1995 Kona Cinder Cone(s)

nt80085

Dirt Disciple
Hi All,

Pretty new to the forum, and after some resto advice please.

I am in the very lucky position of have been given two (yes TWO!) 1995 Kona Cinder Cones. The first is a 18" frame and the second is a 20" frame. A little back ground info, the very nice chap who I am friends with through our local cycle club (we live in the same village) bought both bikes for himself and his son back in the day. His son opted for the 18" smaller frame as it was 'the more modern' style back then to have a smaller chuckable bike. They did a lot of MTB'ing together and as I understand his son then got into road biking where they enjoyed many a good ride. The incredibly sad news is that his son was knocked off his road bike and killed instantly by a dangerous driver about 10 years ago :cry: . He mentioned to me that he was clearing some of his old bikes as he needed some space and offered me the Cinder Cones. He was delighted that I would look after the bikes and make good use of them. His son owned a number of other bikes which of course he is keeping. He said there is a limit to how many bikes you can store and I kind of think it helped knowing they are going to a good home.

First off, some photos...

Here is a pic of the fathers 20" bike when I picked it up ( I forgot to take a pic of the 18" one before stripping it but was in a similar condition).

20170625_163325 by Nick Thorne, on Flickr

20170625_163330 by Nick Thorne, on Flickr

Here are a couple of photos of the 18" frame stripped.

20170720_101744 by Nick Thorne, on Flickr

20170720_102416 by Nick Thorne, on Flickr

20170720_102447 by Nick Thorne, on Flickr

The 20" frame is in better condition than the 18" frame which has loads of chips in the paint. My plans are to clean the 20" bike up as it arrived. It, needs a new BB, freehub, cassette and chain. The original headset races are a little pitted so may look out for a NOS one at some point. Both bikes came with the original wheels and Dirt/Cleaner tyres - very well worn. The bike came with Judy XC's and also the original P2 forks. I think I will rebuild with the P2's (for some reason these are the grey and not gold/bronze colour).

My feeling is that both bikes should have a light resto to maintain their patina. Particularly the sons bike. Despite the 18" frame being in worse condition I kind of feel all those paint chips etc tell a story, respraying would lose these IMO. I have bought a shark fin to go over the chain slap but it wont cover all of the chipping. Interested to hear what others think. The sons bike is missing the seatpost and has an STX headset. I think the forks may have been cut down as there is not enough thread to fit the headset lock nut. Thoughts on this?

Sorry for waffling on, thoughts and ideas would be much appreciated. Oh I did say that when his sons bikes is finished we'll go out for a ride with me on the 18" Cinder Cone and him on his Sons other MTB (which the father has kept) for a ride up to the local trig point and a pint after. :D Promise to keep my next posts shorter!
 
This is one of the best color combinations any bike has ever had :)
Can't wait to see what it's going to look like.
 
Re:

Great project , I have one the same and you have never seen so many chips on one frame ! Oh And a dent under the down tube :facepalm: I built it up with what I had and it rides great . Kona had it so right out of the crate :cool:
Looking forward to watching this one .
Paul
 
Cheers for the comments, will post some updated photos next week when I get some more time on the bikes.
 
Re the forks on the 18", I would wager that they're the original length. I had a brand new '96 Fire Mountain which came with a very low stack threaded headset, I replaced it with an STX and, just like your picture, I found there wasn't enough thread on the steerer to get the top locknut on. I bodged it by slathering the threads in super glue then quickly adjusting the headset to tension before it dried!
 

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