Re:
Bump for this magnificent bike.
Bump for this magnificent bike.
The Mythical 1998 Kona Ku
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Pipmeister
Senior Retro Guru
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I did say that I would write up the story behind finding this bike, so get comfy:
The search began in earnest about a year ago. As we all know, it can become obsessive; trawling through an array of search engines at every opportunity - JAXEDMash, Kijiji, Bikesoup, Once Ridden, Preloved, and on here with both a Wanted, and a Chat thread as well as e-Bay. Every morning, every break time at work, every evening and several times over the weekend - It was becoming disheartening, as I still hadn’t seen an actual photograph of one.
I started to think to myself; were these frames in the same category as the 1997 Kona Caldera, in that we (including Anthony) at that time were not sure if any had been produced.
Then kyle888 stumbled across an old expired advert on Pinkbike from May last year, and popped a link onto my Chat thread. It was late on a Sunday evening, but I click on his link, and there was what appeared to be a 1998 Ku frame in glorious yellow - including the decal for the Columbus Altec2 Megatube 7005. At last I had now seen a proper photograph of one.
It had been advertised in Toronto at $500 CAD (around £250) which I thought was a snip, considering they were £800 back in the day.
Here is the expired advert.
Quote, “Last year of the hand made USA built race frames. Original owner from new.
This KU has been mostly wall art but was built up once and used mostly by my buddies when their bikes were broken. Probably no more than 10 rides on this frame. It is exquisitely built and a thing of beauty and a sight to behold in bright Yellow. It comes with a Syncros Ti seat post as well if required. This frame is ridiculously light and the last of the hand made frames Kona ever did and the last year built before rear disc mounts became the norm...I cant quite remember the exact year but it’s somewhere in the late nineties.
I have had it forever so sadly now is the time to part ways...if you are looking to build a real cool retro project bike you won’t be disappointed...make me an offer”
OMG :shock: “….no more than 10 rides" :shock: I needed to get off to bed for work the next day, but this couldn’t wait. Fortunately, I found that I still had a Pinkbike membership. I wrote to the guy who presumable had sold it last year, and asked him if it was indeed sold, and could he tell me to whom. I got a reply the next day and he was very helpful. He told me that the guy who he had sold it to lives in Toronto, and is still on Pinkbike; then gave me his forum name. He did explain however that this guy was really pleased with the frame.
Quote, “….....if you can’t reach him I may be able to contact him on your behalf...I know he was super pumped on the purchase so doubtful he wants to sell but hey as they say money talks lol”
Well I didn’t hold out much hope in writing to this guy, but I was willing to pay at least the amount that it was originally advertised for, if not more. To my relief I got a reply by the next day, and this was what he said.
Quote, “OK. ....well it's kinda hard for me to part ways with it after completing the build....however everything has its price. So I paid 400 CAD for it and now have to disassemble it and find another cool retro frame. I say if you're serious about this. She's 500 CAD + shipping. Let me know how ya feel about it brother.
Cheers”
Wow, he paid even less than the advertised price back in May last year, and only wanted what it was originally advertised for. I thought to myself that this is nearly a done deal. I wrote back saying I would be very happy to pay his asking price and offered to organise the shipping via my work’s UPS account. Here was his reply.
Quote, “Alright. When I get home tonight I'll start disassembly of the bike and find some packaging asap!”
I asked for some pictures of the bike as it is now, but the next communication back for him was this,
Quote, “I'm gonna honest and say I'm having second thoughts on this deal. I'm sorry if I've wasted your time but I haven't even got an honest season out of her yet. I'm not going to say that I will never sell, but I feel like this is too soon to part ways.
Please feel free to hit me up in the fall
Happy trails!”
GUTTED :cry: So close to finally owning a 1998 Ku, then this.”
I politely told him that I completely understood…. while also offering him a bit more money, but I received no reply. I thought to myself that I would leave it for now, and contact him after the summer to see if he would part with it then.
A couple of weeks later however, I was delighted to receive this from him.
Quote, “Hello again.
I've been thinking about this long and hard. I really don't have the need/room for all my bikes as much as I love them all.
If I'm going to let this kona go I don't really wanna part her out after putting in all the effort to find so much era correct driveline and such.
If you can part ways with 1500, she's all yours.
It's really a heartbreak to see her go but if you've put in the effort of finding me it only makes sense to let you have first stab at her.
