1996 Kona Cinder Cone

[nspace]

Picked this up over the weekend. Aside from the downtube decals it is in amazing condition! Looks like it has hardly been ridden and any scuffs are likely from storage.

I’m in touch with Gil to get some new decals. I don’t really see the need to touch the original paint because it is in such good shape, so I don’t want to get into repaint stuff.

Are these decals on this era of Kona typically applied over the clear coat? Any tips on removing them carefully for those who have done it?

Sounds like Gil can add a layer of clear laminate to improve durability.

 

[mk one]

Very nice.

I would be tempted to leave the original decals too, maybe just touch them up if that bothered about them.

 

[magas]

would say it's a 95 - graphic-wise.

Never the less; lovely nick.

 

[nspace]

I realized that this morning that this is probably a 1995. Was just going on what the seller mentioned.

These are like my fav bike graphics/decals our of any era of bike. So I have this desire to want to fix them up. It is really just the "N" on this side of the bike, and similar on the NDS, not the entire decal. But not confident that I could just replace one section—unlikely that the color match would be that good I think. The rest of them I can live with for sure, the wear is minor.

 

[XTSTIMAN]

Possibly an option to get as near as possible colour vinyl sheet, cheap enough on Ebay as you don't need much, and cut to match, don't think there is a clear coat.

 

[nspace]

I was also thinking that might be an option for the replacement decals, just to sub in the one letter I need to replace on each side, and the other ones could potentially be taken care of with a bit of touch up paint.

 

[nspace]

I don't know if this is interesting to you all, but I am in the process of making some changes to this bike to work better as an around town/picnic bike with my kids. So it won't be an original period correct type of piece which may immediately oust me from good standing with the RetroBike overlords, but I am trying to capture the spirit of the original bike as much as possible!

Can share my progress but thought you may appreciate hearing about the stem first! My goals:

• Maintain color matched fork & stem (feels so unique to this bike and Kona!)
• Reduce reach of stem for more upright riding position
• Avoid resorting to a different stem and having to use a 22mm quill + shim
• Expand the amount of wide bar options by having a 31.8mm bar

I decided to shorten the original Kona Velocity stem and bronze braze a Paragon Machine Works 31.8 clamp. Repainted to match (thanks to @RadNomad for the paint codes in his thread) with Mitsubishi Yellowish Brown C05, and had Gil supply some decals (sized down for the shorter stem). Pleased with the result. Decided to leave Paragon Machine Works faceplate raw silver since there will be lots of silver accents on the bike.

Measured the cut off point to result in a 90mm length stem.

I mad the first cut close to the stem clamp, and then I clamped a tubing block on the end to score where I wanted the final cut. I needed to slowly work around cutting it from all sides to end up with a square end to the tube so it would mate well with the stem backing plate.

I devised this very scrappy setup to get the clamp fit up with flux to the stem. I needed a window for access with the torch to head up the backing plate from the frontside to mitigate roasting the extension tube!

After brazing, have not soaked off the flux yet.

Test fit on the bike with a bit of filing and clean up.

The finished stem with velocity decals and paint!

 

[haggis]

Well I like your ingenuity and the end result.

 

[eric_james]

Great on the stem, good job

 

[mk one]

I don't know if this is interesting to you all, but I am in the process of making some changes to this bike to work better as an around town/picnic bike with my kids. So it won't be an original period correct type of piece which may immediately oust me from good standing with the RetroBike overlords, but I am trying to capture the spirit of the original bike as much as possible!

Can share my progress but thought you may appreciate hearing about the stem first! My goals:

• Maintain color matched fork & stem (feels so unique to this bike and Kona!)
• Reduce reach of stem for more upright riding position
• Avoid resorting to a different stem and having to use a 22mm quill + shim
• Expand the amount of wide bar options by having a 31.8mm bar

I decided to shorten the original Kona Velocity stem and bronze braze a Paragon Machine Works 31.8 clamp. Repainted to match (thanks to @RadNomad for the paint codes in his thread) with Mitsubishi Yellowish Brown C05, and had Gil supply some decals (sized down for the shorter stem). Pleased with the result. Decided to leave Paragon Machine Works faceplate raw silver since there will be lots of silver accents on the bike.

Measured the cut off point to result in a 90mm length stem.

I mad the first cut close to the stem clamp, and then I clamped a tubing block on the end to score where I wanted the final cut. I needed to slowly work around cutting it from all sides to end up with a square end to the tube so it would mate well with the stem backing plate.

I devised this very scrappy setup to get the clamp fit up with flux to the stem. I needed a window for access with the torch to head up the backing plate from the frontside to mitigate roasting the extension tube!

After brazing, have not soaked off the flux yet.

Test fit on the bike with a bit of filing and clean up.

The finished stem with velocity decals and paint!

Interesting idea, don't think I have seen anyone do that before. Will certainly make people look twice when fitted.