Kona painted like a Hot

[MT]

I bought this frame ca 10 years ago in Sweden, painted (rather crudely I think) as a 97 Hot but without tube set and Hot decals.
It is labelled "Van Bocxlaer P." but have no sign of a serial number, there are however little Kona K's on the dropouts and what I suspect is an unususal combination of tubing diameters. The frame is apparently re-painted so the paint is rather thick making measurement difficult.

Tubing diameters incl paint
Top tube 29mm
Seat tube 29mm
Diagonal tube 34mm

This bike is used nearly every day, summer and winter so it lives a tough life in the city of Oslo.
I was considering stripping the frame on account of it looking rather worn but lately I'm not so sure.
Although I realise that this is a bit of a long shot I would appreciate if anyone has any idea what Kona model this is.

 

[Plus one]

Most certainly a kona .. My 99 explosif had similar seat/chain stay caps ..

Can't quite see the top tube cable guide lay out ??

Possibly 98 explosif ?? 99 caldera also a possible ?

Anthony is the resident expert kona man

Col

 

[letmetalktomark]

I'm pretty sure thats a 1997 as its front mech routing is along the DT.

Could be a Caldera/Kilauea/Explosif/Hot ......

Very nice none the less.

My Caldera has those dropouts

 

[matt24777]

looks like top tube routing for the front mech, and looking at the drop outs if it's 97 I would guess a Hot or a Caldera. Strip it and weigh the bare frame may narrow it down a bit.

 

[MT]

I was considering the value of weighing the frame stripped as suggested and I probably will strip it anyway since the flame painting suck. The absence of a serial number is interesting, it will all be speculations though, unless somebody recognise the frame and knows something about it's history.

It is funny how much interest you can invest in such a simple object.

Thanks,

 

[konaman1]

I would agree '97 but its not a Hot or an Explosif. For that year the Hot had an 853 frame with a biovalised down tube and the Explosif would have been Columbus max tubing also biovalised. Not sure the '97 Caldera had rack mounts as it was a custom US frame initially.

 

[letmetalktomark]

My Caldera has rack mounts.

 

[konaman1]

My Caldera has rack mounts.

Cos yours is a '99. The '97 model was part of their custom range built by Altitude in the States.

 

[MT]

Having stripped the frame of several coats of paint of which the innermost was black I finally found the serial number H7M2 one the left and 1526 on the right side of the bottom bracket.
Any information on what Kona model this is is appreciated.