Kona Caldera 1997

[Bigttown]

Re: Custom Caldera

Hello all, new member here from the states. I have just recently come across and into ownership of this beauty- I understand it to be a 96-97 Caldera, and after reading through portions of this thread, am pretty stoked to have found it! I would love any information you all might have on it...The serial number is CA9609012. From what I have gathered, the bike is ALL original, except the saddle, and is in incredible condition. Any help/info. would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
PS When I can figure out how to resize the pictures, I will attach them...

 

[Pipmeister]

Re:

Hello and welcome,

I think that I can speak for that al-onestare and the rest of us by saying that we will be interested to see your bike.

It would appear that the serial number of your frame is consistent with a 1997 Caldera.

If you are having difficulty re-sizing and uploading pictures onto your post, may I suggest that you add a link to a picture host, or better still insert the image from a picture host site with an IMG code.

Regards.

Pip.

 

[al-onestare]

Re: Custom Caldera

Hello all, new member here from the states. I have just recently come across and into ownership of this beauty- I understand it to be a 96-97 Caldera, and after reading through portions of this thread, am pretty stoked to have found it! I would love any information you all might have on it...The serial number is CA9609012. From what I have gathered, the bike is ALL original, except the saddle, and is in incredible condition. Any help/info. would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
PS When I can figure out how to resize the pictures, I will attach them...

Super-cool indeed! This is turning into the worldwide 1997 Caldera club page :mrgreen:

Of the full set of SNs and picture evidence roll-call so far we have:

mydryskull: HO 9607032 , different blue, 19"
al-onestare: CA 9609046 , Poopsy Blue, 20"
knickering: CA 9609144, Molotov Red, 18"
H1v9a8c8: HO 9610031 (TBC), Poopsy Blue, 18"

Yours of September 1996 is #12, so the second earliest made before MDS' which I think was an early dry-run / show model. So in reality, it's one of the very first made and sold. Kudos! What colour is it: blue or red?

I've pm'ed you if you need help with the pic's.

 

[Bigttown]

Re: The newest find

Thank you for your quick replies! Here she is... Oh, and a 16" frame...

 

[Bigttown]

Re:

The rest of the pics...

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

First off-road ride of 2018 was back at Bedgebury. Door to door I can get there in under 2 hours and whilst the trails aren't the most technical, you still need to pay attention and they put a smile on your face. Plus the cake is excellent!

This was the first ride on the Caldera in a while and with a proper length steerer up front. I've ridden the team Explosif a lot and the biggest difference in performance became clear early on: agility and power to wheel ratio. The obvious reason why the Explosif is "better" in these areas is clear: it's a smaller bike (19" vs 20") and it's lighter.

The not so obvious reason is the tube-set. The Caldera is a little more forgiving but the weight distribution on the Explosif is much more even. The Caldera is particularly "heavy" on the rear. It's not a scientific way, but a simple lift of either bike and you can feel the weight distribution is like chalk and cheese.

Yes the components are different (the wheels the biggest), but I swear, those rear stays on the Explosif, in all their Columbus beauty, are something else.

Let's not get it twisted though. This is still a great bike to ride once you've got it dialed in and with the Z2s up front, it's a much more complete bike. It's solid, dependable but with an edge over it's chromoly cousins in the range.

At this point in time I don't have changes to make to the set-up. It's time to keep riding it in comparison with it's stable mates

 

[VanIsle]

Re:

Another data point:
Ca960901 blue 19" frame

 

[al-onestare]

Re: Re:

Another data point:
Ca960901 blue 19" frame

Nice! Do you have any pictures you can share? Is it really #1 - the first "official" Caldera?

 

[VanIsle]

Re:

I can take a pic or two if you wish, it'll be anti climatic I'm afraid though. It is presently cobbled together as a rehab-bike set up on a trainer for my wife who took a nasty tumble on a hike last week.

She bought it in new Edmonton Alberta in 1999, tucked away in a corner as a new-old-stock bike the shop no longer wanted. She eyed it in the corner and convinced them to build it up for a ride and fell in love on the test ride. It was used as commuter bike to Uni and her main trail bike all over western Canada until the late 2000's, where it has since played 2nd fiddle to a SC Juliana.

Frame is in great shape, a few scrapes here and there mostly due to heavy handed movers as we've moved back and forth across western Canada a few times in the last 20 yrs. Paint looks quite thick as the serial number is very faint, could be another powder coat paint job?

Thanks for your write up(s) on your Kona's Al, well written, great back story's and a wonderful passion from a retro-biker who actually rides his bikes. Your Hot thread led me to your Caldera thread, which had me hop out of bed at 2 AM to check the serial on the Caldera. Wife wasn't as amused as I was being woken up at 2AM to learn of her Caldera's heritage

On the road at the moment, so will snap a photo or two once I'm back.
Cheers

 

[al-onestare]

Re: Re:

I can take a pic or two if you wish, it'll be anti climatic I'm afraid though. It is presently cobbled together as a rehab-bike set up on a trainer for my wife who took a nasty tumble on a hike last week.

She bought it in new Edmonton Alberta in 1999, tucked away in a corner as a new-old-stock bike the shop no longer wanted. She eyed it in the corner and convinced them to build it up for a ride and fell in love on the test ride. It was used as commuter bike to Uni and her main trail bike all over western Canada until the late 2000's, where it has since played 2nd fiddle to a SC Juliana.

Frame is in great shape, a few scrapes here and there mostly due to heavy handed movers as we've moved back and forth across western Canada a few times in the last 20 yrs. Paint looks quite thick as the serial number is very faint, could be another powder coat paint job?

Thanks for your write up(s) on your Kona's Al, well written, great back story's and a wonderful passion from a retro-biker who actually rides his bikes. Your Hot thread led me to your Caldera thread, which had me hop out of bed at 2 AM to check the serial on the Caldera. Wife wasn't as amused as I was being woken up at 2AM to learn of her Caldera's heritage

On the road at the moment, so will snap a photo or two once I'm back.
Cheers

Brilliant! That made me chuckle If it's that dark blue that you've seen here then I'd be surprised if it's a respray but hey, this is the Caldera so you never know! Thanks for the feedback - it's a collective effort