Have converted the cassette to 7 speed and will relace the back wheel tonight.

Unfortunatley my new Snycros seatpost doesnt fit :cry:

Because the bike has had a USE fitted for the last 20 years I think the inside of the seat tube has a thin layer of surface rust on it below the USE shim, enough to stop the Syncors fitting.

I am right in think that my bike should have a 27.2mm seat post and not a 27.0mm ??

Got a flap wheel and a drill extension to have a go at the seat tube tonight, failing that it down to the LBS to get my seat tube reamed ! :shock:

 

[mousemat]

I am right in think that my bike should have a 27.2mm seat post and not a 27.0mm ??

Seatpost should be 27.0mm.

 

[manderson1977]

Dooh !