Kona Explosif 1997 team edition

[Ernie]

Re: Kona Explosif 1997 team edition: building & collecting

Pip and I are amateurs compared with Canunck, Magas and others (sorry Pip!). But put as all together and I agree, we'd have one hell of a show.

Absolutely no need to apologise Al - you are quite correct . Virtually everything that I babble on about regarding Kona bikes has come from this site - particularly Anthony...... sadly M.I.A.

Pip.

Evening mate..still a great thread and still going..been away for a while..Does Anthony frequent this still??

Ernie

 

[mk one]

Re: Kona Explosif 1997 team edition: building & collecting

There's more historical context to come but I'm saving it for when the bike is finished. Speaking of which, pedals arrived (new XT, half price from ChainReaction - I always get new pedals for the builds since old ones are just not up to it). No sign of the shifters yet.

Pip and I are amateurs compared with Canunck, Magas and others (sorry Pip!). But put as all together and I agree, we'd have one hell of a show.

Cant wait for more history, and the finished bike of course

And to the majority, you arent !!

Mark

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

So, just in case you didn't think they existed...

SL M950 XTR

The current version of XT SPD's are perfect in terms of colour. They have a slight Ti grey to them on the spindles and surrounds.

I have everything apart from the PFT cable sleeve covering for the top tube bits. I tried donuts for the first time on the Caldera and I can't stand them. They do the job but they look crap especially when they keep moving about. With the sleeve covering I can put it on and forget about it. Anyway, it's coming from China as the size needed doesn't seem to exist anywhere.

With that it'll be final build and tweak time.

 

[Dare]

Re: Kona Explosif 1997 team edition: building & collecting

I am glad to see it coming along

May I suggest new clap bolt on your stem as that one looks rusty and generally not nice?

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

Yep, these are mock-up shots ;-)

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

So this weekend should see me finishing the vast majority of this build. My little shipment from China arrived on Tuesday

I know I've been a tease with historical insight. It's coming I promise. In the meantime, this is a great indicator with a fresh interview with Jake and Dan - Kona themselves - with Dirt magazine looking back over 20 years in the business. Check out the full article here:

https://dirtmountainbike.com/features/2 ... -kona.html

There are links to this bike and the scene - the pivotal point this bike was made and raced - alluded throughout the article:

In 1996, Kona wasn’t thinking of itself as a brand, rather we were a company just trying to make great bikes, kind of like we’re doing today. At that time the industry was in transition from craftsmanship leading the way to design and technology becoming the forefront of product development.

Side note to this, I've been reading a lot of MBUK's and MBI's from 1996 to 1998 and it's insane how quickly things were changing to the point where even they don't really know what's best or where things are heading. There's a particularly funny comment rubbishing the idea of the internet being useful! Even the shops don't really know what's up, only that they are flogging last years hard-tails as much as they can, way beyond what we see today when it comes to the end of the year because they aren't being bought in the same quantities.

Pay attention to the grassroots by riding with people who are pushing the boundaries of cycling wherever they are. The best developments in cycling have always come from the ground up rather than lab coat technology trickling down to the unwashed masses.

Who have been your favourite riders of the past 20 years?

Joe Murray, Dave Turner, Bruce Spicer, Max Jones, Cindy Devine, Dave Wiens, Seamus McGrath, Peter Wedge, Roland Green, Kirk Molday, Dario Cioni, Nathalie Fiat, Steve Peat, Antti-Pekka Laiho, Geoff Kabush, Ryder Hesjedal, Tomi and Pau Misser, Stefano Migliorini, Greg Minnaar, Scott Beaumont, Fabien Barel, Tracy Moseley, Kamil Tatarkovič, Robbie Bourdon, John Cowan, Paul Basagoitia, Grant Allen, Grant Fielder, Karim Amour, Barry Wicks, Ryan Trebon, Erik Tonkin, Spencer Paxson, Cory Wallace, Kris Sneddon, Antoine Bizet, Graham Agassiz, Tegan Molloy, Connor Fearon – look them up, they’ve all ridden or raced for Kona over the years. Who did I miss?

Those in bold were racing at this time or had strong links. And may I say, that's an incredible rosta. I know other teams, notably Cannondale, had some strong line-ups as well.

What’s been the most questionable thing to come out of mountain biking?

We’ve got boxes of this stuff in the basement, but we’ve learned from all of it and it’s what keeps us pushing forward.

 

[al-onestare]

Re: Kona Explosif 1997 team edition: building & collecting

A build wouldn't be complete with a snag would it? Can you guess what the problem is?

Yep, that mech is too short. I need a medium or long cage Schoolboy error. And there was me thinking I'd nailed the shifting after 5 minutes...

I have donor unit on it's way and I'll swap the cage across as the body on the donor is in bad nick. Then I'll have to play with the chain length again, fettle some more, etc, etc.

Anyway, she's looking boss. I hope you agree. Fingers crossed I can get this finished before Christmas

 

[Adam_S]

Re: Kona Explosif 1997 team edition: building & collecting

I hope you're still going to show Goldie some loving once in a while.

 

[al-onestare]

Re: Kona Explosif 1997 team edition: building & collecting

I hope you're still going to show Goldie some loving once in a while.

Good point and yes. Long term I'd like to find a 19/20" frame as I've never been happy with what I did in removing the old decals. They were screwed but lesson learnt, repro's don't do it for me. Finding one though...only 1 suitable bike has come up for sale over the past 12 months.

She's such a good bike to ride though. Which makes me really excited to get on this one.

As mentioned earlier, I've been sifting through a lot of old MBI and MBUK magazines of the time and it's interesting to note the pricing difference between the 96 and 97 Explosif. RRP was circa £1499 for the 97, and £1299 for the 96.

You could argue some of that is down to components and good business practice (margin). But was the cost increase mainly down to using 100% Columbus Max? The forks were certainly over-priced compared to their effectiveness.

 

[mechagouki]

Re:

Very nice! Ditch the (rarely used) outer ring for a Race Face bashguard and keep the short cage mech.

I do hope you're going to ride the 5#!+ out of that thing.