91? Kona Cinder Cone "race lite"

[JohnAcrossPond]

Re:

I think you have a 1992 Cinder Cone.

The graphics on the frame look very 1992 with the oval K on the head tube, (the circular maze logo appeared on other bikes, but not on the cinder cone until 1993).

The thumb shifters were across the entire line in 1992, in 1991 they were shimano rapidfire or suntour X-press.

The triple butted project two fork was standard in 1992 for the Cinder Cone (according to the catalog), but did not exist in 1991.

The tires are a bit of a mystery, the maximum/reaction tyres were for the lower models like the Fire Mountain........come to think of it, look at the stem, the angle is higher than the normal Cinder Cone, looks more like the Fire Mountain Velocity sport stem rather than the Velocity model of the Cinder Cone.

There was an optional "titanium luxury package" in 1992 for the Explosif Pro, Hot and Hei Hei.

Ti rail saddle and 2 bolt seatpost for tyres/rims, stem and crankset swap?

What are the rims? Araya or Ukai?

So all the pieces were in place for a "special edition" ; but perhaps the local shop created that edition in the back of the store when some parts were lost/damaged/shipped wrong?

I think the likely story is the original customer did a bit of trading with the bike shop it was purchased from. (This is how I ended up with a thumb shifter for the front 3 and rapidfire for the rear 7 on my 1992 Fire Mountain. )

Or maybe it really was a factory special edition for reasons I could only guess at; maybe to use up some Ti rail saddles or max/reaction tyres? The more I think about it the more I lean toward a factory special, since the local bike shop probably wouldn't have an excess of Kona Ti saddles hanging around and the cinder cone was the "rebel" non-shimano equipped model of the Kona family.

Other notes;
From 1993 to 1996 Kona did use Sugino cranks on the Cinder Cone. Trial run?

All Kona bikes in 1992 (except Ti Hei Hei?) were available in a standard color or Black. I think they carried on that "or black" option for a couple years, but I'd have to look that up.

The cable guide on the Velocity stems disappeared in 1994.

 

[rc200ti]

The suntour shifters on my 91 cinder cone are 'xc ltd' and still working fine I think x-press were on the '90.
I'm also pretty sure mine came with Sugino cranks.

 

[JohnAcrossPond]

Re:

Hello rc200ti, On the 91 Cinder Cone that you have are they the Suntour XC LTD 7 speed X-Press (like the rapidfire) or the Suntour XC LTD Top Mount thumb shifters?

If thumb shifters this wouldn't be the first time the catalogue differed from what people actually bought. I recall comparing my 92 Fire Mountain (which came with thumb shifters) to someone with a canary yellow 91 Fire Mountain (with rapidfire shifters). Years later I can't find that color being offered in any catalogue, but I know some do exist (someone else started a why is my fire mountain yellow thread).

Back to the original poster, I still think it's a 1992 Cinder Cone factory special edition with different seat/seatpost, tires, stem and crankset. Did it come with Suntour thumb shifters or Shimano thumbies. And what rims?

 

[rc200ti]

Hello JohnAcrossPond, It came with the XC LTD Top Mount thumb shifters. I still love this bike, and its the one I'd part with last.

Rob.

 

[bren]

Re:

Some interesting viewpoints so far. Please keep them coming!
'92 has been suggested as a more likely year to me before. The seat clamp is not integral for one thing.

frame number is F1102293

OK, rims are Ukai UMT-17.
The XC LTD thumbies you can see in the pics are additions made by the PO very recently. Before that he was using gripshift srt-600-71s I don't suppose they were original equipment.

I feel the need to point out that the race lite sticker is spelled very differently to the later race light versions.
I was about to write it off as an owner or bike shop addition (is a different thickness to the factory set too) right up until the point someone on a Facebook page posted a photo of their identical frame wearing the same sticker! His was built up with modern parts but the frame was nonetheless identical.
I'll post a pic of it when photo bucket stops messing around

 

[bren]

Here's the other one:

Obviously modernised but "Race lite" sticker is just visible.
While this doesn't rule out an LBS build it does at least prove its not just an erroneous owner applied graphic.

 

[JohnAcrossPond]

Re:

Perhaps the Race Lite sticker on the downtube is the indicator of the special edition the previous owner had mentioned.

If you drop "1992 kona cinder cone" into google and search images you'll only see a few with the race lite sticker like yours. And they lead back to right here.

One of them is a grainy pic of a red frame for sale on gumtree that got bought by a member here named painter09 in 2012. It was a frame and fork only so other than the sticker not much useful info.

One was red CC (with unfortunate pink tires) posted in the classifieds by masha as a "Kona Cinder Cone Joe Murray circa 1992 17" Fuselage" with pics that clearly show a race lite sticker. That was in 2009
viewtopic.php?t=61789

Sorry, missed a recent one called "decal on my 92 cindercone" by Hic-Up-Apple-Nod in 2011. Also in red viewtopic.php?f=1&t=152496&start=10

So you appear to have a special edition; I wonder how they were distributed, if they were ordered by shops or by customers?

BTW; I can find no pics of a "race lite" 1991 frame in the cinder gold color, however I do see pics of the race lite sticker on red frames which is a 1992 color for the Cinder cone.
Also, in 1991 and 1992 every bike was available in a stock color or black, I believe this ended in 1993.

 

[bren]

Good googling!! They didn't show up in my searches on here?!
The hic up Apple nod thread is interesting, same '93 decals on the forks. I've not measured the a-c but parked next to my 97 in the same size it's definitely not suspension corrected geometry. Also other mentions of an o-beam post, shame the pics don't show if it's the 2bolt version like mine? 92 catalogue shows the single bolt version.
Neither appear to have the 93 spec sugino cranks like mine.

 

[JohnAcrossPond]

Re:

I'm wondering if a pic (closeup on the race lite insignia) and email to Kona headquarters might be worth a shot. Never hurts to try. It would be nice to definitively solve this little Kona mystery (and maybe that yellow 91 Fire mountain thing after that :mrgreen: ) .

It will probably be difficult to find a 1992 Cinder Cone Race Lite edition in it's original parts configuration after 20 plus years. However, somewhere must be a document or two on the 92 cinder cone race lite edition. You can't just haul off and change specs without anyone at your manufacturing plant being notified (Fairly in Taiwan, right?).....even in 1992

The race lite sticker pops up on some 92 Cinder Cones, but most people don't seem to notice it.

Here's another red one owned by Johnnycos but it looks like quite a bit has been swapped out. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=139957&start=10
Johnnycos also posted a race lite frame for sale about a month later, so maybe he parted it out and moved on. viewtopic.php?t=146962

Another red race lite frame, but again not much info since it's a frame and little else. http://forums.mtbr.com/bike-frame-discu ... 22898.html

It is interesting that the forks have a 93 sticker set, but could this just be a late 92 model year changeover? The frame and fork pic on gumtree has the 93 sticker set. Here are better pics by painter09 when he put it up for sale viewtopic.php?t=214614

 

[Ghosty]

The Race Lite decal is easily reproduceable - it's just written in the font Mistral.