1994 Kona Fire Mountain restoration project.

[Relliott6879]

Bit of an update on this. The frame is still with Mark at Bikepost but, in the meantime, I've bought an entire 1991 Lava Dome just for it's silver chainrings! I've swapped them with the black rings from my FC-M730 crankset and the LD will be sold on.

Before...

And after!

 

[BobCatMax]

cracking little donor bike!

 

[xerxes]

Re:

Wasn't the Lava Dome better than the Fire Mountain?:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/d/1 ... g+1994.pdf

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/v/M ... 5.jpg.html

The Fire Mountain had a plain guage cromoly frame, whereas the Lava Dome was Double Butted and therefore a bit lighter.

You might want re-think which bike is the donor.

 

[Relliott6879]

The Fire Mountain is a '94 and is complete with a nice set of triple butted Project 2s, the Lava Dome is a '91. Additionally, the Fire Mountain is the right size for me but the Lava Dome is a little small. Add in the gorgeous colour of the Fire Mountain and the nostalgia factor of this being a kind of replacement for a '96 Fire Mountain that I had stolen in 2011 having owned and loved it from new.... the Fire Mountain is definitely my project.

 

[Relliott6879]

The Fire Mountain isn't plain gauge, incidentally. Admittedly not double butted, but still butted Tange cromoly.

 

[xerxes]

Re:

the Fire Mountain is definitely my project.

Fair enough, I actually have a 94 Fire Mountain myself, although not as smart as the one you have, mine's a bit scruffy and is currently decked out with road tyres, mudguards and a rack and used for shopping duties. I bought it to replace my previous scruffy runabout that got stolen and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it feels to ride, given that it was fairly low in the Kona line-up.

Admittedly not double butted, but still butted Tange cromoly.

Yes, I get what double and triple butted means when applied to frame tubes, but I was never quite sure exactly what just "butted" means. Single butted mean that the tube wall is thicker at just one end, but I don't see how that would be much use in a bicycle frame where both ends are welded to another tube, so you'd think you'd need it thicker both ends, near the welds. :?

 

[hamster]

I suspect it means a mixture of double butted and plain gauge.

 

[Relliott6879]

As I understand it, a single butted tube will be x thickness at the two ends, with a stepped reduction in thickness towards the middle. A double butted tube would have two stepped reductions, so the centre would be thinner yet, and a triple butted tube would have three steps.

This is, of course, every chance that I've completely misunderstood this and that I'm talking Horlicks!

 

[xerxes]

Re:

Single butted is just one end according to all the stuff I've found on the internet:

http://www.bikeroar.com/tips/frame-mate ... hat-to-buy

Which you wouldn't think was much use for a bicycle frame, with the possible exception of the seat tube. :?

 

[Relliott6879]

The wierd thing is, from that illustration, you'd think the plain gauge tube would be the lightest.