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For some reason I really really want one.
Any one have one in regular use? What are they like?
Anyone want to sell me theirs if it’s languishing in a garage unused.
Post pictures of yours here for me to drool over and to convince myself I don’t want one.
plenty about.
Have a modified '95 Kilaeua -- single speed conversion.
Was out on it yesterday in fact. Bloody lovely bike.
just, right.
Had a few lovely things to look at. Great as commute/nip about town but shit proper off road compared to modern 🙂
Here’s some I had
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They are still great bikes - if used as they were originally intended. They are fantastic on tight, twisty singletrack and as long as structurally sound handle small drops and moderately rough trails - just fine. They will typically work well with a fork of up to about 80-100mm.
My '89 lava dome is once agan my main bike.
My Dad has a 21” 1993 explosif frameset languishing in his loft if that was of interest?
I had an 89 Cindercone. Gotta get the pics of it scanned one day. They were good in the day but I imagine much better bikes are around today. Shame modern Kona hardtails look ugly as ****.
I imagine much better bikes are around today.
You'd think so wouldn't you but I looked into replacing mine recently and came to the conclusion that for how I use it there wasn't anything sufficiently better to warrant the cost.
Mat, I think a 21” would be too big. Im only 5’9. Unless someone know otherwise.
Thanks for the offer!!
Yeah probs too big, felt stretched to me at 5’11”!
Sam, just marking this thread. I have a '94 Lava Dome I bought a while ago but haven't got round to restoring. Stupidly I can't remember what size it is as I've had it for a while. I'm away from home on nights until 6 Apr so will mail you on my return.
I ride a - 19” and it fits like a glove at 6’ 1/2” with 34” inside leg and 6’ 2” span.
93 lava dome here. Singlespeeded and with super narrow bars.
https://m.pinkbike.com/u/earl-brutus/album/Mobile/
1998 (?) was blue now black Explosif - came originally with bombers (why did I throw them out?) currently has a pair of pace rigid carbon forks on RC31? At this stage s bit worried about my memory! Last ride off road was about 10yrs ago. Used it in lakes, peaks, CYB, Alps, Chilterns and Surrey. Loved it but probably now it wd be scarey compared to today’s bikes. Elegantly simple though.
I used to have a rigid (obvs) 92 Fire Mountain. It was good.
I now have a modern rigid 29er and it's just as simple and elegant but vastly better. It has big wheels, wide rims, big tubeless tyres, a carbon fork, discs, wavy bars and shortly to have no front mech. No contest. If you want simple you don't have to back in time 25 years.
If you want simple you don’t have to back in time 25 years.
True. But the bikes of 25 years ago ride just as well as they always did. It’s not always about the direct comparison with today.
I’ve spied one hanging in the neighbours garage ‘unloved’
one day it shall be mine................
Had four or five over the years, maybe more. 93 Kilauea was my only bike for 8 years (still got it, it's my commuter). Also spent many happy miles on a 96 Lava Dome (below).
They ride great. Old school, but never outdated.
Oh, and I'm the right size for a 21" frame… but I really don't want to go down that road again 🙂
Decent rigid steel bike like most of their day.
No magic to to them beyond branding.
No magic to to them beyond branding
And geometry. Rocky Mountain, Brodie and Kona had that nailed way before others. Try riding a Trek 970 back to back with an Explosif or RM Blizzard. Nothing like as good.
Decent rigid steel bike like most of their day.
Actually quite different from a lot of what was about in the day. At least they were in 89 when mine dates from.
@samuelr: Quite simply, they're great old skool bikes. I had a 97 Kona Cindercone for my first ever mountain bike and I still have the frame languishing in my garage. I rebuilt it a few years ago and had a disc brake conversion done by Argos Cycles, powder coated etc etc. The full project is here:
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=187958
I've sold almost all of the components now less the Thomson seat post and seat collar. It's never going to get built up by me again so I really should let it go at some point. Drop me a line if you're interested; I'd love to see someone else getting some use out of the thing! I'm in Bristol if that makes any difference.
