# KOOKA "nightstorm Designs"



## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

Hello folks

I'm a big fan of Kooka parts ... during my hunt for cool Kooka parts i bacame the owner of many nice litte Kooka parts  ... my favorites are the parts in the "nightstorm" design ...

Do you have more pics? ... I'm still searching for a proper seat post in the blue or green splatter design ... 

here some pics (only the 2 stems and the blue crank are mine):























































For more cool Kooka designs please have a look here: https://www.mtb-news.de/forum/showthread.php?t=221634

Thanks a lot Bertram


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

The stem in the third pic down looks an awful lot like the one I sold to mtnwing a year or so ago.


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## Veloculture (Dec 18, 2005)

here's a set of cranks i just sold. there was no way i was ever going to mount them to a bike. too darn fragile. i've seen too many broken Kooka cranks to ever trust them onder me.


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

DeeEight said:


> The stem in the third pic down looks an awful lot like the one I sold to mtnwing a year or so ago.


This one! =>









Another Koga with nightstorm stem:









Mine


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

Yes that one. That was MY Joe's rear derailleur also (tucker bought a lot of stuff from me).


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

hummmm nice stem on that bike (the blue one) elevation ... you know who is the actual owner??? ... and the hubs ... Ringle??? .... and a Kooka seat post too ???
I own my stem at retrobike.co.uk from a member called gump ... thanks at this point again 
the stem was also available with a fade from black to purple (purple on the handle bar side ...) ... i think this will match better on a black frame (like mine  ).
But i NEVER had seen a seat post in this design ... actually i'm thinking it's a rumor that these seat posts were build :skep: 

btw: elevation ... realy NIIIIIICE Koga you have there (the purple one  ) ... i already saw it on retrobike .... i think your Kooka stem is one with a black fade at the frame side ... right?

@ Veloculture .. yes the first generation of the Kooka cranks (like yours) ware broken realy often .... but i think the second generation was a little stronger ... for cc use only


Hope my english is undersatndable 

Regards from germany (Dresden 35 °C *ufff*)


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)

Ingmar Nopens said:


> the stem was also available with a fade from black to purple (purple on the handle bar side ...) ... i think this will match better on a black frame (like mine  ).


Actually I never realized they were opposed 



> But i NEVER had seen a seat post in this design ...


Same for me



> btw: elevation ... realy NIIIIIICE Koga you have there (the purple one  ) ... i already saw it on retrobike .... i think your Kooka stem is one with a black fade at the frame side ... right?


Absolutely



> @ Veloculture .. yes the first generation of the Kooka cranks (like yours) ware broken realy often .... but i think the second generation was a little stronger ... for cc use only


I sure do remember the BIKE Magazin lab test in which the 1st gen did indeed fail. The other fragile cranks in test -if I remember correctly-: AC and another pretty similar looking crossbar design.

I think I do have the second gen low profile ones on my Yo:










Somewhat later came the forged ones with fixed spider if I remember correctly.

Also got a Kooka part with another fun design; Rasta:


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

Jep ... there are a lot of differences in detail ... some of the stems (called klyde btw) has only a skew on the right side ... the other one is completely closed ...

look here :skep: :










The crank history is completely right ... 

And what a niiiice Yo 

I'll search an mtb-news.de ... there i saw a bike completely in rasta design ... with a lot of Kooka bits ...

the rasta design also was produced in 2 different ways .. one with and one without violet at the end 


















So maybe we can enlarge the thread to a "KOOKA GALLERY" :thumbsup:

Regards Bertram


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

Hey folks

Some nice scans from a friend ...

hehe .. the slogans ... 


















... in german 

Regards Bertram


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

There were 4 generations of the cranks anyways. American Kooka first and second generation, all CNC made, seperate spiders held on by press fit and retaining bolt. 7075T6 aluminium. Canadian third generation one-piece cold forged from 7129T6 aluminium. Canadian 4th gen DH/FR cranks, reverted back to CNC machining, but the spiders fit a splined interface on the crankarm (1st/2nd gen was a square fit) and used two retaining bolts much stronger than the oldest cranks did. Also they were REALLY heavy.


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

Hi

Thanks for the info!

Bertram


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## OregonMTB (Sep 1, 2004)

Hey Bertram--the nightstorm cranks in the second to last picture on your first post (with the Ritchey chainrings) are mine. I would be willing to sell them--although the nondrive side has a crack in the square taper.

Also, look on ebay right now--there is a NOS set.


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

As it happens, I have a spare left kooka crankarm, in blue....


