Re: 1998 Kona Hot... Worth?
Hey crew,
I've been dodging this move for close to 4 years, but the time has come. I am finally parting ways with my trusty Hot. I am the original owner, bought it for myself as a wedding present when I was a shop manager back in the late 90's. I had been selling Kona's since 95' and had always wanted a HOT. When I went to pull the trigger in early 98, Kona said they had stopped production and the bike was no more. I was crushed and started to set my sights on the Hei Hei. Around the beginning of 99' I got a call from Sarah Venable, the sales manager that I worked with for our season orders and she said, there were a number of full 853 Hot tube sets still around and they had contracted with Enigma to weld them up. She asked what size, what color and what fork options, because she knew already knew I was going to make the purchase before I could even get it out of my mouth. About 4 days after I got back from my honeymoon in late August of 99 the lightest and prettiest steel frame I had ever put my hands on showed up at my new abode. Obviously, it was a 17" green Hot with the Marazochi Z2 Atom Bomb. I directly built it up with a full (950 gen) XTR kit (v-brakes, shifters, front and rear derailleurs), a spanky new M900 cassette, Thompson post, Kore stem, Scott bars, Oury Grips, Specialized body Geometry Magnesium comp saddle, FSA Orbit Extreme Headset, FSA Ti BB, and a Sugino Mighty X-900 crank set pushing the Shimano HG91 chain...mated to a set of the original Mavic Crossmax wheels with Ritchey WCS Z-MAX tires. Pushing everything along was a set of Time ATAC. This was my dream bike...Period!
I rode the dickens out of that bike for years, actually through 2011. Did a few races, traverses, festivals, etc. It was my main steed. Over time, parts got replaced...a few more nos M900 XTR cassettes, ring sets for the Sugino, chains, newer bladed Crossmax wheels, a set of Rocky Mountain lowriser bars and numerous sets of Ritchey tires (always WCS Ritcheys). In late 2011, I finally decided the pant and decals were looking roached and I was actually starting to tire of the bike as I watched friends cycle through new rigs ever couple of years. So I shopped around to find a solid painter that could freshen up the bike. Ultimately I settled on a local guy to powder coat the frame. I also always liked the decals from 1995 over any of the other decals, so I had those done up for me. The powdercoat guy did three layers on the bike with a green, a sparkle and a clear-coat. The bike looked new again and was ready for new decals. Easy job and took it to a motorcycle mod guy to apply them and apply a clear coat over them to protect. Frame Done!
I was pretty confident I didn't want to toss those horribly heavy Atom Bombs back on the bike, so I called Kona and they said, Nothing more than 100mm of travel or you risk frame damage. 100mm was only 20mm over my 80mm Bomber. So screw it, I ordered a set of P2s and built the bike up as a fully ridged steed. HOLY CRAP is it light and fast. It was like I was on a BMX bike again! I was punishing everyone on the climbs and flats (I'm in VT - there are no flats)...downs was a totally different story.
The excitement of the newly refinished steed lasted about a month and then for my 40th birthday my wife hands me the keys to a beautiful Specialized FSR with 120mm of travel front and rear. Man, what a birthday present. It was completely spec'd out with custom parts (she had a friend help with the build) and it was sub 26 pounds.
The rest of the story goes like this... I still ride the Hot a few times a year, but its so pretty that I don't want to hoss on it too much. So pedestrian rides with my kiddos is where it shines...and I mean sparkles and shines. It saw pedal time 3 days last year. That is totally sad, knowing how much I used to ride it. Like I said, VT is all up and down, and the down on the double boinger is SOOOOO much fun.
So with out further adieu, what do you guys think the 98 Hot is worth?
----Frame is a full Reynolds 853 tube set. Seat post is 17" center to top. TopTube is 21" center to center. Fork is a newer Kona P2.
----Spec list - M-950 XTR V-Brakes/Levers, shifters, and derailleurs. M-900 XTR cassette. Sugino mighty x-900. Thompson seat post. Kore stem. Rocky Mountain low riser bars. Oury grips. Specialized Body Geometry Comp saddle. FSA Orbit extreme headset. FSA Ti bottom bracket. Shimano HG91 chain. Mavic Crossmax bladed wheelset. Ritchy WCS ZED and Z-Max tires. Time ATAC pedals.
Check the pictures and reply or shoot me a PM. Its going to go live at some point in the near future, either here at Retro or on fleebay and maybe even on MTBR.....
Lastly - I could take a picture of the Serial Number but it wouldn't do any good because the powder coat totally obscures it and I don't want to peel back the powder coat just to reveal the serial number.
Fire away!
