96 Kona Lava Dome - nearly complete

[flyingfinn]

Future Plans

Magas,

Do not worry, we seem to think alike - I never throw anything away!

I tried to fit an image of the original front wheel into my album; this has a part worn Sniff tyre and a reasonably undamaged Mavic 238 rim - that is tucked away for refurbishment.

The original rear wheel needs a complete rebuild but I have a pare STX 7 speed hub that I have already refurbished; so if I can find a good 238 rim I can build up the original wheels.

I serviced the Gripshift SRT400s when I took them off and have them tucked away in my parts store.

My long term plans for the commuter/tourer are to have a frame built, probably by Mercian, with exchangeable dropouts to allow me to go down the Rohloff route - or perhaps the new Shimano 11 speed hub.

flyingfinn

 

[lewis1641]

that looks very tidy. good work on the touch up paint

 

[flyingfinn]

Thanks for all the Comments so Far

Thanks for all the comments so far.

Just to address the other inputs overnight:

TooHiBMI - I always remembered this colour from the 96 kona range and that was what led to me spotting the bike upsidedown with no wheels on. As Magas said, at least it seems to have been stored indoors most of its life as there is no fade. There are some marks, in particular from what must have been a U lock mount on the seat tube, but nothing major. Depending where you go for a frame paint job there are some good orange colours out there, Mercian do a nice deep orange. I will not go for a repaint until I know where I can get an exact match for the original Kona Satin Orange.

paininthe - Definitely intentional; unless I am doing a very quick puncture repair I always try to align valve positions with a key tyre label. Actually it helps you do quick tyre inflations if there is a known position; it also just looks better!

ff

 

[Anthony]

No offence to Mercian, but I very much doubt whether they can reproduce that finish. All the UK painters are road-based companies that think Italy is the centre of the universe, so naturally they all use an Italian colour palette and can never quite match the colours that US/Taiwan companies use. Also they will liquid paint it, whereas you have a powder coat on there at present.

I must say the paint looks great as it is - if that bike needs repainting then so does almost every bike on this site!

 

[flyingfinn]

Paint

Anthony,

Yes agreed, and I was amazed at how the frame came up after I removed about 10 years of grime (seriously as far as I can tell I think the bike was laid up in about 2002 and had not been cleaned for a few years before that).

I only mentioned the mercian paint (code 63 I think) as being a nice orange (that I might choose if I get a Mercian frame made for my tourer/commuter - see albums).

I did contact Kona tech to see if they had any details of the finish used but did not get a detailed response.

So no intentions to repaint for a while, just a few worries about the chips and scratches that I had to blend in (I satinised the auto paint with some talcum powder - an old trick I used to use in model making). And of course I still have to dress in the marks on the forks.

Perhaps as a large retro interest group we could invoke some interest from the refinishing industry!

ff

 

[Anthony]

I think you're much more skilled than I am, but I just try to raise some interest from the modelling industry. Humbrol, that is.

Kurust plus Humbrol is all that my bikes get. Oh, and mud, which hides most things anyway.

 

[flyingfinn]

Humbrol Paints

Humbrol paints have always had a good range and with careful mixing you can achieve a lot. Of course when Airfix went into receivership back in 2004 (???) we nearly lost the availability of Humbrol paints as Humbrol were already a sister company of Airfix.

I do Corgi model and full size car restoration too so am always playing with paint. If we were talking about connections with the other modelling industry I do not think that spray tan would provide a good bicycle finish but, apparently, some models are prepared to cover themselves in mud - just like off road riders

If I get time this year I might start talking to some of the large powdercoat companies, the particular colours I would initially ask about are the Kona Satin Orange and the Satin Green used on the same period Explosif.

ff

 

[Anthony]

Yes, I didn't really get a very good match on the Explosif I'm afraid. But if anybody has ever noticed out on the trail, they've been too kind to mention it.

 

[flyingfinn]

Paint

Anthony,

That looks like a good job though, I can just see the area on the chainstay but only by making a close look.

I see in a number of posts on the site that people recommend not going to Halfords, and I totally agree. The Motorfactor industry is overrun with overpackaging and having to buy multiple small items; gone are the days when you could go to a small privately owned specialist factor and buy one small item - we also need proper ironmongers again 'fork 'andles' etc. (One of my all time favourite comedy sketches )

Some main dealers still do touch up bottles but at a premium price. What I found recently was a few firms on the Internet who mix small touch up bottles to order for a known colour, either by paint code or car registration. So all you have to do is ride around until you see a car that has the right colour and then either research the manufacturers paint code or, if it has not been resprayed, write down the registration number.

I found a number of firms by googling for Car Touch Up paint, prices vary from £5.99 to £9.99.

ff