A 1999 Kona Explosif Down Under

[moonlite]

Hmmm I thought it was a 20" too. I'm pretty familiar with 19" konas as I've kept most of my old ones. I'm also 6'2" and if that's your saddle height on a 19", then you must be the blueprint for knuckle dragging.
If you ever decide to sell, let me know. I'd love to try it out.

Heh heh … my nearest and dearest might want to weigh in on the knuckledragging aspect — but the fact that it’s a 20” just makes me happier with it. My ‘98 version is definitely smaller and requires a setback seatpost to be rideable.

You’d be more than welcome to a borrow next time you’re in NSW but I’m planning on keeping this one

 

[albash82]

You’d be more than welcome to a borrow next time you’re in NSW but I’m planning on keeping this one
View attachment 696462

Deal..... I'm hoping I will get back to Oz at some point. Family back over west now though. We shall see.

 

[moonlite]

Bit quiet on this one for a while, apart from riding and enjoying it. But in the background I've been looking for bits to upgrade this bike a bit.

Here's where I am:

- Chainset/rings: While the standard LX setup works fine, I feel the frame deserves something a bit better, so have obtained a Middleburn triple from @RicheyO of this parish (highly recommend this seller -- and thanks for posting to Australia).

- Bars: the flat carbon bars I fitted are fine, but I have an NOS Easton carbon Monkeylite in 25.4mm which I think would be more in keeping with the overall build.

- Wheels: this one's a bit of a dilemma . . . I have a '95 Kilauea half-built but the wheels I got for it are XTR M950s which aren't really the right era. I wouldn't mind this too much but have been thinking of late that this frame needs a bit of polishing and retouching which will have to wait until summer, so I'm looking at these wheels for the Explosif.

- Tyres: the Mitas Ocelots the bike came with are fine, but again I think it deserves something a bit more blingy, so have ordered some Maxxis Eikon 2.2s which are quite light and can go on with the wheel change.

I like the Avid Arch Rivals very much so those can stay, as with derailleurs and shifters. Let's see how the above changes work out.

 

[moonlite]

Quick update: this baby now has the upgrades I mentioned above: Middleburn chainset, XTR 950 wheels, Maxxis Eikon tyres, Easton Monkeylite carbon bars, XTR spds.

After messing around quite a lot with the front derailleur, it's working, albeit not very well: I tried the 107mm bottom bracket and the inner ring rubbed on the inner derailleur plate; with the 110mm, that doesn't happen, but getting the chain up to the big ring is tricky. I'll continue to fiddle with it -- once an obsession is born, it has to be indulged until resolved.

Overall, though, I'm happy -- it's rideable and I think the changes complement the frame nicely.

 

[W7Ford]

Looking good! I always think the '99 had the best colour scheme of all the Explosifs. Hope you get the derailleur niggle sorted.

 

[Paul R]

Looks good, The front mech cage is really far away from the big ring though there should be a small 2mm gap between the outer mech plate and the chainring when it goes over the top of it.

 

[moonlite]

Looks good, The front mech cage is really far away from the big ring though there should be a small 2mm gap between the outer mech plate and the chainring when it goes over the top of it.

Yeah -- I've been moving it quite a lot to get it to stop hitting the inner derailleur plate when on the big ring. Will need to do quite a bit more fettling I reckon.

 

[velofrog]

(Mitas Ocelot) are worth keeping. Anyone heard of these?

How do you titillate an Ocelot?

Oscillate it’s tit a lot….

 

[al-onestare]

Looks good, The front mech cage is really far away from the big ring though there should be a small 2mm gap between the outer mech plate and the chainring when it goes over the top of it.

Yep, exactly this, it's too high up. Something like this should do the job:

 

[moonlite]

Yep, exactly this, it's too high up. Something like this should do the job:

Thanks -- good point. All the literature emphasises that this gap is important -- 2mm seems to be about right. I've just got mine a bit higher because the inner ring keeps scraping on the inner derailleur plate; I'll have to disconnect the cables and re-do it all.