Kona Hei Hei
- Thread starter player
- Start date
nice hei hei 
So the seller says that they originally had a 96/97 model but the rear allignment was out when they fitted the wheel so it was replaced under warrenty for what you see now: a later year model. Where it gets interesting is that underneath the yellow decals you can see the original blue/grey ones...suggesting that the replacement was a re-stickered model!! Confused? Well we should be. So I think a bit more detective work is needed on the SN. I'm off to ask Kona and see if they know but if anyone can shed any light on the SN that would be ace.
My '97 KK and '97 Hei both had the the rear mech cable routed along the down tube with the twin brazed on stops on the top tube for the rear brake and front mech. this looks more like a '98 model with '97 decals. Or it could be as dabik says a mid year change.
Ah ok, My old '98 KK serial no was KK19033 meaning I believe, King Kahuna 19" number 33 of that size for that year but I may be wrong about that.
Ernie has the Hei hei frame now I can't find a pic of the serial no I think it started B18......
Ernie has the Hei hei frame now I can't find a pic of the serial no I think it started B18......
So I checked the pics of the US Hei Hei from 97 that sold the other week. It had routing on the downtube as pointed out and the grey stickers. The SN was prefixed with K then 19 for the size then the number of the item in the run. This hasn't got a K so it looks more and more like a mid season 97 or 98 model.
I don't see any reason to doubt that it's a 1997 Hei Hei.al-onestare":wumg3d29 said:
They went over to all top tube routing during the 97 production run - it seems as though roughly a third to a half of 97 Hei Heis and KKs were tt.
The decals for 97 were either blue (as in the Explosif etc) or yellow (as in the Kilauea etc). For Hei Heis and KKs they used both/either. I don't know why the yellow ones on this example have a blue underlay, but it wouldn't give me any concerns as to whether they are original.
The serial number doesn't point definitively to 1997, but it is consistent with 1997. B191059 means either the 1,059th size 19 Hei Hei or the 1,059th size 19 of any brand that TST had made, I don't know which. (Most people believe the former, but I find it hard to credit that they were making that many). I know that B19997 was a 96 Hei Hei, so this one was 62 frames later. It was during 1997 that they started using a K prefix for King Kahunas (then for 99 King Kahunas were KK and Hei Heis were KH), but 98 Hei Heis were still B. I don't think they made many Hei Heis from 98 onwards, as the demand was all for KKs.
Excellent, thanks Anthony.
