'96 Kona Muni-Mula

[slimpee]

I bought 'er in early '97 when I was 13, raced a couple of times when I was 14-15, stopped riding when i was around 17-18, didn't take it to college until senior year, and recently brought it to MN where it's my only bike. I've gotten into mtn. biking again and hope to race a few relaxed races next season (nothing crazy). We'll see.

It's too small for me now but I still love it. I hope to buy another, better fitting mtn. bike soon and then i'll turn the Kona into a SS mtn. bike w/ a red/black theme. I won't change the frame color, however, it's too sweet!

She has the famous 7005 DB frame, STX crankset, rear hub, and front derailler (sp?), LX rear derailler, Curve canti brakes and lever, Grip Shift 600 shifters, Mavic 238 rims and Kona stock components. I recently changed the original front Kona Scratch tire (shown in the pic. Yeah, 10 years old). It has the stock pedals for now which are going bad. I had clipless on it before but my dad thought the pedals were worthless because the shoes became too small so he threw it all away. Bummer. Except for crappy braking she works flawlessly and at 25.4 lbs is a great performer!

Note: In this pic the Q21 R is collapsed. I have since put in a functioning Q 21 R.

A pic of me in full commuting dress:

I have a conundrum on my hands as she is too small for me (I believe it's a 16 or 17" and i'm 6'2". I can't decide if I want to tune it up and sell it, part it out, single-speed it, or tune it up and keep it.

UPDATE: This was posted last fall. The rear wheel is bet due to either being hit by a car or kicked outside of a bar. It has been sitting in the basement feeling lonely but i'll drag her out soon and get her fixed up. I still haven't decided what will happen w/ her but i'll post some drivetrain pics when it's fixed.

 

[Anthony]

That's a nice bike, 1996, would merit a better fork. It certainly isn't a size 16 or 17, looks like a 19 to me (Kona measure from centre of bb to top of seat tube).

The Kona sizing chart says size 19 is intended for people 5-8 to 6-3 and size 20 is for 6-0 to 6-4, so maybe one size up would be better for you. But TBH that would only make the frame half an inch longer (say equivalent to a 10-15mm longer stem), and it looks like the frame has plenty of unrealised potential in reserve to be set up for a guy your size. i.e., you don't have the seat height anywhere near as high as that post could go, and you don't have riser bars, so the bike could effectively be made a lot bigger. Still it's your call.

Welcome to Retrobike anyway!

 

[slimpee]

That's a nice bike, 1996, would merit a better fork. It certainly isn't a size 16 or 17, looks like a 19 to me (Kona measure from centre of bb to top of seat tube).

The Kona sizing chart says size 19 is intended for people 5-8 to 6-3 and size 20 is for 6-0 to 6-4, so maybe one size up would be better for you. But TBH that would only make the frame half an inch longer (say equivalent to a 10-15mm longer stem), and it looks like the frame has plenty of unrealised potential in reserve to be set up for a guy your size. i.e., you don't have the seat height anywhere near as high as that post could go, and you don't have riser bars, so the bike could effectively be made a lot bigger. Still it's your call.

Welcome to Retrobike anyway!

I hope you're right because that would be great news! I was thinking of throwing on a P2 fork (do they make suspension corrected PS's? The Q21R has I believe 80 mm travel), a riser bar, and making it a SS. It wouldn't be very retro but I think it'd be really cool!

 

[Anthony]

I hope you're right because that would be great news! I was thinking of throwing on a P2 fork (do they make suspension corrected PS's? The Q21R has I believe 80 mm travel), a riser bar, and making it a SS. It wouldn't be very retro but I think it'd be really cool!

Well it's certainly worth measuring the bb-tst distance, so at least you know for sure where you stand size-wise.

The P2 fork has essentially been the same length (41cm from crown race to axle centre) ever since 1994, and you could buy a new one but hey this is RetroBike so you wouldn't expect me to recommend that - you need the right colour to suit the frame, which is the 1996/97 gun metal grey as per the one on my Lava Dome below and you need to make sure it's the triple-butted flavour, not plain-gauge cos, hey, that Muni Mula takes no prisoners right? There's plenty of them on eBay, although obviously you need a long enough steerer and you've got to consider whether to keep the threaded headset or go to aheadset, all that kind of thing.

But the bottom line is it's a great frame and it's your friend and what kind of a person is it who consigns their friend to the trash? And with period P2s and a riser bar it'll be pretty cool *and* retro!

 

[slimpee]

Is it measured along the seat tube or at a 90 angle to the BB?

 

[Anthony]

Is it measured along the seat tube or at a 90 angle to the BB?

Along the seat tube - and I'm guessing the head tube is 13cm, right?

 

[slimpee]

It measured 17" from the center of the crank to the top of the top tube as measured along the seat tube.

Is this the correct way to measure?

 

[Anthony]

It measured 17" from the center of the crank to the top of the top tube as measured along the seat tube.

Is this the correct way to measure?

Nope! To the top of the seat tube - which is c2" further, so I'm still confident about my 19" diagnosis!

 

[DeletedUser006]

Nice ! Looks too nice to sell - I would put money on that being an 18" frame, the head tube on a 19 is longer than that one looks.

Put P2's on it, Both my '94 cindercones were suspension geo frames but suspension was an option when new. It will run fine with them but the riding position will be slightly lower, But that is what retro is all about

 

[Anthony]

I would put money on that being an 18" frame, the head tube on a 19 is longer than that one looks.

How about £8?

[Apologies to everybody else, this is a private 'joke', as I owe Gravy Monster £8 and the bike is 'for sure' a 19, as Felipe Massa would say]