I cracked - Kona Kontent (scabby 94 Cinder Cone).

[dirttorpedo]

So was looking for a road bike for a friend and I stumbled across this on Craigslist. I've always wanted a late 80's or early 90's steel Kona. Nobody seemed interested in this 94 Cinder Cone missing drive train so I made a lowish offer without wheels and the seller accepted. Looked better in photos than real life. Seller threw in the wheels because he didn't need them. So the plan is to strip it, fill the ding in the top tube and powdercoat it - maybe metallic orange. Maybe lime green. Maybe the over used black or white. Dunno yet. Get new decals and strip my Zaskar to build this up. It has most of the original bits. Not sure about the headset - I feel like there is some play in it despite my best efforts to adjust it. Seems to be missing a seal from the bottom which is a pity because those headsets just look so right on these bikes.

Anyhow without much ado, here she is.

 

[dirttorpedo]

A few more crappy phone photos.

 

[Kona-Ian]

Re:

Bit 'o paint good as new plans sound good.

 

[dirttorpedo]

Ok, so its been a hot minute since I shared any info about my scabby Cinder Cone. I actually built the bike up with parts bin parts as a pragmatic retromod for riding dike trails with my wife and kids. Its now the only vintage mountain bike I have in working condition and I decided to faff about with this last week (mounted original velocity stem and finessed some riser bars on it). Here are the photos as it was last night. The raceface turbine crank with rock ring was rescued off a bike from the transfer station - one of my best finds yet. I think the XT mechs came off a too small Norco Rampage i ended up stripping for parts. The riser bar was purchased off ebay in one of my weaker moments.

Rides nice up and down the boulevard outside my house. I am toying with replacing the rock ring with a 44 tooth chain ring as the bike is unlikely to be ridden in anger any longer. I have been toying with a strip, powdercoat and new decals, but its scabbiness and a ding in the top tube make me wonder if its worth while. I may need to take it out to some of the easier trails for a real ride.

 

[bold stelvis]

Doesn't look too bad to me. Mine was in a similar sort of state - maybe less chain rash but more rock chips
a bit of touch up on the more serious paint damage spots, then some T-cut/ and polish would have it looking ok - maybe some gentle sanding and some new 2k gloss lacquer over the top?

 

[dirttorpedo]

Doesn't look too bad to me. Mine was in a similar sort of state - maybe less chain rash but more rock chips
a bit of touch up on the more serious paint damage spots, then some T-cut/ and polish would have it looking ok - maybe some gentle sanding and some new 2k gloss lacquer over the top?

there is a fair bit of surface rust on the chips - it certainly didn't live an easy life.

 

[Thias]

Good looking bike despite coming out of the parts bin. Also only took 9 years