Just had a kona explosive delivered.It’s lovely apart from those ugly pointy bits on my seat stays.I’m a bit worried about taking the hacksaw to them, but think it has to be done.Someone please give me the courage to do it.

put the saw down

Don’t they unscrew?

Planet X Compo minus v brake bosses…..just be careful, leave a bit to file off and dont use too coarse a file

go on son you can do it dont be scared its only a new frame what could possible go wrong? I am sure the guarantee will be fine… they would understand.
will you actually notice them when you are on the bike?

You can see the C shaped bits I left behind on this. I stopped short of perfectly smooth as I was worried about damaging the paint on the rest of the stay and the satin finish was impossible to match with touch-up.

From the side, it’s nice and smooth though.

I’ve done it before on some cheap steel forks and looked ok.But think I’ll leave it for now.It’s a second hand frame.Great job on the planet x.

I’ve done it to an old steel frame…

Agree with Ken Shields; the trick is not to hacksaw too close to the seat stay, then carefully finish with a medium/fine file (I polished with wet’n’dry, but then I’m like that). It takes time to do well, so don’t rush it. And remember you’ll need to repaint the frame in that area, so get a good colour match before you start cutting (or else have the whole frame powder coated, which is what I did).

Pretty sure I unscrewed mine and it just left the bosses on the frame, when you are riding it you can’t even see them.

Yeah damaging the paint is a big concern as well.Would have to be really careful.

Looks like it’s all one piece

The stays curve slightly which will make filing less risky for the paint around

Think mine was a 2005 one (blue) there should be a flat on the stud nera to the frame boss, get a BFO spanner on it and give them a spin (normal thread direction), they will be loctited in so will take a bit of moving.

Thanks for the advice but “put the saw down” has seemed to have stuck with me.

Get your LBS to take the bosses out, then get some of those natty little jobbies that screw into the hole.

Know what you mean about the flat on the stud area but there is nothing like that on this frame.I would have thought they would be replaceable too.

I did exactly what you’re thinking about on my 04 Explosif. Hacksaw, then many hours of patient filing. Left the tubes nice & smooth, but now all covered in insulating tape until it gets a respray in a few years. Nothing to be afraid of if you’re patient!

Oh, the frames covered a good 5,000 miles since I did this, so no damage done.

Thanks farticus.If I do it I’ll be very, very patient.