Kona Roadhouse

[pebble]

Can anyone advise if this is rust on a 2017 Kona Roadhouse or due to being fillet brazed?. Lots of other steel frames which have zero rust.

Also if rust best option to treat without removing paint.
Kona Roadhouse by Bikes2010, on Flickr

 

[mullinino]

Yep bit of rust, and nothing to do with the fillet brazing - the clearcoat was prob chipped when the bottom bracket cup was put on...take the cup off, sand the rust off by hand (doesn't look more than surface really) then bung a load of aerosol clear coat over it, should be grand although will prob be a slightly different steel hue....I'm sure you may know already but most builders will tell you clearcoat looks amazing but it just doesn't last, you'll be chasing rust all over the frame in the years to come, but sure it's added character!

 

[wesmamyke]

I've never seen a clear coated/raw steel frame that didn't at least get rust spiders, it just happens.

 

[pebble]

I don't understand what you mean by clear coat?. I thought the frame was painted green with white decals.

 

[mullinino]

No it's 'Gloss Raw' i.e. clearcoated over the steel, not painted - that's how you can see the golden fillet brazed smooth 'welds' joining all the tubes...*EDIT - may be better to email Kona and ask them what to do rather than have a go yourself, they may well have treated the raw steel with something frst before they clearcoated it!

 

[pebble]

Kona Response:-

Hi that’s looks completely normal I have a raw clear coat steel bike from 2002 and it’s still fine despite showing visible patina like that.

Your other bikes will have similar surface marks but the paint is too thick to see them. This is kind of why we stopped the clear and the tinted clear finish. For every rider who liked it there were more concerned about the way it looked,

The only way to get rid of it would be to send the frame to a painter who would completely strip the paint and wire brush the tubes and then restrap with an opaque finish. But then you wouldn’t be able to see the brazing.

Happy Trails!

Must admit I am in the latter category if frame is going to get more rusty it will look naff. Not doubted Konas construction though. My first Kona (1992 kona Kilauea) is still going strong just concerned about the paint.

 

[enc]

Well at least you can see it. My 93 lava dome (see below) was covered in these type rust worms underneath the paint.
I’m guessing in your case rust was triggered by water ingress at the joint where the bottom bracket frame shell and bottom bracket locking cup meet.
A way to fix this is to remove the bottom bracket, sand back the clear coat to bare metal, treat the rust and re clear coat.
It will get get worse if not treated and over time those rust trails start to create pits and deeper trails in the metal which can be sorted if your re painting but would prove difficult to disguise if your just lacquering over raw steel. The caveat to this is you’re unlikely to match the original finish (Kona mention a tinted clear coat in their reply) and when you sand metal it takes on a different finish which is unlikely to match the original… personally, I’d rather have thst than the rust