Re:
Thank you Al, Fat tubes indeed :shock:
You may remember mentioning to me about looking into what other bikes use Columbus Altec Megatube. I did find an interesting web page on the tubing, giving dimensions of the various versions of Altec 2 Columbus Aluminium.
While I do understand the engineering specifications of the tubing and the additional elements added to the aluminium (in this case Zinc & Magnesium), what I don’t yet know is how it compares to the ride characteristics of Easton tubing.
I am a passionate advocate for aluminium frames, but will make a reference here to steel frames merely to demonstrate a comparison of models within the Kona Hierarchy. Some “Steel is Real” traditionalists have often pointed out that Aluminium frames are “Dead” to ride with no springy quality or trail feedback when compared to Steel frames. I can speak at length on this subject, but I’ll leave that for another time or another thread.
Onwards:
The Easton Aluminium Kula was introduced in 1994, and then in 1995 what I would say was a Custom Hand Built version was introduced called the Ku. This was not dissimilar in Kona’s Steel Hierarchy with the “off the peg” Explosif and the Custom Hand Built Hot.
Speaking just of the 1990’s for the moment, you are well versed in the tubing used for the Explosifs and Hots. Initially Tange was used in various guises for the both of them, then while the Hot went over to Reynolds, the Explosif was changed to Columbus, until arguably the most refined version of Nivacrom Max was used in 1997. There is much debate over why Kona changed to using Reynolds tubing for the 1998 & 99 Explosif, but again that is another story. It does however lead me onto the interesting circumstance where the Ku changed tubing for its final year of production.
The Kula stayed with Easton, moving from Varilite ProGram, to ProGram 3 Elan, to ProGram Elite and onto Ultra Lite Taperwall.
The Ku on the other hand stayed with Easton ProGram Elite in 1995, 1996 & 1997, but then changed to Columbus Altec Megatube 7005 for 1998.
There is probably a reason why Kona changed the tubing of the Ku in 1998, and I’m convinced that there must be a different feel to the ride of that particular bike.
I have in my stable 4 versions of Kula & Ku bikes. They are all slightly different with different set-ups.
Steel comparison again; it’s rather like someone owning a collection of Kona steel that includes Kilauea, Explosif and Hot or even a Caldera!
So to sum up; being so keen as I am on aluminium frames, I think it would be an oversight on my part if I didn’t have a 1998 Ku in my collection. I want to know how it feels to ride on those Megatubes.
Pip.
