Hei-Hei

[Pipmeister]

Re:

Hello there,

Thank you for your post. By coincidence, I took a trip to Recycle in Croydon back in 1997 after seeing the place advertised in MBUK - I bought a XTR FD-M900, which is still in use! As you can see from what has been written here, there has always been a little confusion regarding this first version of the King Kahuna. I think that Recycle's description to you at the time would have been perfectly acceptable.

Your description on e-Bay is fine; most people interested in buying the bike will probably be aware of what it is, along with its rarity and value. I would estimate that a total of around 100 1996 King Kahuna frames were produced. Any bike or frame is worth what people are prepared to pay for it. I was searching for a 1998 Kona Ku for a very long time, and eventually struck lucky in finding a mint example of one. I would have paid whatever it took to own that frame. I even considered flying to collect it from Canada where is was discovered by a fellow Retrobike member.

Good luck with the sale on e-Bay. If you have no joy on there, somebody on here may make you an offer.

Pip

 

[farmer giles]

Hi Pip,

cheers for your reply. there was another hei hei on ebay for £1500 that hasn't sold so I thought I should pitch mine a bit lower to create interest; but I wasn't aware of the significant rarity difference between the HH and the KK to be honest.

I thought the simple sunset rims might be more peculiar?

I have enjoyed reading your thread on the frame number - respect for collating that information and the research behind it.
cheers,
Joe

 

[farmer giles]

Re:

help please??????????????

I have received messages through ebay that my bike is a hei hei because it doesn't have any ring reinforcements or gussets by the headtube.
I have found the original invoice from Recycle and they list it as a 1996 King Kahuna.

cheers,
Joe

 

[Pipmeister]

Re:

Hi Joe,

The Gusseting and ovalisation of the tubing is on the 1997 -2000 King Kahuna. The 1996 King Kahuna does not have this.

I will copy and paste something from Kona Tech in a while.

Pip

 

[farmer giles]

thank you pip

 

[RickTheUncivil]

does the -64 mark it out as a king?

 

[farmer giles]

hi rick,

I assumed that is a pretty strong indicator, but whether the ebay messager thought I had stamped that myself and got copy decals to fake its identity?
I don't know?
cheers

 

[Pipmeister]

Re:

I have no idea what the messenger on e-Bay may or may ot be thinking, but they are asking in good faith based on a certain amount of knowledge.

The message that you received on e-Bay is only correct for the 1997 to 2000 King Kahuna. As you may have seen in this thread, there is much confusion over the rarer 1996 King Kahuna, as it features the same front triangle of the Hei Hei that has no Gusseting. It does however have a rear triangle made from 6-4 Titanium, which was employed to stiffen up the back end; this was before it was decided from 1997 onwards to Ovalise the tubing and add Gussets to the Top and Down Tube at the Head Tube Junction to stiffen the frame.

This is from Kona Tech regarding the 1997 King Kahuna, which is what your messenger was referring to:

An original Joe Murray designed Kona frame built in Washington State from aerospace grade titanium.
Made by Sandvik in 3Al-2.5v Titanium with multi-shaped/gusseted Titanium tubes and oversized chain stays.
Water jet cut drop-outs made from solid billet 6Al-4v Titanium as is the bottom bracket shell.

Is there any more information that I can provide?

Pip.

 

[Pipmeister]

does the -64 mark it out as a king?

Yes it does, along with the -64 Suffix serial number.

Pip

 

[farmer giles]

thank you pip

I don't want to be accused of mis-selling the bike when I have acted in good faith with the knowledge I have.

cheers