The Hot was conceived after the end of whatever kind of relationship there existed between Kona (The Bicycle Group) and Paul Brodie. Brodies had been raced in the late eighties by the TBG team with Joe Murray in the saddle, Brodie designs were ‘borrowed’ for the new Kona brand, the Brodie factory finished and painted the Kona frames (built in Taiwan) and Brodie bikes were advertised in the 1990 Kona catalogue. But for 1991 Kona hooked up instead with Tom Teesdale of West Branch, Indiana. So instead of a relationship with a respected US frame-builder resulting in Konas being regarded (at least by Paul Brodie) as ‘poor men’s Brodies’, the new Hot offering was explicitly for the greater glory of the Kona brand. At the same time they transferred the ‘Titanium’ model to be made by TST and called it the Hei Hei.
The 1990 Brodie Catalyst was made out of TIG-welded Tange Prestige Concept and had a Track Two fork, Suntour components, Velocity stem, Araya/Suntour wheels, Kona tyres and custom paint (du Pont Imron). In 1991 the new Kona Hot model was made by Tom Teesdale out of TIG-welded Tange Prestige Concept and had a Track Two fork, Suntour components, Velocity stem, Araya/Suntour wheels, Kona tyres and custom paint (du Pont Imron).
Tom Teesdale continued making Hots until the 1995 model year, always out of Tange Prestige, usually the same tubeset as was used for the Explosif – until the Explosif went to Columbus Max for 1995. What you got for your Hot money was a US-built frame plus a custom paint job. I would guess they tended to weigh very much the same as the same year’s Explosif. Tom Teesdale is still hard at it, and his prices are very reasonable – I wonder whether he would be willing to build you a frame that looked very much like a 1995 Hot if you asked him nicely?
A company called Altitude Cycles of Chico, California made the Hots from 1996 to 1998, always out of Reynolds 853, with custom paint jobs by a company called Velographics of Bellingham, Washington. The only specification I have seen for a Hot is this for 1997:
“Constructed entirely of Reynolds 853 tubing, made in England. The top tube has an O.D. of 28.6 and is double butted .7/.5/.7. The down tube on 14"-18" frames have an O.D. of 31.7 with a .7/.5/.7 wall thickness. The 19"-20" frames have a downtube with a 34.9 O.D. and a wall thickness of .8/.5/.8. The seat tube is drawn specifically for Kona with an external reinforcement in the seat tube extension area; wall thickness 1.3/.6/.9. The seat stays are double-tapered 18mm tubes and the chain stays are ovalized with a taper ranging from 27.5 to 17.0. Made for 27.0mm seat post, 28.6mm front derailleur, 68mm bottom bracket, & 1-1/8" headset. Made in the USA by Altitude Cycle. 3.6 lbs for an 18" frame.”
The stays would have been 725 not 853 and I don’t believe the claimed weight for a moment (although happy to be disproved by an owner with accurate scales). The same document says the 97 Kilauea weighs 3.9 and the true figure for that was 4.3, so I guess the Hot was understated by at least the same extent. This specification is the only example I have seen of size-specific tubing on a Kona.
By the following year, the Hots went over to a 31.7 tt and 34.9 dt, in common with the 853 Explosif. An 853 Explosif weighs 4.5lbs, so I see no reason why a 98 Hot could be much lighter, unless there was radically different thinking about the stays between the two models, and why would that be. A frame cost £800 for a single-colour paint job (the Explosif was £500). 1998 was the end of the Hot.
I drew a blank in attempts to find out anything about Altitude Cycles. The only bike person in Chico who replied to a request for information was a frame builder who was either crazy or enjoyed pretending to be. Although oddly enough in insisting on the power of magic, I think he put his finger on an essential point. The Hot wasn’t a custom frame like a Groovy or a TET, it was just US-made. My friend in Chico’s point was that it didn’t matter what tubes or geometry you used, all that mattered was the magic in the welds. Perhaps after 1998, the market stopped believing in magic, and maybe that cost some friends of his their jobs.
Everybody has seen pics of the multi-coloured Hots many times, so I’ll show you the nicest pic I have of a Teesdale Hot and Mr Zero’s portrait of his 98 Hot. I know Mr Zero was uncertain as to the authenticity of this frame, but I believe it is genuine and very handsome, although obviously it differs visibly from a 98 Explosif only in details. Don’t worry if you can’t see any magic - after all, magic is invisible.
