# Kona Race Lite, Retro?



## racerx09 (Dec 2, 2004)

Picked this one up on Craigslist Friday. Looks like it may have been quite a cool ride in its day. Any info on this?

Just a bit small for me, I will most likely build up a cross bike for my son out of it.

I would appreciate any info you may have on it. I really like the Curve canti's and Salsa crankset.


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## timbercomp (Jan 16, 2004)

Cranks are not Salsa, just the big ring


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## Slimpee (Oct 3, 2007)

That's a mid-line bike from what looks like '96 or '97. My Muni-Mula was a mid-level bike in '96 and it has those Curve OM brakes and levers. I'm not positive but I think they were only used in '96 but the graphics and threadless headset on your bike lead me to think '97. I think they're pretty cool but I believe my bike was the "highest" offering not to include something better. I have a link to Kona catalogs in my bookmarks on my work computer. I'll try to remember to post it here.

Good find, though! Get 'er back on the trail!


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## H1449-6 (Apr 29, 2008)

Reminds me of my favorite, now long gone ATB ever. It was a Kona Explosif paint sample frame from about 1994 built up with XC Pro in that satin ti finish. Lavender in color. Had the slightly ridged downtube (don't remember the tubeset).

No pics, unfortunately. That's the one I'd most like to get back.


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## Slimpee (Oct 3, 2007)

It's a '97.

Check it out:









Also, here's the bikepedia specs page for it:
https://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?Year=1997&Brand=Kona&Model=Lava+Dome&Type=bike


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## smarty (Apr 14, 2005)

That is a 1997 Lava Dome. Here is a link to the 1997 catalogue:

https://konaretro.com/articles/catalogues/1997/97Page21.jpg

And here is a link to its specs:

https://konaretro.com/articles/catalogues/1997/97Page31.jpg

The parts are a bit basic, but with a bit of love and tender care it could be rehabilitated into a very good bike. I used one of these for my first singlespeed, and it was a ton of fun.


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## anthonyinhove (Nov 3, 2007)

It's a size 16 97 Dome, which shared the same frame as the Cinder Cone that year, double-butted generic 4130 cromoly, genuine weight 4.8 for a size 18, so c4.5 for your size 16. Unfortunately the P2 isn't the triple-butted flavour, but still a very nice frame/fork combo for your son to hone his skills and have some fun.

Here's one a few thousand miles further from home. I built it up from a frame, so not near-original like yours


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## anthonyinhove (Nov 3, 2007)

H1449-6 said:


> Reminds me of my favorite, now long gone ATB ever. It was a Kona Explosif paint sample frame from about 1994 built up with XC Pro in that satin ti finish. Lavender in color. Had the slightly ridged downtube (don't remember the tubeset).
> No pics, unfortunately. That's the one I'd most like to get back.


Do you mean like this? 1993, mixed tubeset, but the fluted tube is Tange Prestige Ultimate Ultrastrong. Better pic of fluting on the 94 frame follows.


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## H1449-6 (Apr 29, 2008)

That's it. Mine was all one color: sort of a lavender. 

What size is yours?


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## anthonyinhove (Nov 3, 2007)

H1449-6 said:


> That's it. Mine was all one color: sort of a lavender.
> What size is yours?


Well, with apologies to racerx09 for hijacking his thread (but he can of course have it back whenever he returns to claim it!), you raise a point about the 1993 Kona range that goes beyond my knowledge and I wonder if anybody on here can elucidate.

The 1993 catalogue that is on www.konaretro.com shows two-tone bikes such as the size 20 Explosif in that pic (not mine, I wouldn't cut down a seat tube!) But following the inspired purchase by mechagouki of a single-colour 1993 Kilauea recently, he also acquired a catalogue full of single-colour 93 Konas and it appears that, at least for the first part of the 93 model year, that was the range sold in the USA and Canada only, while the rest of the world got two-tone as per konaretro. Can anybody confirm this please?

Mechagouki is currently trying to make a top-class scan of his catalogue and when that's done I'm hopeful that Bez might be willing to put it up on konaretro. In the meantime, this is a rough copy of the Explosif entry that mechagouki was kind enough to send me. I must say it looks kind of blackish from here, but if that looks like your bike and your bike was lavender, then I'm willing to believe it's lavender!


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## H1449-6 (Apr 29, 2008)

Let me clarify. I was working at a shop at the time and bought the Explosif frame as a paint sample. That is, Kona had some frames built to see what the paint color would look like and they sold me one. As far as I know, the lavender color never made to to production. It was actually kind of fey but I liked it anyway.

Didn't know about konaretro.com so I'll check it out. Wouldn't it be weird if I found my old bike again?


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## disease (Nov 27, 2007)

anthonyinhove said:


> Do you mean like this? 1993, mixed tubeset, but the fluted tube is Tange Prestige Ultimate Ultrastrong. Better pic of fluting on the 94 frame follows.


Why is that frame not built up?


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## hummie (May 16, 2020)

Retro and too small. What I wanted. I wait for the rare 4" riser bars in the mail. And replace the cheap carbon stem which flexes.
what the hell every time I post a pic it's upside down. I just took this...while sitting upright.

i don't know what year it is but it was for canti brakes and I added a stick on guide to run v brakes. (I have a strong drive that will over come me to cast a permanent cable housing clamp, like the stock-on, onto the frame with a silicone mold n some polyurethane resin.)The Canti brakes on it originally were pretty spectacular. Red machined but lost parts . I hailed it off some speedster in the ghetto of sf. He was doing his own thing n I approached him. Hunted him as soon as I saw it. It was a mess otherwise and I changed all parts. Offered him 40 and he jumped. 12speed sram. 36 spoke w "hybrid" rims. I assume that means burley. Light still. Some unknown light weight.

but had to get sunlite (?) cassette to fit the hub. I forget the details but getting a 12 speed casette on a rim brake 26" wheel seemed the biggest hurdle.

give me v brakes. And I sold my hydraulic brake bike for this. They weren't adjustable. V brakes I just bent the spring back by hand in a min two days ago after falling over a log. Actually canti probably would've been the best for falling over logs. Vs look slick though. N swapped the insane pads which were grabbing and holding metal scrap. Always like koolstop. Who else to plug.. cheap Chinese carbon searposts..only. Cause you'll probably realize it broke before u get ur nuts stuck in the rear wheel


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## Uncle Grumpy (Oct 20, 2005)

Love the wood panelling on the ceiling. 

I have the same model Lava Dome, for a mid range rigid bike it has great geometry and is really nimble.

Grumps


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