How to decipher late 80ies/early 90ies KONA serial numbers

[Ladis]

Hi guys,

Ive got a frame I'd like to identify which Model/ from year the Kona frame is. It's all steel and most likely from the late 80ies to early 90ies. The serial underneath the bottom bracket starts with F1059XXX...and another one with 1h06X

Is there any way to say from what year the frame is...and even which model? The bottom bracket has a self-lubing-nippel ( ...or how you want to call that thing ;-) ). The seat tube is somehow flattened at the boten bracket area.The frame it is spray bombed, otherwise the color would have given a clue which model it might be...

Thanks for any help!

 

[sinnerman]

Hi guys,

Ive got a frame I'd like to identify which Model/ from year the Kona frame is. It's all steel and most likely from the late 80ies to early 90ies. The serial underneath the bottom bracket starts with F1059XXX...and another one with 1h06X

Is there any way to say from what year the frame is...and even which model? The bottom bracket has a self-lubing-nippel ( ...or how you want to call that thing ;-) ). The seat tube is somehow flattened at the boten bracket area.The frame it is spray bombed, otherwise the color would have given a clue which model it might be...

Thanks for any help!

The F suggests the OEM manufacturer was "Fairly".

The tubing suggests Tange Prestige Concept.

The Bottom Bracket Grease Nipple suggests OE spec was Suntour.

The rear brake boss placement will help a lot in giving a definitive answer to the age. The rear cable route will also help determine the age, a plastic cable guide on the seat collar was introduced for the 91 model year, prior to this there was a steel cable noodle attached to the frame, prior to this it would have had a rear u brake mounted on the seatstays.

A picture will tell us all of the above i would hope.

 

[Ladis]

Thanks so far..will try to put up picture later..

But without brased noodle and without u-brake mounts makes it at least a "91..great so far. When you say it might have Tange Prestige tubing means that it might be a Explosiv or a Hot...that sound quite good. Because lots of components were Suntour XC Pro I tend to believe it might be the 91 HOT.

When you say the OEM manufacturer was Fairly, what exactly do you mean?...I know from vintage BMXes an "F" in the serial could mean either a month, which would be June ( F= 6th letter in the ABC)...of "F" for Formosa, which actually stand for Taiwan. Any ideas about this?

 

[sinnerman]

Thanks so far..will try to put up picture later..

But without brased noodle and without u-brake mounts makes it at least a "91..great so far. When you say it might have Tange Prestige tubing means that it might be a Explosiv or a Hot...that sound quite good. Because lots of components were Suntour XC Pro I tend to believe it might be the 91 HOT.

When you say the OEM manufacturer was Fairly, what exactly do you mean?...I know from vintage BMXes an "F" in the serial could mean either a month, which would be June ( F= 6th letter in the ABC)...of "F" for Formosa, which actually stand for Taiwan. Any ideas about this?

If it is a Hot, it would have been made in the USA. And the F might well relate to a build date.

Fairly are an Taiwanese bicycle frame manufacturer that up until the early 2000s only produced OEM bicycles for its customer base, these frames normally had two stamped numbers, the first starting with F. After i think 2001 (ish) they also made bicycles for themselves to market as well as continuing to sell to the OEM market.

Sadly its all the help i can be.

 

[sinnerman]

Re:

Without wanting to make things harder for you, i just noticed on the build spec sheets, that the Shimano specd bikes also came with grease nipples on the Bottom Brackets too... :facepalm:

 

[mynchiboy]

Re:

The grease sealer bottom bracket nipple is a good point... all models had them, down to the Hahanna at the bottom of the pile.

It’s not a Hot though either. It would have a serial number beginning with TET to indicate Tom Teesdale as the builder. Thinking about it, my 91 Hot didn’t have the nipple thing from memory either....

Based on the spec and details my money would be on it being an Explosif pro. Some pictures will tell a thousand words though

 

[sinnerman]

Re: Re:

The grease sealer bottom bracket nipple is a good point... all models had them, down to the Hahanna at the bottom of the pile.

It’s not a Hot though either. It would have a serial number beginning with TET to indicate Tom Teesdale as the builder. Thinking about it, my 91 Hot didn’t have the nipple thing from memory either....

Based on the spec and details my money would be on it being an Explosif pro. Some pictures will tell a thousand words though

I agree, and would be quite easy to date with a picture i would think, and from 92 they had separate seatpost QR collars.