When it comes to vintage mountain bikes of the mid-1990s, it’s hard to not mention the 1995 Kona Cinder Cone. It had one of the most unique stances at the time and the painted to match fork and stem were straight from the playbook of something small time framebuilders were and are still doing today. Thomas sent in his Cinder Cone and the final product included some clever metalwork. Read on to find out and for some of Thomas’ delicious photos!
Founded by Jake Heilbron and Dan Gerhard in 1988, Kona began its foray into production mountain bikes with steel hardtails and rigid bikes. Gerhard and Heilbron, along with Joe Murray, were the first brand to produce an entire catalog of sloping top tube MTBS. Later, Paul Brodie helped Kona further develop its lineup.
One such bike was the Cinder Cone and in 1995, it was all the rage. If you rode bikes back then, chances are you knew someone that owned one.
I recently finished this build up and thought you may dig it. When I took ownership over this bike, the stem was too long (125mm), but I wanted to maintain the spirit of the original bike.
I LOVE that Kona matched the fork and stem, so I chopped the stem and fillet brazed on a new Paragon Machine Works stem clamp, and repainted it to match the original.
The new clamp with removable faceplate and 31.8 size gave me a lot more bar options as well.
Check out more images at my Flickr.
Build Spec:
- 19″ double butted steel frameset with Kona Project Two fork
- Modified Kona Velocity stem with PMW 31.8 clamp (From 125 to 90mm)
- Bassi Bobby bars (with most of the graphics removed)
- ESI Racers Edge grips
- Shimano Ultegra 8 speed bar end shifters (friction front, indexed rear)
- Paul Thumbies (with brass barrel adjusters from Donhou)
- Paul Canti short pull levers
- Simworks brass ferrules
- Ritchey Logic cantilever brakes with Koolstop salmon pads
- Shimano XT (M737) hubs
- Straight gauge spokes and brass nipples (14g rear, 15g front)
- Mavic U.B. Control 26″ rims
- Rene Herse 2.3″ Humptulips Ridge tires
- Shimano LX (M566) Front Derailleur
- Shimano XT (M737) Rear Derailleur
- Sugino Impel square taper triple crankset
- Brass extractor caps
- Kona Race Light seatpost
- Brooks Cambium C15 Saddle
- Pealgo Stainless commuter rack
We’d like to thank all of you who submitted Readers Rides builds to be shared here at The Radavist. The response has been incredible and we have so many to share over the next few months. Feel free to submit your bike, listing details, components, and other information. You can also include a portrait of yourself with your bike and your Instagram account! Please, shoot landscape-orientation photos, not portrait. Thanks!
