Mystery unfolds
I decided to end my hunt for an old Kona and bought the mystery Niihau for 90EUR. I thought that it would be alright even if it was a '94 Hahanna with a different name. I took the bike in our musical instruments shop right away and took some photos:
First off, I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that the frame was double butted and the fork was a non suspension-corrected triple butted P2 (1" steerer). So it wasn't a cheapo Kona after all! It has also a very short Velocity stem (the front brake's cable goes through the stem actually as opposed to a cable hanger underneath the stem) and a 165 handlebar. the derailleurs and shifters are Suntour XC Ltd (X-press shifters). Dia-compe basic canti brakes and levers.The crankset is a dodgy Ofmega with no change of removing chainrings. the wheels are a mystery, no-name hubs, rims and tyres.
After a bit of research I found out that the frame and some of the parts closely resemble those of a 1993 Cinder Cone (rear drop outs are '93 style with a triangular hole). The decals are obviously '94.
Finally I went to see the guy who was in charge of importing Konas to Finland in mid-nineties. He told me what the Niihau was all about. The more expensive leftover frames were equipped with mid-range kit, painted randomly and named Niihau. They were for Finland only. This guy said that he had even seen a Niihau with an Explosif frame, with some STX-RC slapped on! He had never seen a blue Niihau though. The later models were bright yellow. You actually saw the yellow ones everywhere in Finland somewhere around '95 '96. I suspect that the early models were so popular that the finnish distributor ordered a large shipment of yellow Niihaus and they sold like hot biscuits.
But my Niihau, being blue and dating back to 93-94 might be pretty rare. Too bad it didn't have an Explosif frame
The bike rides really smoothly, the 16" frame makes it nimble and light. It's also beat up enough to make it unattractive to thiefs which is crucial as I plan to use it on a daily basis. I'm very happy with my find and I have some devious plans about how to build it further... Will post results later, propably won't be BOTM material though
Everydays a school day - love this insight
