Unca_Sam

In July I bought a 1989 Cinder cone languishing on craigslist. My daughters had joined a mountain biking club, and I had no way to ride with them on trails. Since our closest ski resort is an hour away, i decided that a rigid mountain bike could probably tackle single track here, as well as double for cyclocross duty. For $80, I brought this home.


1989 Kona Cinder cone


Suntour XC Pro accushift thumb shifters. LEECHI brake levers.


Suntour Xcd cantilevers. Integrated cable stop and pulley on the stem.


Suntour xc crankset with Powerrings. No dust caps. Xcd 6000 front derailleur. Xcd 6000 pedals, rebuildable, rusty and scuffed. Not shown: Zerk it bottom bracket sleeve and grease fitting. Generic 3T spindle with a Sugino DS cup and a shimano adjustable cup and lock ring.


Tange MTB double-butted tubing, main triangle.


Suntour Xcd 6000 roller cam brake, grimy and rusty.


Suntour Xcd 6000 rear derailleur. Shimano LX hub and cassette.

Unca_Sam

The paint had seen better days. Cables had rubbed through paint on the headtube, and the bike had been handled roughly for a while (it is a mountain bike). The drive side chain stay was missing 40% of its paint from chain slap and chain suck.

Thread for details on clean up and paint freshening here.

TenGrainBread 

Nice. That is a sweet bike and you don't see that last gasp for roller cams very often.

Are the LeeChi brake levers nice-looking? I know they made some nicer products despite the budget reputation.

Unca_Sam

These don't seem to be the budget LeeChi levers folks complain about flexing while braking in MTB and BMX forums. They show wear on the ends of the levers where the black paint/anodizing has worn through, and rust on the clamp bolt, but nothing a little evaporust can't handle. I can post pics a little later. if you know something about them, I'd appreciate help IDing the model.

retrodude

Very nice! A friend of mine owned the exact bike back in 89' and I've always liked the older Kona's (I've been riding a 2008 Dawgma for 11 years now and love it). I love the classic rigid Kona's like yours. I was fortunate enough to pull this 93' Kilauea out of a dumpster, I'm currently giving it a fanatical restoration including paint (above what I would normally do) as i have many unused lightweight (90s) parts which finally have a period correct home. I look forward to seeing your refurbish, I'll send a pick of mine complete if you're interested possibly next week, here is my dumpster find which did not include a seatpost or saddle (the ones in the picture are old units used to take it for a spin):

Unca_Sam

@retrodude

Your frame and decals are in nicer shape than mine if you pulled this out of a dumpster. Thank goodness for the relentless pressure to upgrade, right?

This bike has seen some action/abuse (My opinion is that the mountain bike doesn't notice a difference between the two!). I linked to the thread with the detail on cleaning up the paint. Meguair's Ultimate compound is a miracle in a bottle (so is evaporust!). My paint restoration produced acceptable results for a rider. Unfortunately, the original paint was very thin and inconsistent compared to a powder coat or electrostatic paint job, and a show-quality restoration would likely involve a strip and respray. The paint had aged unevenly potentially due to how it had been stored so some touch up work is more noticeable. Thicker original paint would allow me to use two coats of primer to better hide the steel under the white paint, and still be able to wet sand the paint level with existing paint.

Edit: I noticed your Velocity stem! Nice! Did you keep it?

canklecat

Nice find. I've had a hankering for a Kona after seeing a '90s Lava Dome Race Light earlier this year in metallic emerald green. Still kinda kicking myself for not making an offer. The pawn shop's starting price was over $300 and I figured my offer of $100 would go nowhere, so I decided to check back once a month until they dropped the price. But someone grabbed it before I did.

I'm not really into mountain biking or even single track, but a 25 lb rigid fork Kona would have been fun on our very tame local pea gravel roads and mowed grass/weed fields. I just kinda like Kona's design and cosmetic quirks that set them apart from most other MTBs of that era.

Bucket list stuff.

bikemig 

I like this bike. We don't have enough threads here for building up older MTBs. They are great bikes and the prices tend to be very reasonable. I hope this thread motives me to rebuild my 1992 Trek 950.

Unca_Sam

That's cause all those threads are on other forums! It's a natural extension of the dichotomy between road and off-road riders. I was inspired by a couple of easily found build threads for UK models on Retrobike, while the forums at MTBR are helpful with firsthand knowledge of the components I selected.

Is it bad form to mention other forums?

