92 Model Kona Cinder Cone reunited!

[Gee360]

this week I have become the new owner of my 92 model cinder cone! I had this bike from new in 91 I think?! It was the brand new model that had the most amazing reviews! I literally lived on this bike and it was just amazing! Many events done on it, many upgrades spent on it!
So I eventually upgraded through time to various other bikes and my brother needed a temporary bike to ride! I let him borrow the old Kona and he used it for a year or so then sold it for £50 to a work colleague of us both!
So that was about 2010 I reckon!
After many conversations I have now got the bike back in my ownership! He gave it to me FOC as long as I could find an old bike for him!
So here it is….. question is what do I do with the old girl? The bike has been upgraded and then various parts downgraded as they have broke by brother and last owner… my lovely set of magic rims with the Ringle Bubba Hubs and Ringle quick release skewers are history unfortunately! Cool Brie racing crank, hope bottom bracket and synchros stem still in place, as are the USE seat post and bars!

 

[JCS]

Wow, it's like seeing double - both the bike and the original ownership story.
I have the same model, bought new in 1991, caned from new and upgraded with higher end components when I had saved up enough money.
We even have the same ODI sticker and both have USE seatpost . Here is mine:



Build thread here: 91 Cinder Cone refresh



With your bike, if it was me, I would replace the v-brakes with cantilevers, give it a good service, ride it and then decide what else you want to change, if anything.
It looks like your USE seatpost is the wrong way round.
The original groupset on these was Suntour XC LTD. There is none of that left on mine - although I did fit an XC Pro crank because I wanted at least some Suntour on there. For the rest I upgraded to 91 era Deore DX / XT / XTR - most of which I got via the For Sale and Wanted sections of this site.

 

[Gee360]

They really are fantastic bikes! Yep, i am going to upgrade a few more bits and use it! Thanks for the advice on the seat post! I’ll get that changed over!
Yeah I’m going to swap over to cantilevers.
Any idea what the paint code is for Cinder Gold?
I think I shall change front Deraulier as it doesn’t shift to all the rings, even after adjusting all the limits.

 

[JCS]

I don’t know what the paint code is but I found some nail varnish that is a good match, for small touch ups.

 

[markoc]

Looks lovely - some naughty looking chain bite under the BB shell though.

Is that a red hope BB lurking in there too? Some very choice period components, and a lot of quality British kit. Love the Zero self extractors, not seen them before.

You should get your mate a few beers for giving it back because if you split it (which you won't, and shouldn't) there's a decent payday there.

 

[Gee360]

 

[Gee360]

Yep apart from the wheels all as I left it! My mate grew up with me, so he knew how speacial it was to me. He also knows my brother shouldn’t have sold it to him
Hope is there yes! It has a bit of play, so I started stopping down today to check it all over and clean up.
Yes some really nasty chain slap in quite a few places.
I think I will take to get paint cmscanned at a classic car place and see if they will respray for me.
I have new decals on order!

 

[Lostcause]

Great story and I’m glad you got it back. Looking forward to seeing more of this

 

[enigma]

this week I have become the new owner of my 92 model cinder cone! I had this bike from new in 91 I think?! It was the brand new model that had the most amazing reviews! I literally lived on this bike and it was just amazing! Many events done on it, many upgrades spent on it!
So I eventually upgraded through time to various other bikes and my brother needed a temporary bike to ride! I let him borrow the old Kona and he used it for a year or so then sold it for £50 to a work colleague of us both!
So that was about 2010 I reckon!
After many conversations I have now got the bike back in my ownership! He gave it to me FOC as long as I could find an old bike for him!
So here it is….. question is what do I do with the old girl? The bike has been upgraded and then various parts downgraded as they have broke by brother and last owner… my lovely set of magic rims with the Ringle Bubba Hubs and Ringle quick release skewers are history unfortunately! Cool Brie racing crank, hope bottom bracket and synchros stem still in place, as are the USE seat post and bars! View attachment 794482

Nice work, the mate didn't do bad keeping it in ok nick..! I never sold my kileaua ive had since almost new, 25 years ago now, it had some nice bits too, syncros post, middleburn chainset.. that came on it.
I wasnt quick enough kid changed his mind, then a week later is was back in the bikeshop, minus Manitou forks which I didn't want anyway for less money, so I bought it, partly with a parent loan immediately! He came in the next day said he changed his mind, tough cheese I bought it!
It is sat behind me in my office at work fully restored with a chris king headset and a few bits I couldn't afford then like hope hub wheels, xlite bar ends .. I sold my GT avalanche shortly after as the kona was bought to commute with but i hated the GT after a couple weeks commuting on the kona!
I went through other off road rides, different brands and eventually bought an Explosif frame new in 2000 which I still have which is also built with similar spec.. cant beat them. I have other bikes too now but those two konas will never be sold. I imagine you will be like that with yours now?

For me thats a kool bike, your 'lost' wheels would be idiotic amounts of money now and make it less of a rider perhaps.. so Cleaned up , maybe lose the bmx looking brakes, its a stunner.
My thinking on mine was anything changed was what I would of fitted if I had the cash back then.. but tracking down these sort of parts can be costly as nostalgia has the same effect as going in a supermarket hungry!

Enjoy the rebuild , amazing spec for a cinder cone, and if youve not ridden one in while, riding it will be a blast! When I let friends ride my kona's because they think I am mad, they ride orange fives etc some of them.. they are blown away by how light and fast they are to rip up the road or track!

 

[minor_LEGEND]

Welcome to the club. I have one of these on the back-burner. This is my fave Kona colour & model of all time. 1991 btw.