I still have my 95 Kilauea. Currently unbuilt up in the attic but may build it up again one day. Rides great but worth noting that the rear tyre clearance isn't great - a 2.0 is the limit and a fairly close fit even at that.
Thanks everyone. I have a 150mm full sus to use on days out and anything more strenuous than a canal path. It’s a n+1 to use in summer to ride allong the canals of manchester and the gentler off road routes. I can stop at the beer gardens without the fear of leaving an expensive £££ bike outside when going to the get the beers.
Do it Samuel!
True. But the bikes of 25 years ago ride just as well as they always did. It’s not always about the direct comparison with today.
How can it not be? Having ridden my modern bike, I can see how much better it is. I can't forget the last 5 years if I get on an older bike.
I've got a 1991/2 Explosif with Pace RC34 forks that's doing nothing in my garage. Where do you live? I think it's a 19" frame - I'd have to check tomorrow
I've got a '96 Cinder Cone that I bought brand new. I still use it often and ride all the same trails that I do on my Stumpjumper.
Currently 1x10 using a Deore thumbshifter, 100mm Rockshox Reba, dropper post and original Shimano SPD pedals.
It handles great on swoopy singletrack and it's only limitation is the bravery of the person riding it 😁
I've a lovely 95 cinder cone in clothes peg blue but I cant post pix as I've no idea anymore how it works. Love the bike
How can it not be? Having ridden my modern bike, I can see how much better it is. I can’t forget the last 5 years if I get on an older bike.
You don’t have an old bike to ride just as you do a modern one. You have an old bike to ride it as it was designed to be ridden - as that is it’s purpose.
Go and enjoy riding whichever bike you want - it’s all good.👍🏼
Olddog. I live in Manchester. Where in the country are you? How much were you looking for?
Cheers
get one. Retro bikes are great on canal towpaths and more sedate offroad. They can also handle other offroad too, although not as well as modern bikes if rigid. With forks I can imagine they'd be quite handy.
I’ve got a 98 Kona caldera frame and project 2’s that I keep meaning to put up for sale but have never got round to it. Orginally came with 120mm forks
Message me if that’s of any interest
I'm just outside Leeds. You can have it for nowt it's just taking up space at the moment.
I was using as a commuter until about 4 years ago until I snapped the chain
it's been sat in the garage since.
It's actually Pace RC30 rigid forks. Frame hasn't got a size on but I think it's 19.5. But I am tall 6' 2" but the saddle is a good 6" higher than the bars and the stem is loooong so I think it will size down
Is there anyway of posting a picture on here easily?
Boom, there you go, offers all over!
I've got a 90's steel bike in the Pacific North West mould. Set up rigid and singlespeed. I ride it regularly and I bloody love it.
I have a 90 something Kona something hanging in my garage in NW Hants .. purchased from djuc_wun once of this parish and used for many years as a commuter. Medium I think but felt smallish .. 17"??
Resprayed in 'kermit green' with some Kona decals re attached, but doesn't look like any production one I've seen. Think it was the cheaper end but I really like riding it.
Has a seatpost, a likely seized in BB (taper natch, and I think a triple and possibly front mech still attached) .. not even V brake strictly speaking but I bodged one on.
If anyone local-ish (Reading, Swindon, Andover) would use it DM me, yours for a charity donation of your choosing. have some rigid forks (Orange F8? Bonty Carbon Switchblades, and I think a disk only P2) that would go nicely but I'll be selling those on.
Actually quite different from a lot of what was about in the day
Really? I get that they were the first to popularise sloping top tubes, but in terms of how they ride (ie materials, geometry) how are they so different to the mainstream?
Forgot to mention, mine’s a 19 inch frame. I’m 6’2 so needed a long seatpost so it should fit you fine I reckon.
Mmmmmm, canti brakes...............
Canti brakes
Try rear mounted u brake. **** knows what they were on when they thought that was a good idea.
I would have thought the old steel konas and ( other retrobikes ) have more flex in the frames than steel bikes of today due to the new testing standards.Probably what made them so good a ride. Kona had lower geometry stance when compared to other retrobikes.
