Kona Ku Serial Number List - update 07/02/25

[BerthaPog]

no facebook here

FrameNo KU970258?

 

[al-onestare]

FrameNo KU970258?

That's the one. Knew I'd seen it before.

 

[al-onestare]

What a spectacular and unique paintjob. Apart from the purple edging, I really like the white "sparkle" additions to the decals. Really cool.

I've asked the owner to confirm the SN so for now I've added it as:

KU9702058 16" 1997 cable routing. 1997 decals with white edging and "sparkle" highlights. Rasta flames livery with purple edging, welded February '97 number 58 (Peter John Furzer)

Yes, the same guy who owns number 85!

 

[al-onestare]

What a spectacular and unique paintjob. Apart from the purple edging, I really like the white "sparkle" additions to the decals. Really cool.

I've asked the owner to confirm the SN so for now I've added it as:

KU9702058 16" 1997 cable routing. 1997 decals with white edging and "sparkle" highlights. Rasta flames livery with purple edging, welded February '97 number 58 (Peter John Furzer)

Yes, the same guy who owns number 85!

Ok, this has gotten a little confusing. The guys who owns it has shared the SN KU9702085. It's clearly for this frame. Except that previously he shared the same SN for another "happy go lucky" green Ku he has, or supposedly had. Sadly I don't have the pictures for that anymore.

So I've updated the list accordingly

KU9702085 16" 1997 cable routing. 1997 decals with white edging and "sparkle" highlights. Rasta flames livery with purple edging, welded February '97 number 85 (Peter John Furzer)
KU97020## 17”, 1997 cable routing, 1997 decals - Happy Go Luck Green (1997 Kapu) - welded '97 February number ##, (Peter John Furzer). Previously shared incorrectly as #85

 

[al-onestare]

Mystery solved. It's the same bike.

From the owner:

"originally ordered ku from kona in happy go lucky green absolutely fabulous colour but after 6 months started to bubble up on bottom bracket hadn’t been prepared well so kona took it back and painted as it is now"
Therefore, the listing now states:

KU9702085 17" 1997 cable routing. 1997 decals with white edging and "sparkle" highlights. Rasta flames livery with purple edging, welded February '97 number 85 (Peter John Furzer). Originally painted "happy go lucky green" but repainted by Kona after 6 months due to poor paint preparation.

 

[al-onestare]

We love a Ku. We especially love Ku's from HQ.

Let's start with the easy one.





Big thanks again to Paddy for taking the pictures and sharing the details.

KU9702083 16" 1997 cable routing, 1998 original decals - Royal Mail Red - welded '97 February number 83, On display at Bellingham HQ (Paddy White)

 

[al-onestare]

Now for something truly special. If you've watched any of the videos of the Bellingham warehouse, then you might have seen this Ku featured or hanging around in the background.

Pip used to tell me this was his favourite bike, so it felt like I had a duty to find out more.

In true Kona style, there's a story here...there's no serial number! (and a great big crack on the crank but that's not important)

Here's our conversation:

Me: Wow! No SN but like a Ku, there's no chainstay bridge. It's kitted out with the 1998 components and decals, so it must have been made, even as a prototype as you say, early 1998?

Can I hypothise that this was after Altitude cycles stopped production (end of 1997) and before Engima took up production. Could this have been a prototype by another frame builder - you did mention a name - in that interim period where no Hot's or Ku's were made? I ask because I see an Engima sticker on the downtube!! Maybe they made AND painted it.

Paddy: Enigma, Altitude, …???. Hard for me to remember the changing and alias names used back then by various builders.

This was definitely a proto of the very first KU and was built by the same two guys that were in the area building the very first VPP bikes, the OUTLANDS. Originally they were from Arizona I think, but were in the Whatcom county area getting the OUTLAND program going before the patent was sold to Santa Cruz and Intense as I recall. OUTLAND was done and I think those guys went back to Arizona for the better weather…

The parts I put together. Some custom, some from a production bike… Was supposed to all match the fork, but was a total miss… A bit of an embarrassment for me really.

I shared Pip's time-line and Paddy replied:

I re-joined on product side in 1994.

I am sure that sparkle bike is the very first KU.

There's a lot to unpick here...what do you think?

For me it still screams 1997, pre 1998 production run: the cable routing, the Enigma decal and if Paddy grabbed the parts off another bike, those are part and parcel 1998 spec components.

Aside of all this, what an amazing, totally off the wall paint scheme, in really lovely condition after all these years. I've added it to the list as follows and await your feedback as to where we should place it...for now I've gone 1997, pre 1998 production

No Serial Number 16" 1998 cable routing, 1998 original decals (Enigma decal on downtube) - Metallic Olive Green with White/Black chequerboard headtube, On display at Bellingham HQ (Paddy), full bike. Quoted as the first Ku ever produced, made by VPP.

 

[BerthaPog]

Now for something truly special. If you've watched any of the videos of the Bellingham warehouse, then you might have seen this Ku featured or hanging around in the background.

Pip used to tell me this was his favourite bike, so it felt like I had a duty to find out more.

In true Kona style, there's a story here...there's no serial number! (and a great big crack on the crank but that's not important)

Here's our conversation:





I shared Pip's time-line and Paddy replied:




There's a lot to unpick here...what do you think?

For me it still screams 1997, pre 1998 production run: the cable routing, the Enigma decal and if Paddy grabbed the parts off another bike, those are part and parcel 1998 spec components.

Aside of all this, what an amazing, totally off the wall paint scheme, in really lovely condition after all these years. I've added it to the list as follows and await your feedback as to where we should place it...for now I've gone 1997, pre 1998 production

No Serial Number 16" 1998 cable routing, 1998 original decals (Enigma decal on downtube) - Metallic Olive Green with White/Black chequerboard headtube, On display at Bellingham HQ (Paddy), full bike. Quoted as the first Ku ever produced, made by VPP.

Def file it under ‘97, Helps keep my (Pips) and the rest of the ‘98s rarer.

 

[murphy79]

Amazing, I remember seeing that frame in the video but it's only up close you see the glitter in the paint! On the face I would agree it is a later frame (97/9 based on decals and cable routing, but the dropouts appear to be different, even simpler compared to those years, and also different to my '96. Hard to tell from the photo but they actually look closer to the drop pouts on a 94 Kula. So I wouldn't rule out entirely the possibility that it is earlier, especially given it is a prototype and the source of the information.

Either way, it is fantastic seeing these frames from Kona HQ up close now!

 

[al-onestare]

Hard to tell from the photo but they actually look closer to the drop pouts on a 94 Kula. So I wouldn't rule out entirely the possibility that it is earlier, especially given it is a prototype and the source of the information.

That'd be quite something to have an old prototype, then years later, have it painted up. I'll keep digging

You are spot on though, the drop-outs are completly different. 98's have replaceable hangers, and the 96-97's are much beefier one piece units.