JeffB":fzjs0m8v said:
They were all handbuilt by 2 sometimes 3 guys. We usually ran 5 at a time of a particular size. To me 'custom' means building a bike to your exact body measurements using tubing tailored for your riding style and size. But outside of that, these were built the exact same way we built our 'customs'.
Right, so it’s clear that the Hot wasn’t custom in the bespoke sense (although don’t forget the paint), but might the pretty little thing below shed some light on the central issue of ‘what’s so special about a Hot?’
It’s clearly a 96 Hot, as proved by the pre-97-style cable routing and the post-95 853 sticker, and there is one element of custom building visible there – you don’t often see a top tube skinnier than the seat tube. But given the light weight of the likely rider of such a small bike, a 25.4 top tube is probably a very good idea and if so one of the advantages of buying a ‘special’ frame, just as you mention. And after all, there’s always the paint! So I reckon the owner of that bike got something reasonably special for their outlay.
JeffB":fzjs0m8v said:
With all of the talk about different dates you guys have me second guessing myself as to dates but my wife reminded me we were still building Outland Designs frames up until December of 96. On a side note. I have seen people incorrectly state that all 853 frames have 853 tubing as the main triangle but not the chainstays or seatstays this is incorrect. We got the first all 853 tubesets produced by Reynolds and made the first entirely all 853 frames for the HOT's including chainstays and seatstays.
Thanks for that info. As you received the very first all-853 sets at the end of 96, it must mean that the 96 Hots were some of the earliest 853 bikes made. I wonder if this could possibly link back to the quote from mtbr that DM gave us. "My 'back in the day' favorites were the post Tom Tisdale (sp?) Kona Hots done by a bunch of stoners in Northern Cali I think, the Taiwanese Explosivs were the same tubing but straighter..." That makes it sound as though Altitude Cycles did indeed make the 96 Hots. But I’ve read that builders originally found 853 quite difficult to work, so given the rather uncharitable comment, I wonder whether Altitude (stoned or otherwise) may have encountered problems keeping the welds in alignment and perhaps it might have been this that lead them to give up (or lose) the Hot contract.
Oh and if you’re fed up with looking at other folks’ handiwork, below is a photo of the bike that won the Retrobike poll earlier this year for the site’s best Kona, and it sounds as though that one is one of yours!