Not all 'retro' Kona are equal.
For instance the Explosif was made of colombus or Reynolds and had complicated fluted tubing etc....whilst the Cinder Cone and Lava Dome were just Hi Ten. Nice bikes back in the day compared to many contempories but not really the same thing.
Nothing wrong with well set up canti brakes unless you are shredding the gnar...or its wet.
whilst the Cinder Cone and Lava Dome were just Hi Ten.
Hardly. They were both full cromoly. My Cindercone is fully doublebutted with a triple butted Project 2 fork. The frame is Tange Infinity.
the Cinder Cone and Lava Dome were just Hi Ten
My 89 or 90 Lava Dome is badged as Tange double butted cromoly. Weighs a bloody ton though!
Maybe bit harsh on shit off road comment. Fine on smooth flowy stuff as mentioned.
Me getting air on my 1996 Kula few years back and my restored by me 1995 Cindercone:)
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Tange infinity is pretty much hi ten with a name attached. it's seamed for a start. it has butting up to a point..buuut it really isn't anything like the tubesets in the Explosif.
Tange infinity is pretty much hi ten with a name attached
What you actually meant to say was 'right enough guys I was wrong about them being hi ten' 😉
The composition of the steel is different to hi ten. The method of tube manufacture is indeed different as they are seamed. However, by the mid ‘90’s most if not all of the drawbacks of seamed tubes had been negated - e.g. weakness at the seam. The wall thicknesses are also thicker on Infinity to Prestige. It’s still a decent quality cromoly tubeset though...
Some good information on Tange tubesets. Profile, composition etc...
@plus one
Wow that 95 Cinder Cone brings back some memories, my first 'proper' MTB after a Spesh Rock Combo and a cheap Claud Butler, both that were nicked.
Your restoration looks v. true to the original build I remember - same XT rear mech, Richey cantis, gripshift etc.
Snapped the chainstay on mine 🙁 Kona warrantied it with a 1998.
Had this 98 Lava Dome until a few years back. Bought it mostly orginal except for 100mm forks.
Added shorter stem, wider bars and a SS kit.
Was a fairly light and agile bike. If I hadn't been such a singlespeed newbie wuss back then would probably have kept it. Still ride a skinny steel 26er SS as main bike today, except in Orange flavour
100mm forks work perfectly on a '98, btw. Allegedly. Disclaimer etc. 😉
I had a 96 Kilauea from new which I saved up for on my paper round.
Rode it and loved it until i used it to tear the roof off my car under a low bridge! 😥
I do enjoy my modern bikes now, but for messing around at trail centres with the kids, general commuting and tow path type riding I still miss it. I don't however miss v-brakes in any way shape or form, discs are unbelievable in comparison.
I don’t however miss v-brakes in any way shape or form, discs are unbelievable in comparison.
Generally speaking I'd agree. But if my TRP Spyres stopped me 80% as efficiently as the vees on that Kona up there, then I'd be really happy
A properly set-up pair of vees can be wicked good. Away from the mud...
until i used it to tear the roof off my car under a low bridge! 😥
Ouch. Double 😬😬. Funnily enough my first Kona Cinder Cone was launched from a bike rack on a 60 bend. It bounced head over heels, exploding the back wheel, mashing a saddle and destroying a brake lever. Most annoyingly - the impact snapped the little friction/index lever on the previously mint XT Thumbies. Frame and forks were fine! It was stuck in friction shift thereafter.
What is this?
geometry stance
My Dad has a 21” 1993 explosif frameset languishing in his loft if that was of interest?
Mat, ooh, that could be my dream pub bike! Project 2 forks? Where are you and how much?!
Bar tyres/saddle/grips the 1995 Cindercone is catalogue spec. 🙂
plus one - that's a lovely looking bike.
Try rear mounted u brake
If we're talking reeeeeally bad brakes, my old Saracen Tufftrax had plastic rear mounted u brakes..............
Having started mtbing in the early ‘90s I’ve had a fair few bikes but the only Kona I’ve ever owned was a Muni Mula, a cheap aluminium one.