Prices for NOS and good used Shimano ATB/MTB components aren't terrible, Suntour is another story. I'm noticing an upward creep in prices for vintage Rockhoppers in my area, maybe due to name recognition. I'll chalk it up to the gravel/adventure bike craze sweeping the nation. I'm caught in it too, after all. Why spend $1000+ for a carbon wunderbike when it shares much of the same geometry with the early rigid steel MTBs.

ncrnelson

I picked up this 91 Kona Explosif at the beginning of the summer. The bike is full Deore XT, but had a mismatched cheapo front wheel and the front derailleur cage was broken. I built new wheels on XT hubs, added a NOS XT front derailleur and replaced all the consumables. It's a great rider.

retrodude

Hi Unca Sam, Yes I did keep the Velocity stem, has a pretty good dent on the underside but seems fine structurally, I like your recommendations regarding paint cleanup and rust removal, I'll check those out for my next project. My restoration is complete aside from brake & gear tuning (fully assembled), I typically just go the rattle can route with re-sprays, I know they're not super durable but i typically give the base (existing coat) a good sand before laying down new paint. i also try to pick a color as close to original as possible in case a scratch does happen. I have recently gotten into masking all existing decals and painting around them. I did good polish on the cranks & seatpost. With this build I used all of my lightweight parts (most not in use) from the 90s and come up with a 22.5lb bike. Had to buy new tires, middle/inner chainrings & seatpost, spent $260 CAD including paint, well worth it to me.
I can't wait to do a real ride with it (took it around the back lane last night to see if it even fits my 5'-8" frame, fits perfect! I'm used to stretched out MTBs)

retrodude

What a beauty! how do you like the tires? I'm using the same ones on my rebuild, they get good reviews, I don't intend to do hardcore riding with this bike, just smooth trail, gravel, pavement

lorenzo_de_leon

damned fine looking bike. Love the early / mid nineties Konas, well done.

ncrnelson

I think they're a great all around tire. They roll well on pavement and grip in the dirt. They're wide enough to handle loose sandy soil but still fit in the frame, granted without much room to spare.
I bought them for the same purpose as you and I'm satisfied.

Unca_Sam

Full spread! Handlebar, stem, and seatpost came with the bike. Seatpost is an origin 8 pro fit, and adequate.


Suntour X-Press Accushift shifters, to replace the thumb levers. Mechanisms cleaned and lubed.


Suntour XCD LTD levers, because the XCD 6000 levers aren't on EBay, and short pull moto-style levers are scarce new.


Suntour XCD 6000 front derailleur, cleaned and lubed.


Suntour Grease Guard BB. this requires a space to push the DS spindle right enough for chainring clearance.


Suntour WTB licensed grease guard bolts allow grease to be pumped into the bearings to force contaminated grease through the seals around the spindle.


Holes connect from the spindle central shaft to force grease through the bearings.



Suntour XCD triple crankset with Powerrings. Suntour PL-XD10, bearings refurbished and steel repainted.



Suntour XCD 6000 long cage derailleur, cleaned and lubed.


Suntour XCD power brake (roller cam), rollers lubed, and XCD cantilever

Unca_Sam

After touching up the numerous scrapes and chips, sourcing appropriate components, and building a wheel from the old rim and NOS Suntour freehub (the rim gave me fits and might be toast), I present a surprisingly quick and capable Kona Cinder Cone!



The Kona Cinder Cone in its natural habitat. Frame serial number points to Fairly manufacture in 1989.


XCD 6000 drivetrain: XCD 6000 long cage rear derailleur; 13-28 cassette; XCD triple front derailleur; 175 crank arms and 48, 38*, 28* chainrings (*cycloid ovalized); KMC Z51rb chain.


DMR Deathgrip lock-on grips, Suntour X-press Accushift Plus 3x7 shifters. Friction front, indexed rear.


Suntour XCD cantilever brakes and carrier, original oversized straddle cable.


The venerable Kona Project 2 rigid fork.


Suntour XCD6000 power brake (roller cam). Suntour quick release binder bolt


Another view of the XCD 6000 roller cam power brakes and cam plate. XCD6000 pedal with generic cage and straps; chromed Suntour quick release binder bolt.


Ready to bomb some singletrack.


Many local trails feature prairie sections and flow trails.

Unca_Sam

Most of the information on this bike comes from the United Kingdom and specifies Shimano components, however I wouldn't be surprised if the North American market received a different build (why else would I get a mostly complete XCD drivetrain and brakes on the bike?)

If anyone has information about the 1989 Kona Cinder Cone built for the North American, I'm interested in learning what you know!