Kona A'ha 1997

[al-onestare]

Re: Knowing me knowing you - (Kona) A'ha! (1997)

Oooooo weeeee! I have it! Will give it an initial clean tonight and take a few snaps. Well pleased; she's got a few chips but nothing serious at all; she's been well looked after.

The seller is a good guy, it turns out he used to work for one of the distributors of Kona's back in the day and had mates in Evans cycles. He has...deep breath...another one of these. Before you get too excited it's not in as good as condition as this (has some touch ups on the head tube apparently) but I think he'd be tempted to sell. It's a 16". IF any of you are interested I could put a tentative ask on your behalf...(he has mates who have a few gems in the garage and he's going to see if any of them are willing to part with them - I'm keeping that info to me for now so I get first dibs )

So, I'm still after recommendations for wheels and bars....any ideas?

 

[Wienerwald]

Re: Knowing me knowing you - (Kona) A'ha! (1997)

Concerning bars, there is some blue Kona pub bike in the post '98 section with interesting bars (couldn't find it yet).

I tried to answer your PM, it seems my message is still in my outbox ... I'll see what I can do on saving shipping costs

Edit: found it viewtopic.php?f=21&t=205227

 

[al-onestare]

Re: Knowing me knowing you - (Kona) A'ha! (1997)

Cheers! Wrong colour but defo the right shape or near to anyway, I see they are on-one so I'll take a look and see what they've got in silver...I don't want to distract away from the paint job too much. The blue and red of the cranks and chainring are nice - silver bars I'm thinking with CK silver headset, got the Curve canti's already...defo need P2's and a canti-hanger though.

 

[Wienerwald]

Re: Knowing me knowing you - (Kona) A'ha! (1997)

I hope my PM finally arrived, I've sent you another picture I think finding the right bar shouldn't be a problem.

By the way, what I'm wondering about ever since you started this thread is - isn't Knowing me knowing you by Abba and not A'ha?

 

[magas]

Re: Knowing me knowing you - (Kona) A'ha! (1997)

I hope my PM finally arrived, I've sent you another picture I think finding the right bar shouldn't be a problem.

By the way, what I'm wondering about ever since you started this thread is - isn't Knowing me knowing you by Abba and not A'ha?

yes, ABBA - but the lyrics says: "knowing me, knowing you, aha....."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrfY7RNaBjw

back to bikes - love the Stars and Bars paintscheme, as I got also one Kona in that livery - looking forward pics. of the frame.

 

[al-onestare]

Re: Knowing me knowing you - (Kona) A'ha! (1997)

yes, ABBA - but the lyrics says: "knowing me, knowing you, aha....."

And for us Brits, I hope we all picture this man when we run it through our heads

back to bikes - love the Stars and Bars paintscheme, as I got also one Kona in that livery - looking forward pics. of the frame.

Have you got a hot? So, I can confirm and as expected, the stars and bars are decals - it is a standard frame and not a custom one, so I imagine (I hope) that on the Hot they were sprayed on. That said it's still wicked, super wicked - why anyone would get rid of it is beyond me. It's like buying a Klein and spraying it grey (ok maybe not quite but you know what I mean).

I can tell it's a red base with the blue sprayed over and faded thanks to the odd chip on the down-tube. I'm really pleased with the condition. I was worried the two small stickers on the rear triangle were hiding a nasty surprise - thankfully not! I promise pictures tomorrow.

 

[Wienerwald]

Re: Knowing me knowing you - (Kona) A'ha! (1997)

Understood that music is a little too retro for me :twisted:

 

[magas]

Re: Knowing me knowing you - (Kona) A'ha! (1997)

I grow up with their music - alter sack

got almost a Hot mine is a 96 KU in that Stars and Bars livery.

from what I can tell you, is that they use also decals for the KU, not painted here also. Dont know, if any Kona, bone stock or custom, ever had painted decals. :? As the frame is tucked away in the cellar I cant check if the decals had been laquered over.

whats your plan with the A'Ha ?

 

[al-onestare]

Re: Knowing me knowing you - (Kona) A'ha! (1997)

Nice, nice, I keep forgetting you could have a custom livery on the Ku.

Plans - well that's where I need some help.

I would like a puka set of wheels but knowing absolutely nothing about SS's I'm not sure where to begin. I have the original rear hub and 17/18T ring as part of the deal. I have some spacers...I have the cranks and chainring and that it's.

I need P2's and a canti-hanger. I need some sexy tyres with colour but not too crazy. Same for the saddle.

This weekend I'll give it some proper thought and come up with a plan...

 

[DM]

Re: Knowing me knowing you - (Kona) A'ha! (1997)

Stuff to note:
BB:
It has a US BMX BB shell. DMR do adapters so you can fit a square taper or outboard BB.

Hub spacing:
Basically, there are few cassette hubs in the spacing you need. And screw-on hubs don't give much option to tweak rear chainline. So you need to do your homework.

Rear ends on non-disk Humus were 110mm, 112mm, and 120mm. All are variations on old-school track or BMX spacing. My A'ha is 112mm with a perfect "track standard" 42mm chainline. This limits your rear hub choices to BMX, track or older dirt jump bikes (DJ bikes now all seem to use 135mm disk hubs). So the options are somewhat limited unless you go upmarket to Phil Wood, Campagnolo Pista, Profile BMX (drool) etc. Or put a screw-on freewheel on a narrow old road hub. Maybe Surly or On-One do one? Alternatively, go to Alans BMX: He has some old-school BMX hubs that will do the job and look the business.

The curved top tube is a lot thicker walled than the Humu. Combined with the gas-pipe rear end and the big BB shell, it's no lightweight.

Yes, stars and bars are presumably decals, but are under the clear coat.

Kanerdog has the most awesome A'ha ever:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18821