I’ve hads my old Explosif lurking in a pile of bits in the back of the garage for years – I’ve had it from new in 93, raced it for a couple of years, then jobs and kids reduced riding time massively. When I got riding again around 2000, I got a new bike, and forgot about the Kona.
I say forgot, actually the guilt of leaving this lovely machine hidden under cobwebs has been gnawing away at me for ages, so I finally got round to doing something about it.
This is where I started from:
I love the fluted downtubes on these Explosifs
Ultra strong and pretty light (3.3lbs on my kitchen scales)
I’ve had the frame powder coated by a local company who have been doing mates bikes, and i’m really pleased with the results. OK so its not the most original colour but I think Explosifs look quite sexy in white, plus its got sparkles for a bit of class.
Forks and Velocity stem to match
I’ve got a sticker set made up (thanks Gil!) to match the originals, except the white bits are in a light grey which should make a subtle contrast to the white. Can’t wait to get them on the frame, i’m getting quite excited now!
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Ah, a true classic there … back in the day I always wanted one, but having just bought a house I wasn’t allowed to spend *that* much on a bike so I bought a more basic Fire Mountain, and gradually sneaked decent parts on it. It’s my most ridden bike to this day – although unlike yours, I ditched my threaded forks a long time ago.
There was a factory white coloured Explosif at some point – early 1990’s maybe?
Are you sticking to relevant era parts full retro-stylee or updating stuff as required?
I’ve hads my old Explosif lurking in a pile of bits in the back of the garage for years – I’ve had it from new in 93, raced it for a couple of years, then jobs and kids reduced riding time massively. When I got riding again around 2000, I got a new bike, and forgot about the Kona.
I say forgot, actually the guilt of leaving this lovely machine hidden under cobwebs has been gnawing away at me for ages, so I finally got round to doing something about it.
This is where I started from:
I love the fluted downtubes on these Explosifs
Ultra strong and pretty light (3.3lbs on my kitchen scales)
I’ve had the frame powder coated by a local company who have been doing mates bikes, and i’m really pleased with the results. OK so its not the most original colour but I think Explosifs look quite sexy in white, plus its got sparkles for a bit of class.
Forks and Velocity stem to match
I’ve got a sticker set made up (thanks Gil!) to match the originals, except the white bits are in a light grey which should make a subtle contrast to the white. Can’t wait to get them on the frame, i’m getting quite excited now!
I’m going to get it as close to original spec as I reasonably can. Got the original xtr hub and just rebuilt it onto a mavic 221 rim (priginal was 231 I think? Also sourced a matching rim on a White Industries hub for the front as I lost the front hub (rims went ages ago).
XT 7 speed thumbies (with 8 clicks), original Kona prototype ti bars (bit narrow though) Richey Logic canti brakes, Sugino cranks, even some XT beartrap pedals lurking in the box! Original xtr rear mech & xt front – the xtr stuff still feels super smooth!
Oh and a Kona Impact headset – this is a bit rough on the races, I’ve got some new bearings so I’ll see how it goes.
What I havent got so far is a Kona Race Light seatpost (snapped the original), saddle or tyres.
Good luck with the project, here is a link to my 1996 Kona Cinder Cone “Hot Rod” (arguably one of the best bikes ever built ?). I had this from new, then flogged it to someone who sprayed in Subaru Blue and left it outside for 4 years unridden!
I had a 94 Kileau (I think it was 94 maybe 93). A year later my mate got an explisif with suspension forks, the first year Kona correctedfor a suspension fork.
I rode his explosif last summer, my Kileau was knicke years ago. I have to say that I now fins the origical riding posistion uncomfortable and unnerving. I think I would have gone for a modern take like the Cinder cone that was linked to.
Looks lovely 😀
I’d guess you’re a member of Retrobike already – but if you’re not I’d highly recommend it as the best bike related site on the web…….(ducks for cover!) 😆
Rich – the paintshop is Trestan Finishers by the Itchen bridge in Southampton – they’ve done at least half a dozen bikes for the Newforce crowd with excellent results, durable finish and they on ly charge £35 (with sparkles!) In fact I got frame, forks and stem for £35!!
That looks great fella. Would Gil be interested in doing some decals for my ’97 Explosif? I want to repaint it but everywhere I look the decals advertised are different to the ones on my frame.
been wondering about doing something similar to my ’95 Cindercone, although I’m tempted to half-modernise it and stick a threadless steerer on the forks. and maybe put new dropouts on for SS use…
I bought a 2004 or 2005 Explosif as my very first ‘proper’ mountainbike. I loved the look of it, but it was spoiled by the ridiculous sliding dropouts – lovely slim seat and chainstays with a massive hunk of metal bolted on the end! Yours looks much much nicer 🙂 I don’t think I ever ‘got’ the Explosif though. Was probably a bit steep and racy for a first bike, but it served me pretty well at the time.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/gingerfox/2457052369/]Kona Explosif[/url] by Ginger F0x, on Flickr
That is absolutely stunning 40MPG. It still hurts when I think about the day a couple of years back when I phoned my old man:
Me: Dad, I’m up at the weekend, going to dig out the old (’94) Cinder Cone.
Dad: The what?
Me: The bronzy-orangy frame that’s been hanging in the garage for about 15 years.
Dad: Oh that. Finally had a clear out last week, binned it. Threw out those old forks (Rock Shox Mag 21s) as well.