If you're interested in this deal send me your email and I'll shoot you some pictures and the build spec.
Cheers”
I saw the pictures and bit his hand off. It was still immaculate, and built with high end stuff - £750-ish for a complete 1998 Ku seemed well in order. For some reason, a figure of £600 for shipping popped into my head. I think I must have read something on here in the past regarding sending a whole bike from Canada.
Anyway I didn’t really care now how much it would cost to ship it, although I was concerned that the bike needed to be packed correctly for its journey from Canada, so I suggested that he took the bike to a LBS and get them to pack it, and I would pay for the service.
He was agreeable with that, and after a few days he e-mailed saying that he was at his LBS, the bike was packed, and that he was now leaving the shop with the box, and going straight to his local UPS Depot. He asked me to process the payment for the bike (plus £28 for packing) and that he would ship the frame when the payment appeared in his account, leaving me to settle up with him for the shipping cost via UPS. This was about 5pm Canadian time, 10pm U.K. time.
Sadly there was a hiccup with sending the money to him that I won’t go into here, but it was the next morning for me before I discovered that he hadn’t received the cash :facepalm: – oh bollocks! In addition to this, he told me that UPS wanted £550 plus Tax, so he had taken the box away with him and it was now at his home. It was now that I was given the dimensions of the boxed up bike. I was hoping that the box was going to be around 45” long, but the LBS had packed it into a bike box that was 54” long, which accounted for the massive quote from UPS.
I then managed to send the cash, and meanwhile I recalled Al-onestare saying that he uses FedEx because they provide a good service. At one point, I even asked Al-onestare if I could use his account and give him the money, as by now the guy with the boxed up Ku was wondering when and how he could send the bike – I still thought that if this dragged out for much longer, there was a possibility that he may change his mind again, and return the money to me.
I started the process to open an account, and the next day spoke to a Rep, who said it would need to go as Freight because of the size of the box, but they did offer an introductory discount that was £275 cheaper than the UPS quoted price! However, I struggled with completing the on-line form. An error requiring something called a B13A Canada Export Declaration wouldn’t let me proceed – presumably because it was classed as Freight or something?
For reasons that I still don’t know, there was also a problem for him to have the bike collected from his place of work. So while I was struggling with completing the on-line form to arrange a collection from a yet to be decided address, he took the box to his local FedEx Depot, and gave them my delivery address and my account number. Rather surprisingly, they were able to process the shipment at their end with no problem, and the bike was at last sent using my account….. AND, even cheaper still than my introductory discount that I was quoted in the U.K. – bless the Canadians for customer service
It took a mere 4 days to reach me, which you can read at the start of this thread. The bike had been boxed with the rear wheel in place, and just the front wheel and the handle bars removed – just like some manufacturers ship them. This did mean that the whole package was better protected, but was the reason behind the box being so long.
Phew! It was with me at last. A big thanks again to Al-onestare for his support and for agreeing to let me use his account when things were going awry, and thanks again to Kyle for spotting it in the first place.
Pip.
I did say that I would write up the story behind finding this bike, so get comfy:
The search began in earnest about a year ago. As we all know, it can become obsessive; trawling through an array of search engines at every opportunity - JAXEDMash, Kijiji, Bikesoup, Once Ridden, Preloved, and on here with both a Wanted, and a Chat thread as well as e-Bay. Every morning, every break time at work, every evening and several times over the weekend - It was becoming disheartening, as I still hadn’t seen an actual photograph of one.
I started to think to myself; were these frames in the same category as the 1997 Kona Caldera, in that we (including Anthony) at that time were not sure if any had been produced.
Then kyle888 stumbled across an old expired advert on Pinkbike from May last year, and popped a link onto my Chat thread. It was late on a Sunday evening, but I click on his link, and there was what appeared to be a 1998 Ku frame in glorious yellow - including the decal for the Columbus Altec2 Megatube 7005. At last I had now seen a proper photograph of one.
It had been advertised in Toronto at $500 CAD (around £250) which I thought was a snip, considering they were £800 back in the day.
Here is the expired advert.
Quote, “Last year of the hand made USA built race frames. Original owner from new.
This KU has been mostly wall art but was built up once and used mostly by my buddies when their bikes were broken. Probably no more than 10 rides on this frame. It is exquisitely built and a thing of beauty and a sight to behold in bright Yellow. It comes with a Syncros Ti seat post as well if required. This frame is ridiculously light and the last of the hand made frames Kona ever did and the last year built before rear disc mounts became the norm...I cant quite remember the exact year but it’s somewhere in the late nineties.