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

Jap .. the crankset on ebay is realy a perfect dream ... but it's the first generation ... 
I would rather drive the crank ... so i think it's better to get a second generation crank ...
But realy nice "night storm" bit  

@Oregon MTB .. thanks for the offer ... but the crack is realy perilous  ... and crank arms in different paint ?? i think this looks freaky  

If anyone will sell the cranks (intact) in the green splatter design ...  ... i'm your man

More Pics please ... :thumbsup: 

Bertram


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## lanpope (Jan 6, 2004)

I sold these on fleabay a while back. Neat cranks.

Sorry for the crappy pic.

LP


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

Yes the ebay cranks are first generation, standard spindle (ie 122/127) requirement, and in the 56/74/110 bolt pattern drilling. They're also damn light (my 180s were 395 grams).


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## xy9ine (Feb 2, 2005)

i might have a lead on some nos kooka cranks if anyone is interested (not a spam [i don't think? ahh semantics...] - i just randomly heard of a source that has some inventory).


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

Hi folks

Here a realy niiiiice design ... i saw it on ebay.com ... man Kooka rocks .. but i think it's difficult to find proper parts for this camo design ... 

BTW: AAAaahrgh ... i still searching for a purple rear hub (AC or Machine Tech) and purple skewers (critical racing or Ringle 3hole) ... somebody has one? swap? ... can offer a purple Kooka crank, purple Precision rear mechor Kooka HS33 hydra-levers...)


















Best Regards Bertram


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## OregonMTB (Sep 1, 2004)

*KOOKA nightstorm forged*

Here is a set of the forged cranks with a matching stem. They have seen a lot of use.


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## Clevor (May 27, 2004)

Anybody have a nice closeup pic of a Kooka Rasta crank?

Do you think the 1st gen cranks will be OK on a road bike? I am thinking of converting them over with 50/34 chainrings to a compact system. Somebody told me with the 110 mm BCD, I can use a readily available BB.

How can you tell the difference between the later forged cranks and the early ones?

I bought two Rasta cranks 10 years ago on closeout; I have one with me in Japan but I can't find it. Gotta dig it out of my closet. So I'm wondering if anybody has a pic on hand.


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## Clevor (May 27, 2004)

Oh BTW, the reason I'm thinking of using this crank is I heard it can be built to around 525 gms with 50/34 chainrings, light even by roadie standards. But the main reason is I want to put this Rasta baby on this frame with the World Champ paint scheme:


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## OregonMTB (Sep 1, 2004)

*Here are some pics*

The forged ones--say FORGED right after Kooka. The super fragile ones were the first generation. You can tell those by looking right next to the spindle on the rounded part there is spot that was CNC'ed out that you can lay your finger on. Hard to describe unless you are looking at both a first and a second generation crank. I consider the forged the third generation and the smooth ones the 4th generation.

OregonMTB


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## OregonMTB (Sep 1, 2004)

*For the record*

All of those are second generation cranks.

And yes, I know the second picture in the above thread is not a rasta crank--it is the rainbow version.

Notice that the rasta design goes in both directions. The green is at the pedals on some cranks and the red is at the pedals on the other cranks.

Here are more cranks:

The first picture is Forged
The second picture is first generation.
The third picture is smooth (3rd generation).
The last picture is whole 'nother model--the Razor.


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

Razors are the DH/Freeride crank. They were made for single chainrings.


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## Clevor (May 27, 2004)

OregonMTB said:


> The forged ones--say FORGED right after Kooka. The super fragile ones were the first generation. You can tell those by looking right next to the spindle on the rounded part there is spot that was CNC'ed out that you can lay your finger on. Hard to describe unless you are looking at both a first and a second generation crank. I consider the forged the third generation and the smooth ones the 4th generation.
> 
> OregonMTB


My cranks were definitely these 1st gen. ones: they had the CNC-machined slot on the crank arm and no 'forged' next to Kooka. I think the last pic has the same color scheme.

Actually, I think the 1st generation looked the most trick. I think it should hold up under roadie use.

I recall my cranks had different colored rings too. If I find the thing I will post a pic. I bought them at the end of the Kooka era, so I was hoping they were the last gen. but for road use, they should be fine.

Thanks for the pics! Can't hardly find anything on these cranks on Google anymore.


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## Boy named SSue (Jan 7, 2004)

DeeEight said:


> Razors are the DH/Freeride crank. They were made for single chainrings.


 and were only to be riden by riders wearing rainbow Oakley A-frames.

sorry, I had to say it.


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## Jkuo (Feb 7, 2007)

This brings back memories. I'm still riding on my original 1st generation Kookas. I got them in late 1996 and have put on 4000+ miles since then. Most of that was in the late 90's though while I was still in school. In the last 5 years, I've probably done only about 200 mi. per year. I'm 5'10" and 185 so I'm not a lightweight. Back then I broke every other part on my bikes, frames, stems, seatposts, wheels, forks, but for some weird reason the Kooka never failed. And that was the one part that everyone said would fail. I think it's about time to retire them though. As I get back into riding more, I'm starting to get a little concerned that I'm pushing my luck.


