Newbie - 1995 Kona Cinder Cone - Refurb

[Plus one]

Aaarrrggghhhh !!!! Keep original decals/paint ... It's only original once and I've yet to see a refinished Kona that looks anywhere near as good as original(unless you spend silly money) mine was rough in places but good deep clean and touch up has it looking good and happy to use it

All the scars tell a story !!

But it's your bike and some folks want fresh paint and new bits then don't ride them

Look forward to it either way

 

[ant_8u]

Re:

Fair point.....personally I though it would have looked good painted white. J/K!!

In all seriousness though, I get what you mean about the patina. The reason I was thinking about fully refinishing it is, they're not my battle scars, and the marks on it at present don't have any meaning to me

I'll follow everyone's advice on here and just give it a good cleaning and touch up the bits that need it

 

[Mr. 4-Speed]

Very good to hear! To use Plus one's words...It's only original once and I've yet to see a refinished Kona that looks anywhere near as good as original
Anyway, enjoy and have fun!

 

[dablk]

Agree with plus one too.
It doesnt look that bad considering. A decent refurb by somone who knows what their doing is a lot of cash once your adding repro decals etc. Especially as you will be looking to get any p2's painted a differnt colour to the frame.

My Kona U'i Project has paint far far worse than your and I plan on seeing how much we get on before even thinking about it being painted. Paint has to purley be for the joy of the bike. you wont see much/any of the cash you spend on it back if you sell it. my 98 pahoehoe has been powdered but its not a back to oem project so even though i have tried to get a colour match it wont be perfect.

Good luck

 

[ant_8u]

Re:

Thanks all. I think the bike can currently be summed up as follows.....

"Good from far.......but far from good!"

The pictures certainly make it look nicer than it really is

As mentioned previously, I'm completely new to all of this kind of stuff, so I'm bound to do some silly things

I joined the forum to get advice from the more knowledgeable, and I intend to follow that advice......you guys know better than I do

I'll keep the original paint and decals and just carry on tidying for now

 

[ant_8u]

Re:

I know you can't tell much from the photos, but here's how we're looking at the minute






It's had a good bit of elbow grease applied to it, and it's now clean enough to touch without getting covered in dirt

Still got loads of polishing and a little touching up to do, but I think it'll start looking much better when the new bits are fitted

 

[k-rod]

You know, if you replace the wornout bits with NOS and clean all the rest, then live with it for a bit ... you'll know soon enoug whether or not its where you want it to be. If after that you still feel that the paint job is too tattered for your taste, then you can de-construct the thing and have it done up to your taste (original replica or other) ... and simply bolt it all back together again.

I'm just about to re-assemble my Bordie Romax (four months of searching for all the replacement parts I wanted/needed), and it is sporting a brand new custom paint job on the frame, a whole slew of NOS parts, and few (cranks, stem, bars, seat tube) that are original and emanating patina ...

I'll know soon enough how it turns out!

cheers ...

 

[ant_8u]

Re:

Sounds like sensible advice......and it sounds like your bike's gonna be very cool

Have you got a thread going?

 

[feetabix]

Hi ant......sorry for delay, I just picked this one up!......

Yeah, glad my build has spurred you on a bit. Mine was a garage find a couple or three years ago, and is pretty much full original spec.....great riding bike too!......

Glad to be of help if you need it matey........

 

[k-rod]

Re: Re:

Sounds like sensible advice......and it sounds like your bike's gonna be very cool

Have you got a thread going?

No. Don't have a photo-sharing link, so can't post photos at will. I'll see what I can do once I've got the thing together again, as I am camera-documenting some of the steps and stages as I go along.

Its looking pretty good, so far ...