# Kona Kilauea Before and After



## FloriDave (Jul 15, 2009)

I bought a new 1996 Kona Kilauea ( in 96) and rode the heck out of that thing. I like the rigid frame, love steel, and the Kona was pretty light. 
Eventually, I got a full suspension bike and sold the Kona, and haven't ridden much of anything the last few years. Now I'm getting back to the Mt bike and trails, I've rebuilt fork and reworked the FS bike, and did some rides, but decided I wanted to go back( or at least try it) to a rigid bike. I just always enjoyed riding them better that the FS for the riding I do.

I happened upon another Kilauea, setup for for grocery getting I suppose, EXACTLY like the bike I had, and except for a change of stem, handlebars and seat, all the components are exactly as they came from Kona. The exact same CURVE seatpost, cranks, grip shifters, etc. NOT A SCRATCH ON THIS BIKE, it's like new. A 1996 Mt bike.

I had planned to get it, strip it down, rebuild it from scratch, which I'll do at some point, but it shifted great as is, so I stuck on a seat, stem and bars, put on my better wheels, ( but put the 7 speed cassette it came with on the wheels), and have been riding both on the road and trails. It's riding GREAT. I am going to eventually put XTR components on it that I have, trigger/thumb shifters, better brakes, but for now, I'm having too much fun riding it to take the time.

Here's a little before and after pic.

Before...









After...


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

Is that bike too small for you? Yank off the reflector and level that saddle. Glad you're enjoying yourself. Looks a ton better than before. Congrats on finding the bike that brought you to biking.


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## FloriDave (Jul 15, 2009)

Thanks!

Well, not exactly the bike that got me into cycling. I was racing USCF in the 80's and 90's, and had Mt bikes before that one, but this was my favorite. 

Ha, yea that pre-ride seat adjustment WAS a little off and those picture and bike angles exagerate it. Bike couldn't be any smaller, but it is EXACTLY like I like the riding position. 

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## Rumpfy (Dec 21, 2003)

Much better now!

2nd'ed that front reflector.


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## BikeBro (Nov 13, 2012)

Awesome transformation, what wheels are those in the after pics? I like the look of them a lot


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## Slimpee (Oct 3, 2007)

Looks great! I love the Curve crankset and brakes. I have a '96 Kona Muni-Mula w/ those brakes but an STX crankset instead of Curve...nicely done!


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## datasurfer (Nov 24, 2006)

Much easier on the eyes now. I like all the improvements you made save for one (I may be in the minority here)—the wheel set. When I think of vintage/classic mountain bikes, silver or perhaps anodized grey rims come to mind. Black rims seem more at home on modern mountain bikes. 

I suppose the Mavic Crossmax wheels were introduced in '96 and they were black...


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## mik_git (Feb 4, 2004)

they are crossmax arn't they? 

My first mtb, an 89 apex came with black rims and my mates bike also had black rims. Black rims and black wall tyres wwere the coolest of the cool in '92 round my parts of the world.


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## FloriDave (Jul 15, 2009)

Yes, those are Mavic Crossmax wheels. I think they look good, but the original wheels are like new too. I put the crossmax on because of the tires and this was a 20 minute changeover. I didn't even disconnect the cables, just pulled everything off the end of the bar. I need to shorten those a little.

The reflector is mounted on the brake cable guide on a bar going through the fork, I will take that off, but I need to resolve jusr how I'm going to do it.



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## trailville (Jul 24, 2006)

I think this is called a bike rescue or maybe a bike intervention. 
Nice job. I guess you would have had to owned one before to see the beauty through all the fugly that had been done to that bike.


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## classen (Oct 7, 2009)

trailville said:


> I think this is called a bike rescue or maybe a bike intervention.
> Nice job. I guess you would have had to owned one before to see the beauty through all the fugly that had been done to that bike.


That made me laugh.

Nice rescue :thumbsup:


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## y0chang (Oct 10, 2012)

trailville said:


> I think this is called a bike rescue or maybe a bike intervention.
> Nice job. I guess you would have had to owned one before to see the beauty through all the fugly that had been done to that bike.


This is so true.

Awesome Kona rescue, that is sweet looking now.

Its sorta like bike adoption. Save a bike, find a friend indeed?


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## Chrispy-D (Nov 29, 2012)

I love it. Im currently working on a (nice) Mongoose from that era. Im converting it into a urban bike.


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