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## gump (Sep 26, 2005)

Hey, just seen this thread!!

No problem Ingmar! Glad to see its in good hands


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

Hey gump

Nice to see you here ... yes! the stem is here in good hands 

Sorry for deleting all the Kooka pics i upload a while ago.

BUUUT ... here we go for the new picture show:

PS: I'm still searchin for purple/green Machine Tech or AC front/rear hubs ( i can offer some nice parts for swap )

BTW: Has somebody a seat-post in the night storm design???


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## scooderdude (Sep 27, 2004)

Anyone know what year the forged KOOKA cranks first appeared? I have a NOS set in a box I've owned since new, and they've never been mounted. I'm debating if I should install them on a 91-ish Yeti FRO I'm trying to complete. Too new for that bike??


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## rr (Dec 28, 2003)

scooderdude said:


> Anyone know what year the forged KOOKA cranks first appeared? I have a NOS set in a box I've owned since new, and they've never been mounted. I'm debating if I should install them on a 91-ish Yeti FRO I'm trying to complete. Too new for that bike??


I believe 96 or 97, I broke a pair in 95 when they were CNC'd only and bought a '97 Proflex with a forged pair, black/gold, anyone want them?


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## scooderdude (Sep 27, 2004)

rroeder said:


> I believe 96 or 97, I broke a pair in 95 when they were CNC'd only and bought a '97 Proflex with a forged pair, black/gold, anyone want them?


I'll take 'em!!

I've sent a PM.


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

Hey scooderdude ... what color does your NOS Kooka forget have?
Pics please  

Bertram


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## scooderdude (Sep 27, 2004)

Ingmar Nopens said:


> Hey scooderdude ... what color does your NOS Kooka forget have?
> Pics please
> 
> Bertram


Silver. Here ya go! Plus.... check out these other cranks..... they were a sample from Interbike 10+ years ago. Another NOS item. Anyone seen these before?


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## Klein Freak (Jan 30, 2004)

scooderdude said:


> Silver. Here ya go! Plus.... check out these other cranks..... they were a sample from Interbike 10+ years ago. Another NOS item. Anyone seen these before?


I have a pair of the Avalon Starlight's. Definitely a nice example of cool 90's CNC work.


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## Clevor (May 27, 2004)

It's nice to see pics of those Rasta cranks; I still haven't tried to dig the one out of my closet yet.

Anybody know where to get chainrings anodized in different colors? I'm interested in 50/34 of 36, as I'm converting mine to a compact road crank. Or is there somebody out there who can anodize rings any color you want?


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## OregonMTB (Sep 1, 2004)

A buddy of mine has a red Kooka 50 that he would be willing to part with--send me an e-mail or PM


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## Clevor (May 27, 2004)

I finally found my Kooka crank but unfortunately, it's not a Rasta, but one assembled with colored components: blue arms, red spider, black/blue 42/32/22 rings, and gold chainring bolts. I'll post a pic later. To match the World Champ scheme on my C50, I think a green 50 and yellow 34/36 ring would look nice (but a red 50 is a close second).

The anodized blue crank arms do match my Turner Burner Candy Blue frame nicely - not that I would seriously ride on these cranks on the trail.

What was the cause of breakage problems on the 1st Gen cranks? The arm is pressed on the spider and held on by a countersunk Allen bolt, but the spider could easily be TIG welded in four areas to the boss on the crankarm (on the backside) to alleviate stress on the small Allen bolt. But if the spider arms were breaking, not much you can do there.


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## Clevor (May 27, 2004)

Here's a pic of my crank. They weigh out at 588 gms - not bad for an ATB triple crank. Most road cranks weigh around 750 gms, but of course they come with 53/43/30 chainrings. Without rings, weight is 440 gms (175 mm).

I still plan to convert this Kooka to a road compact system with 50/36 chainrings. I can't find a good source of colored chainrings so I may have to stick with two black rings, but the color scheme of the crank should match well with my C50 frame in World Champ paint. Certainly the unusual crank (particularly to roadies), will be a conversation piece.

One possibility is building the lightest triple crank ever for a road bike! If I go with a 50/40/30 combo (which Campagnolo used to offer), I could possibly build a triple crank that comes in at around 610 gms, lopping maybe 150 gms off a usual triple road setup. Also I paid about $110 for this crank around 10 years ago, and that is a pittance for a road crank these days - nothwithstanding one that is the lightest triple in existence! I think the trick look and colors would particularly appeal to the Clavicula crowd (a Clavicula crank runs around $1200 - if you can still get them to make one).


