Kona Caldera 1997

Re: Kona Caldera 1997 - unicorn scenes

Cheers folks and yep, will do ;-) Those Hope skewers are ace but a bit off when it comes to how they look.
 
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Gratuitous plug for votes type bump. This is up against some incredibly stiff competition in this months BOTM. It won't win but a few votes would be very super cool and very much appreciated...not least maybe for the research and contributions made on this thread.

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Re: Kona Caldera 1997 - unicorn scenes

I managed to get a long overdue couple of hours on the Caldera last week. Once again, she was joy to ride. Agile, giving and accurate from a pedal to power feeling. I was having too much fun to take a bunch of pictures but managed to take this one at the entrance of Joyden Woods.

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During my house move last week I uncovered some 96 / 97 Mags, one of them had an advert for 97 Custom frames with prices attached

Not much use in the hunt but would you like a photo when I unpack.....
 
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boxxer":2r4umg8f said:
During my house move last week I uncovered some 96 / 97 Mags, one of them had an advert for 97 Custom frames with prices attached

Not much use in the hunt but would you like a photo when I unpack.....

Hell to the yes please!
 
Re: Kona Caldera 1997 - unicorn scenes

Time to tinker. My attempts to theme the yellow and blue didn't work, especially in comparison with, in my view, the success of the team Explosif. Furthermore, the Judy's are just not good enough, even these later versions. I'm re-living 1997/98 when the consumer and the industry were blown away by the introduction of Z1's and Z2's. At last there was a fork that did what it was intended to do: soak up the bumps, be responsive and work in all conditions - hot or cold!

So, I have these coming their way from the Marzocchi maestro, Mark http://www.mtbforksbymark.com/ Top man and amazing work; fully rebuilt and as good, if not better, then the day they were made.

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I have a black kevlar Flite to replace the yellow version, which whilst nice, just doesn't work colour wise.

This should transform the bike from good to great and mean I have 2 thoroughbred hard-tails (3 if you count the normal Explosif) vying for my attention this summer. I can't wait for the battle to begin!

(And if you're thinking the same thing, yes, I'll be replacing the Judy's on the Manomano with Z1's at some point soon).
 
Re: Kona Caldera 1997: performance upgrade (P1:cool:

I should add that recent information has added (and backed-up) some additional evidence towards Altitude challenges in the workshop. More to be revealed soon :)

Linked to this and earlier comments in the story, I recently acquired a set of MBUK and MBI's from 1996 through to the end of 1998. If you have any interest in this thing called retrobike and perhaps like me, were not in the scene back in the day or if you were, your memory is a little hazy, then reading up via the sources that mattered is a great acid test for what was going on.

The internet was in it's infancy and whilst sites were being created and used, it was by no means the leading source of information. Written media in hard copy was, and these magazines give a great glimpse of what was going on.

Sure, you had the same issues of bias to manufacturers or skewed views of the future i.e. what's good now is best or, more frequently, what's next is best. But read inbetween the lines, the readers letter pages and the adverts and it's striking to see that literally within 6 months, specifically spring 96 to Christmas / early 97, the entire industry flipped on it's head.

High-end hard-tails were yesterdays news: full suspension, down-hill and 'free-ride' was where everything was pointed. Even readers in their 30's were complaining why the need for these new bikes, and what was wrong with single-track?

This isn't a comprehensive guide to the seismatic changes, there are better sources and more experienced folks than I. These are just some and all contributed to the change in market and the bikes and components made, including why the Caldera never sold. It was the wrong time (just as the market changed), the wrong place (Altitude were not capable to produce the volume - or quality - of frames they had committed to), and the wrong price (why spend £1500 on a custom hard-tail with average components when you could have something 'better').

The 96 Olympics: MTB included. Whilst our BBC coverage was terrible, the global impact was massive
Racing in general including the UCI: down-hill was getting the views, dual slalom was introduced, single-track was still a big part but the big manufacturers were being more 'professional'...
...drugs in the sport: The days of cobbling together a team or picking out a rider to join (and win), were long gone. The corporations were running the show.
...down hill and free-ride: you can forget riding 'boring' single-track. You need to ride off cliffs and have a shit-ton of travel and a bike that doesn't break.
Mass production skill-set increased: Taiwan and the far-east were now able to produce very high quality frames at a much lower cost.
Marzocchi Bombers: don't underestimate just how much impact these had. A fork that actually worked - it transformed the way bikes were designed and ridden.

One final thing for now. Did anyone shop with or work at Sshockwave in Nottingham or Cranx II in Benfleet back in the day? They were, to my knowledge, apart from JP, the only stores that imported or could order custom Kona custom frames into the UK during this time. The Caldera is listed in their adverts which I'll scan in. Apparently it took 6-12 weeks and cost £549.99!
 
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Well written Al in both posts.

Very much looking forward to seeing the Caldera’s make-over.

….. and thank you for a well-constructed overview of the “wonder years”.

Pip
 
Re: Kona Caldera 1997: performance upgrade (P1:cool:

A distinct improvement in looks and performance. It's ready for the summer now :)

Before:

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After:

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I think I've found some evidence that the workmanship at Altitude wasn't quite up to the quality control levels you'd expect. I need to test this with another v-brake but it seems the rear right hand boss isn't positioned accurately. Simply put, the arm has to be much further out to stop hitting the rim and yes, the rear is triangle is aligned (it's not a clown bike :LOL: ). I've played around with the washers on the v-brake pad and bolts to reduce the protrusion.

I first noticed it when I rode it at length at Mayhem last year and only remembered this weekend when I was tinkering.
 
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Those forks should indeed be an improvement – it looks well sorted next to your Team Issue Explosif. Good work Al.

Mmm…. as you indicated at the start of your post Fri 17th March, the situation at Altitude (and resultant move to Enigma) seems to becoming more apparent. We have previously heard of the problems surrounding the Altitude built Hots, and these were seemingly not only due to alignment of the 853 Stays - see page 5 of this thread. It’s curious to note that you are suggesting that a brake boss seems misplaced on your Caldera. I may have an idea of what is awry elsewhere, but do you think you could take a picture from the rear end square on and sent it to me?

Pip.
 
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