Kona's page

[al-onestare]

Re: Re:

A bump for my favorite thread

Right you - let's take a good look at these. You've made me go all twitchy in the groin

What a set of bikes and this is just the tip of the ice-berg I assume!

93 Explosif - a beautiful stock looking build. Is that a cheeky Ti velocity stem?
94 Explosif - it looks like it's a rocket. Great set of components and a radial spoked front wheel - just ace!
97 KK - YOU ARE A B%ST^RD! Not really MY (!) ultimate dream frame - correction, not this one, Roland's. My only :? are the tyres. With the black - which really suits it - I think black walls are needed to make it super stealth. This bike make me come out in a rash it's so good. I'm off to cool down.
98 Explosif - the last proper Explosif and another great build. Your eye for colours to offset the frames is spot on.
00 Score - that's just being selfish now MONSTER bike. I prefer the pink one though.

I repeat, what a set of bikes.

 

[Pipmeister]

thats a very unique frame with, maybe, an interesting history behind.

from what I can see from the pics. the paintquality and work is par with the paint of my 96 KU in Star's n Bar's - It would not surprise me if the work had been done by the same painter using the same paint and techniques.

This is exactly what I thought. The quality of the finish, the decals as well - these are so tough to replicate exactly.

I am still of the opinion that the paint job was done by Kona's usual custom painter, Velographics of Bellingham.

Here are a couple more that I can show you while I am at work - please do ask to see any detail in particular that may verify Velographics workmanship.

Pip.

 

[al-onestare]

thats a very unique frame with, maybe, an interesting history behind.

from what I can see from the pics. the paintquality and work is par with the paint of my 96 KU in Star's n Bar's - It would not surprise me if the work had been done by the same painter using the same paint and techniques.

This is exactly what I thought. The quality of the finish, the decals as well - these are so tough to replicate exactly.

I am still of the opinion that the paint job was done by Kona's usual custom painter, Velographics of Bellingham.

Here are a couple more that I can show you while I am at work - please do ask to see any detail in particular that may verify Velographics workmanship.

Pip.

For me at least, everything screams Velographics: the placement, the quality, the colour. Particularly on the stars and bars, the high-end scheme has white painted parts rather than decals which appear on the A'ha i.e. the cheap version and non-Velographic's version!

 

[magas]

quality of decals (watertransfer ?) and glitter in paint is excactly the same of my 96 Ku - from what I can judge.

in 97 Velographics of Bellingham was the custom painter for Kona - no idea if also in 96 ?

I asked Gil one time if he could do the same quality of decals as the original Kona of 96 had been, but he denied, as his decal material and printing machinery does not allow this kind of quality - needs expensive professional machinery and decal material.

The painting and the decals of your frame are def. done by an Kona supplier.

 

[Pipmeister]

Re:

Thank you guys.
By the way, I tried to trace the bike from more recent history going backwards - if you catch my drift.
The guy that I bought it from on here (H1v9a8c had bought it from e-Bay in a Buy It Now sale from a guy in Oregon. I wrote to the guy in Oregon via e-Bay, and here is his reply:

I got the frame about 7 or 8 years ago via ebay when I was in the business of selling in Korea high-priced used bikes from the U.S. I decided to keep the frame for myself instead, mainly because its cantilever-only brake feature would diminish the value of the frame among Korean riders who had a strong preference for disc brakes. I soon moved on to another business venture, putting away the frame for a future use that never materialized. If I remember correctly, the previous owner listed the frame as a Kona Hei Hei. Hope this helps.

Rightyho, just a couple more very detailed pictures – I've never seen another Stars ‘n’ Bars in the flesh to compare:

Pip.

 

[Canuck]

Re: Re:

Right you - let's take a good look at these. You've made me go all twitchy in the groin

What a set of bikes and this is just the tip of the ice-berg I assume!

93 Explosif - a beautiful stock looking build. Is that a cheeky Ti velocity stem?
94 Explosif - it looks like it's a rocket. Great set of components and a radial spoked front wheel - just ace!
97 KK - YOU ARE A B%ST^RD! Not really MY (!) ultimate dream frame - correction, not this one, Roland's. My only :? are the tyres. With the black - which really suits it - I think black walls are needed to make it super stealth. This bike make me come out in a rash it's so good. I'm off to cool down.
98 Explosif - the last proper Explosif and another great build. Your eye for colours to offset the frames is spot on.
00 Score - that's just being selfish now MONSTER bike. I prefer the pink one though.

I repeat, what a set of bikes.

Thank's Al!

Not a ti stem on the '93 but well spotted as it isn't stock. Changed a few of my '93-'94 Kona's over to the later Velocity stems as I got fed up with missing bungs (where do they all go!?!)
Regarding radial laced wheels, light and stiff but when they go wrong they go wrong big. Any radial laced wheels you see on my bikes will be leftovers from years ago (and about
10kg lighter ). Anything new will be three cross laced (bit more give for my fat arse!)
Your dead right about the tires on the King. These pic's were taken a couple months ago and since then the tires have been swapped for black walls. Look's much better & rides much better! (had to get the Scratch & Sniff tires off regardless of the colour :facepalm: )
and yes the pink one is a sweet ride! (according to my little girl - daddy's not allowed to ride it!)

Yup, just the tip of the iceberg, more to come in the future

 

[magas]

Re: Re:

Rightyho, just a couple more very detailed pictures – I've never seen another Stars ‘n’ Bars in the flesh to compare:

here are some pics. of my 96 Ku to compare

 

[magas]

@ canuck: the 93 Explosif is a cracker

 

[Canuck]

@ canuck: the 93 Explosif is a cracker

Thanks very much magas, the '93 Explosif is one of my favourites

Love that Ultimate Ultrastrong tubeset

 

[Pipmeister]

Re:

Rightyho – apologies for kind of high jacking this Kona’s page thread that resulted in discussing at length my Stars ‘n’ Bars King Kahuna. Let’s get back to the normal routine of simply displaying our Kona bikes:

Here is one that I enjoy riding, although I think it never made it onto these pages …..

Yes it has a ludicrously high angled Stem and ridiculously high riser Bars, but I am an old(ish) man now, so sometimes I just need to just potter around on this nippy lightweight.

I removed the standard issue Avid Mags from my 2000 Explosif and popped them on here. Too much orange perhaps?

Pip.