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## Clevor (May 27, 2004)

What size bottom bracket did the Kooka (mine is 1st gen) need on ATB frames? Wasn't it 113 mm width? I need to know to calculate the width needed to convert to a road compact crank.

Thanks.


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## Clevor (May 27, 2004)

What do you guys think of this site:

http://fearlessgearless.com/2004/02/building-a-fixie-part-i

The guy mentions the solution to the cracking problem on the Kookas was to not grease the spindle. He says this pushes the crank too deep on the BB axle, causing the cracking. Never heard this explanation before.

On a side note, I notice someone just sold the exact crank I have for $204 on Ebay. Nope, it wasn't me. I think somebody read a thread on RoadBikeReview forums suggesting I sell it as it might go for a good price there, heh. I'm still hanging on to the two I got.


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

Its an often repeated and totally bogus bit of logic for square-taper cranks. It ignores the whole part about it being a TAPERED fit, and that to push the cranks on enough to actually crack them apart would require excessive amounts of torque, several times what you use to properly install cranks. I've tried to crack cranks like cheap shimano ones just cast from aluminiums way weaker than Kooka used, and even with 100 ft-Ibs of torque (about 4 times what you need to install) I couldn't crack 'em. I did permanently deform them, but not crack them. It would also need a BB spindle where the tapers are longer and wider than the cranks were designed for (like putting a campy crank on a shimano BB MIGHT do it... both use a 2 degree taper, but ISO spindles start with a smaller square end of the spindle than JIS spindles do.


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## Clevor (May 27, 2004)

Clevor said:


> What size bottom bracket did the Kooka (mine is 1st gen) need on ATB frames? Wasn't it 113 mm width? I need to know to calculate the width needed to convert to a road compact crank.
> 
> Thanks.


Found the answer myself: it's a whopping 122.5 mm! The general requirement for triples. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.


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## DeeEight (Jan 13, 2004)

First generation? 122.5/127.5 depending on chainline.


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## Jkuo (Feb 7, 2007)

It is 122.5mm, that is what I had. I just took off my first gen. Kookas because the Ti bottom bracket I had is shot. The bearings need to be replaced. It's pretty hard to find 122.5 mm Ti square taper BB's these days so I just got a set of Truvativ's



Clevor said:


> Found the answer myself: it's a whopping 122.5 mm! The general requirement for triples. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

ggg


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

hope the ebay seller isn't angry because i send his pics here :?


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

And here we go again ...

Today i only show you one thing .. but this is incredible

The first Kooka night storm post i've ever seen ... and i miss it at ebay ... 150 USD wasn't enough  ... if anybody can call such a post his own and is willing to swap or sell -> tell ME !!!!!! 

enyoy:


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

Not Kooka but it fits soooooooo nice 

Do you know this bar???

... PS .. still searching for everything from Kooka in night storm design & purple MachineTech rear hub ...


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## Ingmar Nopens (Mar 17, 2006)

Aaaand here we go again 

During the time i'm lucky to own a brake booster fitting to the Kooka nightstorm design ... .
Avitar produced canks too ... see pic below 

BTW: did anyone know someone who has own one of the nightstorm forged cranks? It's like looking for a needle in a haystack :skep: 
If you have any nightstorm for sale please tell me ... i can offer some nice stuff for swap: MachineTech Canti set (in silver & red), AC apx rear hub in blue/turquoise etc ...

while we're at it: I miss a nightstorm seat post on ebay.com ... NOS and in 28,6 ... :madman:

here the pics:


























Best regards Bertram


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## sxotty (Nov 4, 2005)

Hey sorry to resurrect and old thread guys, I have a set of Kooka forged cranks. They are on my commuter bike now, but I need a new middle chainring. It has been used constantly since they were bought new in 97-98. And hard as well so they actually lasted quite well.

I rode the bike as a mtn bike, then when I got a kona in 03 I gave it to my brother who rode it until last fall when he gave it back and I started using it to commute.

Anyway I just have no idea if any old chain ring will fit, or if I need a special one size etc.

Perhaps I should buy a new set of cranks and hang these up somewhere. I actually like em just cause they lasted so well though.


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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

You just need to find out if they're standard or compact. Getting a replacement ring should be easy. Pretty standard stuff. No reason to hang them up if you like 'em.


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## marcel-titus (Dec 28, 2006)

*kooka nightstorm*

blow some fresh air in this thread?

another nice set:


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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

marcel-titus said:


> blow some fresh air in this thread?
> 
> another nice set:


Those are cool looking.


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## Elevation12000 (Jun 16, 2004)




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