I have had it forever so sadly now is the time to part ways...if you are looking to build a real cool retro project bike you won’t be disappointed...make me an offer”
OMG :shock: “….no more than 10 rides" :shock: I needed to get off to bed for work the next day, but this couldn’t wait. Fortunately, I found that I still had a Pinkbike membership. I wrote to the guy who presumable had sold it last year, and asked him if it was indeed sold, and could he tell me to whom. I got a reply the next day and he was very helpful. He told me that the guy who he had sold it to lives in Toronto, and is still on Pinkbike; then gave me his forum name. He did explain however that this guy was really pleased with the frame.
Quote, “….....if you can’t reach him I may be able to contact him on your behalf...I know he was super pumped on the purchase so doubtful he wants to sell but hey as they say money talks lol”
Well I didn’t hold out much hope in writing to this guy, but I was willing to pay at least the amount that it was originally advertised for, if not more. To my relief I got a reply by the next day, and this was what he said.
Quote, “OK. ....well it's kinda hard for me to part ways with it after completing the build....however everything has its price. So I paid 400 CAD for it and now have to disassemble it and find another cool retro frame. I say if you're serious about this. She's 500 CAD + shipping. Let me know how ya feel about it brother.
Cheers”
Wow, he paid even less than the advertised price back in May last year, and only wanted what it was originally advertised for. I thought to myself that this is nearly a done deal. I wrote back saying I would be very happy to pay his asking price and offered to organise the shipping via my work’s UPS account. Here was his reply.
Quote, “Alright. When I get home tonight I'll start disassembly of the bike and find some packaging asap!”
I asked for some pictures of the bike as it is now, but the next communication back for him was this,
Quote, “I'm gonna honest and say I'm having second thoughts on this deal. I'm sorry if I've wasted your time but I haven't even got an honest season out of her yet. I'm not going to say that I will never sell, but I feel like this is too soon to part ways.
Please feel free to hit me up in the fall
Happy trails!”
GUTTED :cry: So close to finally owning a 1998 Ku, then this.”
I politely told him that I completely understood…. while also offering him a bit more money, but I received no reply. I thought to myself that I would leave it for now, and contact him after the summer to see if he would part with it then.
A couple of weeks later however, I was delighted to receive this from him.
Quote, “Hello again.
I've been thinking about this long and hard. I really don't have the need/room for all my bikes as much as I love them all.
If I'm going to let this kona go I don't really wanna part her out after putting in all the effort to find so much era correct driveline and such.
If you can part ways with 1500, she's all yours.
It's really a heartbreak to see her go but if you've put in the effort of finding me it only makes sense to let you have first stab at her.
If you're interested in this deal send me your email and I'll shoot you some pictures and the build spec.
Cheers”
I saw the pictures and bit his hand off. It was still immaculate, and built with high end stuff - £750-ish for a complete 1998 Ku seemed well in order. For some reason, a figure of £600 for shipping popped into my head. I think I must have read something on here in the past regarding sending a whole bike from Canada.
Anyway I didn’t really care now how much it would cost to ship it, although I was concerned that the bike needed to be packed correctly for its journey from Canada, so I suggested that he took the bike to a LBS and get them to pack it, and I would pay for the service.
He was agreeable with that, and after a few days he e-mailed saying that he was at his LBS, the bike was packed, and that he was now leaving the shop with the box, and going straight to his local UPS Depot. He asked me to process the payment for the bike (plus £28 for packing) and that he would ship the frame when the payment appeared in his account, leaving me to settle up with him for the shipping cost via UPS. This was about 5pm Canadian time, 10pm U.K. time.
Sadly there was a hiccup with sending the money to him that I won’t go into here, but it was the next morning for me before I discovered that he hadn’t received the cash :facepalm: – oh bollocks! In addition to this, he told me that UPS wanted £550 plus Tax, so he had taken the box away with him and it was now at his home. It was now that I was given the dimensions of the boxed up bike. I was hoping that the box was going to be around 45” long, but the LBS had packed it into a bike box that was 54” long, which accounted for the massive quote from UPS.
I then managed to send the cash, and meanwhile I recalled Al-onestare saying that he uses FedEx because they provide a good service. At one point, I even asked Al-onestare if I could use his account and give him the money, as by now the guy with the boxed up Ku was wondering when and how he could send the bike – I still thought that if this dragged out for much longer, there was a possibility that he may change his mind again, and return the money to me.
