94 Kona HOT 18"

[NigelFinnighan]

I figure it's time to start posting some of my builds. Starting with the most recent, since it has me the most excited at the moment- Plus I need an opinion on the fork-

I was lucky enough to pick up this 94 Kona HOT local to me a few days ago. It came as a complete with a mix of parts- some sweet Manitou 1's, Kona i-beam seatpost and nice race light seat, XT fd, LX rd, LX crankset. garbage brakes, bar/stem, shifter/lever, wheelset, and a broken Kona Dog Bone. The only thing staying with this frame is the seat and maybe the fd, the rest on the parts wall or to be given away.

Boken down and cleaned up- it's TET 1522- 18" 94 Kona HOT finished in Cobalt blue- it's missing the "Custom" decal on the top tube and "thumbs up" decal on the seat tube. I'm not sure if they were there and now gone? or maybe the missing "custom" decal is part of the custom...(if you just smoked a joint I bet your mind is blown)

The frame is in decent shape, a little bit of chain suck that should clean up ok. I'm going to take the frame to the auto shop to get some paint matched for some touch up. In the meantime I've been mocking up the build to see what I'll need to source to get it where I want it. I have a few sets of P2's on hand so I figure I'd use one of those on it, maybe paint-match them to the frame, or colour match to the 94 grey.

I knew I wanted the frame to wear a few things I've been saving for a build like this- First off some Ti bars, I believe to be Kona, will go on, then I happened to have a spare syncros seatpost in the right size, that was a must, Then it needed to wear some Race Face cranks, I have a nice blue set that'll work well. So I ran to the parts wall to grab what I needed- PROBLEM 1- My Ti bars are 22.2, my stems are 25.4, I don't have a shim, so I sourced one, it's on it's way. No worries, I'll mock it up with a spare 25.4 set. PROBLEM 2- My blue Race Face crank set that I thought would be perfect... is far from. PROBLEM 3- My Threaded P2 steerer is WAY too long, my threadless P2 steerer 1" too short.




Ok back to the drawing board for the forks... Then I see some switchblades I've been wanting to use on something, measure the steerer... I think it might JUST work, so I move on with them...


I have to do something about those cranks...

At this point I'm stoked! it's all coming together nicely... too nicely- so I start thinking... should I colour match these forks to the frame? That'll be cool... or maybe paint match to the velocity stem? that'll even be cooler! But what about the Ti bars... how will that work looks wise, so I got out some tape to make a shim just to see how it'll all work. I also had to get some tires on it and other bits just to get the full visual.

At this point I'm thinking I don't really have to paint a thing, nothing matches perfectly, but still works. Off to the races!

In the back of my mind I'm still thinking this couldn't have worked out this well, I better double check that steerer- So I clean up a 11/8 threaded headset, fit the cups, dry fit the forks... NOPE too short... (the plan was to lengthen the steerer on that fork so it's still an option, but) Gutted!


I look around the garage to see suspensions I have (I'm impatient), I don't want to swap the headset,and want to stay 1994-1996, so that leaves me with some Quarda 21R with a custom brace, I test fit the steerer, it fit! Dropped some speed springs in from another set, and we're back in business (for now, until I can source a rigid fork).



Wheel wise, I have some Mavic 217 Sup gold laced to m738 hubs wearing black on black Michelin wildgrippers, Shifter/lever will either be m738 or m739, brakes will be XT V-brake. or Onza HO Canti's. deraileurs will be m738.


Thoughts? v-brake or canti? what forks should I run/ source? anything else I should change? Should I run silver turbine cranks?


***EDIT this might be 3D Blue, not Cobalt blue... please enlighten me.

 

[TreaderSteve]

Nice frame! What a, er, 'shed'! You could fit a mezzanine lever in there! As it's a pre-96 frame it has to be cantilevers. Don't often see HOs on builds - could be cool...or maybe some later XT/R cantis would just be plain yet sleek and $exy?
I go along with the idea that if you have black cranks, should ideally have a black seatpost and stem (so fit the silver turbine cranks). Then find some P2s to fit. Job done! Opinions are like noses though...

 

[NigelFinnighan]

TreaderSteve you're supposed to be looking at the bike, not the garage, (it's not finished inside) lol. But yes it's large (28'x32'), and tall (15'.6"at the tall wall, 2-12 pitch), I had to design it that way to match the house and to work with the back deck.

back to bikes

I think I agree with you that it needs to wear cantilevers, I'll have to play around and see which direction to go there, I like your thought about using XT.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to fit a set of silver Raceface cranks on it because they're all on different builds at the moment, but I think I have to at least try to see what they'll look like on this. The problem is if they end up being the ticket... I'll have to source something else for the build I'm stealing them from... which means I need to spend more time alone in the garage working on bikes, and more time on the internet trying to find a decent price on another bike part... two of my absolute favorite things- I love this hobby.

 

[al-onestare]

Lovely looking frame, a great colour and I'm pretty sure those missing decals would have been specifically excluded on request by the original owner. The giveaway will be any removal of the clear coating as this was applied after the decals, not the other way around.

I think you'll have a much nicer ride with some progressive forks but totally understand that travel will need to be carefully considered. That said 94 was when they made the change so you should be able to get away with 63mm or a little more. Going rigid is defo admirable

 

[enc]

Beautiful frame! i prefer the switchblades, deffo NOT the RS imo. id try and source the correct steerer for the blades. maybe paint the legs to match the frame and crown to match the stem?

 

[dirttorpedo]

Lovely frame. Personally I'd put the P2 on there if you are going to go rigid. P2's are such nice looking forks and they are classic look for a Kona. Save the switchblades for a Brodie.

 

[NigelFinnighan]

Thanks for all the replies, I really appreciate everyone's opinion - I knew the Quadra 21r's weren't meant for this build. I've decided to get my threaded P2's cut and re-threaded. I'm dropping the frame and fork off at the shop tomorrow.

I plan on heading to stop off at the autobody shop on the way to the LBS to get some paint colour matched to the frame.

In the meantime I've filed and sanded down the chain suck in preparation for paint... looking at the picture, I think I have a bit more to do lol.


I plan on painting the fork to match the frame... I really hope that turns out!

 

[Mortonm]

I commented on facebook but if this was a 19 it would be in my garage haha, 18 is just too small, if it was local I might have given it a stab but not to ship it

love the colour, look forward to the build, I have an 97 explosif and 94 brodie with P2s, and the are great

if you do go with forks, im a huge fan of just getting some Z2 bombers and calling it a day, the right amount of travel and they actually work really well. They came out in 96/97 so thats close enough.

Also the black cranks look much better

 

[Prodigal Son]

That´s one good looking bike.

 

[NigelFinnighan]

Small update on the HOT build. My local LBS is having a show 'n' shine on the 28th, so I've been busy getting all my retro mountain bikes ready for that, and scrambling to get the HOT finished in time. I have all the parts to complete either in my possession, or being shipped, but my new headset is being held at customs (I hope that's quick).

Fork wise. I decided to ditch the Q21r's in favour of a set of P2's- First stop was to the auto shop to get the frame colour matched-

Problem 1- Wrong colour! so I tired again... but a different auto shop...


Problem 1 solved!

I've mocked the build up to be ready to go once the headset arrives (hopefully in time). Barring any unforeseen roadblocks, this is basically the way she will sit once done apart from a Ti seatpost. I can't wait to throw a leg over it!