89 kona catalogue

[Anthony]

Other ads only list the three (then current '89) models - Fire, Cinder, Explosif.

Hmmm, and what kind of rear brakes did that Explosif have, I wonder?

 

[Max P]

U brake, seatstay mounted.

 

[Anthony]

U brake, seatstay mounted.

Hmm, I do see your point, but essentially you're saying that there were no 1988 Konas and that all the people who think they have 88 Konas are wrong. And all the people who think they have 89 Explosifs with no U-brake are wrong.

Also, if there were no 1989 Lava Domes, then all four of the following must be 1990 Lava Domes. And I find it hard to believe that TBG (of all people) would be so extravagant as to offer a budget bike in four different colour schemes in one model year.

 

[Max P]

I don't know, I'm no Kona expert! All I do know is that in '89 I was sent that flyer with the three models by the UK distributor and it states that the Explosif has a seat stay mounted U-brake.

I'm not saying anything about:

you're saying that there were no 1988 Konas and that all the people who think they have 88 Konas are wrong. And all the people who think they have 89 Explosifs with no U-brake are wrong.

I'm out of this topic now.

:roll:

 

[cinderKona]

U brake, seatstay mounted.

Hmm, I do see your point, but essentially you're saying that there were no 1988 Konas and that all the people who think they have 88 Konas are wrong. And all the people who think they have 89 Explosifs with no U-brake are wrong.

Also, if there were no 1989 Lava Domes, then all four of the following must be 1990 Lava Domes. And I find it hard to believe that TBG (of all people) would be so extravagant as to offer a budget bike in four different colour schemes in one model year.

If I remember rightly, in '89 was the first year you could get a Kona in the UK - 3 models as per the catalogue above. They had a big K type shape on the top tube and U Brakes. I got my cindercone that was a white '90 model and there was "Kona" on the top tube, a 'c' on the seat tube and 'cinder cone' on the down tube - like that lava dome. '90 had 4 models on offer and the switched to suntour gruppos too. SO my 2p's worth - that catalogue showing the 3 models is the '89 one.....

 

[Anthony]

I don't know, I'm no Kona expert! All I do know is that in '89 I was sent that flyer with the three models by the UK distributor and it states that the Explosif has a seat stay mounted U-brake.
I'm not saying anything about:

you're saying that there were no 1988 Konas and that all the people who think they have 88 Konas are wrong. And all the people who think they have 89 Explosifs with no U-brake are wrong.

I'm out of this topic now.
:roll:

I expect you're right from the sound of it, and the bikes that first came out in the US in 1988 were what we should perhaps call the 88/89 model range. If so, there is no such thing as an '88 Kona' as distinct from an 89 Kona. And similarly KonaPaul's brochure is perhaps best regarded as the 88/89 brochure and the only one to be issued before the better-known 1990 brochure.

I still say though that if super swin wants to call this an 88 Explosif, then I for one won't disagree with him.

 

[Max P]

[back again...]

Thanks for your PM Anthony.

I think that the confusion may just come from the model year thing. Just as now when the '2009' bikes will be out in September 2008 and the August issue of most magazines was available two weeks into July then the '89 range of Konas was probably available in late '88 same as the '90 models were around late '89 and would have been talked about in MBUK and MBI in the summer of that year. Whether the '88 range ever made it here in the UK or the first Konsa appeared in Spring '89 I do not know but that brochure is the '89 one I'm sure. For me that year's Explosif and Spec's pink/green Stumpy (DX) were the two most iconic bikes I remember BITD.

None of the big companies ever had two ranges in one year and it was much easier with people like Orange who never had a 'model year' - they just introduced bikes and revisions as and when rather than change for the sake of it (sometimes backwards) as everyone does now...

See pic below - always thought Shimano used codes rather than numbers - '88'?? More than likely '88 manufacture was produced for '89' model year bikes.

 

[cinderKona]

That is a stunningly original 88/89 explosif, even down to the 'Reaction' treads! Beautiful......

 

[Andy R]

Well, all I know about this '88 or'89 Explosif business is this.....(not a lot !)

I have a Pistachio/Yellow spatter Explosif that has only had two owners (I have owned it for over 18 years).
I bought it from a fellow racing competitor and friend, and I know for a fact that he bought it late 1988. It was brought over here by Derry Kissack of Pedal Power Cycles in Douglas, presumably in the hope that people would see it and order these "new" Konas from him for the next season's racing. It was the first ever Kona on the Isle of Man, so as such was quite memorable.

Explosifs sold in 1989 seem to be identical however ( there are no others over here so I've never seen one in the flesh..) - the 1990 version had canti. brake mounts instead of the U brake mounts and (as far as I can recall) was black (or very dark at least) with a purplish spatter.

 

[muddyfox_courier]

Hmm.I'm rattling my head on this one.I think you could get Konas pretty early on.'88 ,I'm sure.
I'd say that catalogue is showing '89 though.
lets look at the evidence:
Deore II .
Exage.
Seatstay mounted Ubrake.
Spatter paint.

Is anyone wearing legwarmers?