I started the process to open an account, and the next day spoke to a Rep, who said it would need to go as Freight because of the size of the box, but they did offer an introductory discount that was £275 cheaper than the UPS quoted price! However, I struggled with completing the on-line form. An error requiring something called a B13A Canada Export Declaration wouldn’t let me proceed – presumably because it was classed as Freight or something?
For reasons that I still don’t know, there was also a problem for him to have the bike collected from his place of work. So while I was struggling with completing the on-line form to arrange a collection from a yet to be decided address, he took the box to his local FedEx Depot, and gave them my delivery address and my account number. Rather surprisingly, they were able to process the shipment at their end with no problem, and the bike was at last sent using my account….. AND, even cheaper still than my introductory discount that I was quoted in the U.K. – bless the Canadians for customer service
It took a mere 4 days to reach me, which you can read at the start of this thread. The bike had been boxed with the rear wheel in place, and just the front wheel and the handle bars removed – just like some manufacturers ship them. This did mean that the whole package was better protected, but was the reason behind the box being so long.
Phew! It was with me at last. A big thanks again to Al-onestare for his support and for agreeing to let me use his account when things were going awry, and thanks again to Kyle for spotting it in the first place.
Pip.
Indeed, you get out what you put in. In this case, you were polite, understanding, not too pushy and planted a few seeds. In return you got the unicorn. It wouldn't have been as fun if it the story didn't have a few bumps. The chase is part of the delight you'll take each and everytime you glance at her.
I'm just glad it all worked out. She's a beauty!
I'm just glad it all worked out. She's a beauty!
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May be I'm getting old, I don't know, but this story honestly really does bring a tear to my eye! Chasing down a dream, something we can all aspire to I suppose....
Happy trails!
May be I'm getting old, I don't know, but this story honestly really does bring a tear to my eye! Chasing down a dream, something we can all aspire to I suppose....
Happy trails!
Pipmeister
Senior Retro Guru
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I had a day off today, and the Sun was shining on West Berkshire – hurrah So a rider’s report on this beauty
The trip up to Greenham & Crookham Common is a moderate climb from where I live in the Kennet Valley up to the former U.S. Air Base. I can use this accent to judge a bike’s climbing attributes. I have 44, 32 & 22 at the front, with 11 – 32 at the rear.
I was pleased to feel at ease in 10th gear while sat in the saddle for the entire climb – a good start then, because I definitely can’t put this down to anything approaching top fitness at this time of year
I generally seemed to be in one or two gears higher than would be usual for me as I zipped along the former flight lines. I would say that this must be the bike, because I can’t be on great form this early in the year, although the Kenda Klimax Lite 1.95” are nearer 1.85”, so not a lot of rolling resistance.
The trails through the wooded sections around the edges of the common were great fun as it hasn’t rained for some time now, so this bike was flying around the bends. I would say however that I did notice the extra weight in the Marzocchi Z3 M80 compared to my preferred SID forks that are fitted to most of my bikes - not quite so nippy on the turns. A beefier rider may not detect the difference, but I definitely could due to my spindly upper body strength – or lack of it :roll:
I only did a couple of circuits, then back down a different decent – through Chamberhouse Farm (where I popped that Hope hub on my Stars ‘n’ Bars King Kahuna), but no drama this time. Really sure footed for such a lightweight bike with slim X.C. tyres.
Result all round I reckon, although I may think about a pair of World Cup SIDs in Electric Blue. I do have a pair, although they are currently fitted to my 1997 Explosif. It would involve another swap around of components with several bikes, so I’ll leave it for now.
Pip.
I had a day off today, and the Sun was shining on West Berkshire – hurrah
So a rider’s report on this beauty The trip up to Greenham & Crookham Common is a moderate climb from where I live in the Kennet Valley up to the former U.S. Air Base. I can use this accent to judge a bike’s climbing attributes. I have 44, 32 & 22 at the front, with 11 – 32 at the rear.
I was pleased to feel at ease in 10th gear while sat in the saddle for the entire climb – a good start then, because I definitely can’t put this down to anything approaching top fitness at this time of year
I generally seemed to be in one or two gears higher than would be usual for me as I zipped along the former flight lines. I would say that this must be the bike, because I can’t be on great form this early in the year, although the Kenda Klimax Lite 1.95” are nearer 1.85”, so not a lot of rolling resistance.