After being disappointed with an Orange Clockwork in about ‘95 I went down the ‘fat’ tubes alu path with Cannondale, Klein and then various full sus bikes, next steel frame was a Team Marin that I didn’t get until about 1999.
Nearest I got to a Kona was probably my Bonty Privateer or a Merlin Ritchey WCS.
My wife has a Hahanna as her commute bike, 1” steerer, P2 forks, cantis, thumb shifters. That is a basic plain gauge frame, I do remember that they didn’t alter the geometry from low to high end so the cheaper models still rode nicely, just a bit heavier and less ‘zingy’.
^^Nice!
Plus one - That’s the same as mine but yours is a much better restoration!
Thanks I wish I’d kept it now 🙁
whilst the Cinder Cone and Lava Dome were just Hi Ten.
Hardly. They were both full cromoly. My Cindercone is fully doublebutted with a triple butted Project 2 fork. The frame is Tange Infinity.
partial apropopopoos nugget further to this - I had a (professionally) resprayed Kona that I couldnt identify. The bike project had no info so I gave Kona a buzz with the frame No. They told me that it was 'either a 94 Lava Dome OR 94 Cinder Cone' - ie same frameset used for both models.
It didnt weigh a ton.
^^ I know in certain model years they were indeed the same frame and it may be the case for all years...
Yeah, for most of the 90s the Cinder Cone and the Lava Dome used the same frame, and the Fire Mountain and Hahanna also shared. The Explosif and Kilauea tended to share some tunes but not all, and the Hot generally used the same tubes as the Explosif.
FWIW I had a Hot (Tange Ultrastrong, Ultralight etc) and a Lava Dome (vanilla Tange DB with the same/similar profiles) from the same year (96), with the same geometry, and I couldn’t discern even the slightest difference in ride quality. The narrower tubes of the older frames, and the heavier tubes of the low-end ones, did however feel different. YMMV.
I've got the full Kona jersey and shorts that went with my Explosif and later my Hei Hei. Here's a pic of me fixing a mech on Saddleworth Moor; believe it or not people really did dress like this.
(Picture credit: I Donohoe.com)
Yeah, for most of the 90s the Cinder Cone and the Lava Dome used the same frame
It’s those 1990’s bikes I know most about - post-2000 my knowledge is less complete.
Recently sold my dad's old Kilauea to a buddy who is looking to restore it. Most of the value was probably in the complete set of XTR parallelogram V-Brakes right enough...
My classic Kona jersey is all the Kona I own now, only to be brought out for racing CX courses with 'death spiral' features, or riding up volcanoes in Hawaii.
Just found this old Kona newsletter tucked into Issue 1...
...has a bit of info on the 95 Cinder Cone in it...
I bought mine from a guy (Russell?) in Guildford Cycles, who I think went on to work for Kona. Remember he rode an Explosif, think he managed the race team?
Mat
Subscriber
My Dad has a 21” 1993 explosif frameset languishing in his loft if that was of interest?
I'm interested in this mate, being tall and old enough to remember the 90s and that.
Whereabouts are you based and how much do you think he'd want?
Cheers
I (like a lot of other people) had Steel Kona as their first "proper" MTB, Mine was a '92 Lava Dome.
Bloody loved that bike. I still have the frame in storage.
Kona got 26er rigid geo nailed pretty quickly, if you then add in things like the impact headset, P2 forks and the slightly fatter on the front tyres and you can see why people love them.
Blimey - I was wrong on the tubing..I always remember Cinder Cones as the cheaper end of Kona bikes but £699 in 1995 equates to around £1200-£1300 today.
Cinder Cone was midrange back then. I remember they held the price at £699 for a few years, so it effectively moved down the range as they added sus forks and components had to get cheaper. And then it went alu mid-noughties 🙁
Straying into the 00s there, no? 😉
[img] 
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What year is this Lava Dome frame? That's what I'm currently riding, but don't know how old it is. I'm assuming from the dropouts, V-mounts and IS disk mount it's early Noughties.
I bought the very Explosif reviewed by MBUK in a second hand bikes for £500 feature back in the day!