The trails through the wooded sections around the edges of the common were great fun as it hasn’t rained for some time now, so this bike was flying around the bends. I would say however that I did notice the extra weight in the Marzocchi Z3 M80 compared to my preferred SID forks that are fitted to most of my bikes - not quite so nippy on the turns. A beefier rider may not detect the difference, but I definitely could due to my spindly upper body strength – or lack of it :roll:
I only did a couple of circuits, then back down a different decent – through Chamberhouse Farm (where I popped that Hope hub on my Stars ‘n’ Bars King Kahuna), but no drama this time. Really sure footed for such a lightweight bike with slim X.C. tyres.
Result all round I reckon, although I may think about a pair of World Cup SIDs in Electric Blue. I do have a pair, although they are currently fitted to my 1997 Explosif. It would involve another swap around of components with several bikes, so I’ll leave it for now.
Pip.
Re: Re:
That's excellent - exactly what you want to hear and feel.
Interesting. Is there anyway to set them up more to your suiting?
Good job they aren't yellow and have a 220mm steerer :facepalm:
pipmeister":1za43fii said:
That's excellent - exactly what you want to hear and feel.
pipmeister":1za43fii said:
Interesting. Is there anyway to set them up more to your suiting?
Good job they aren't yellow and have a 220mm steerer
:facepalm:
Pipmeister
Senior Retro Guru
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Yeah I can see those in yellow fitted on your Caldera
When the bike arrived, I looked into the Marzocchi Z3 M80 fork and downloaded a user manual in pdf. Anyway, I found the rebound damping to be a little too fast, and saw that the rebound cartridge was non-adjustable. As I suspected, the speed could be altered by changing the viscosity of the damping oil. So assuming that the original SEA 7.5 was in the fork, I drained it, flushed it, and refilled with SEA 10.
This bought the rebound damping to my liking, so that was the first step in getting these forks sorted. Meanwhile I stripped out the Race Face Headset, as it was slightly rough to turn. It was fitted with Enduro 6807 bearings, which I flushed out overnight, and re-greased. This still gave a slightly rough feel to the steering while the bike was in the work stand. Good excuse then to buy a new Chris King in Black with white logo
Now I could really detect the extra weight in the fork – sort of like a pendulum swinging. If I didn’t have the ‘Princess and the Pea’ attitude to my bikes and my ridding, then maybe it wouldn’t be an issue
Stupidly I didn’t weigh the forks when they were off the bike, but they must be more than a 1LB heavier than SIDs. :facepalm:
Bearing in mind that 11 of my 14 bikes are fitted with SIDs (the rest having T.B. P2 forks), it is little wonder that the extra weight is noticeable. If Ernie reads this, he’ll probably comment that I just need to beef up a bit
Pip.
al-onestare":tqg40p9r said:Interesting. Is there anyway to set them up more to your suiting?
Good job they aren't yellow and have a 220mm steerer
Yeah I can see those in yellow fitted on your Caldera
When the bike arrived, I looked into the Marzocchi Z3 M80 fork and downloaded a user manual in pdf. Anyway, I found the rebound damping to be a little too fast, and saw that the rebound cartridge was non-adjustable. As I suspected, the speed could be altered by changing the viscosity of the damping oil. So assuming that the original SEA 7.5 was in the fork, I drained it, flushed it, and refilled with SEA 10.
This bought the rebound damping to my liking, so that was the first step in getting these forks sorted. Meanwhile I stripped out the Race Face Headset, as it was slightly rough to turn. It was fitted with Enduro 6807 bearings, which I flushed out overnight, and re-greased. This still gave a slightly rough feel to the steering while the bike was in the work stand. Good excuse then to buy a new Chris King in Black with white logo
Now I could really detect the extra weight in the fork – sort of like a pendulum swinging. If I didn’t have the ‘Princess and the Pea’ attitude to my bikes and my ridding, then maybe it wouldn’t be an issue
Stupidly I didn’t weigh the forks when they were off the bike, but they must be more than a 1LB heavier than SIDs. :facepalm:
Bearing in mind that 11 of my 14 bikes are fitted with SIDs (the rest having T.B. P2 forks), it is little wonder that the extra weight is noticeable. If Ernie reads this, he’ll probably comment that I just need to beef up a bit
Pip.
