By Ambassador Alasdair McAlley
What lengths have you gone to complete a collection, and what have you done to find the bike of your dreams?
Last year I spent the weekend with Kona at the Malverns Classic. It was a superb event where a few of my classic Konas were on display, generating some great conversations and connections.
Alongside the bikes and jerseys, I displayed my collection of Kona catalogues.
Before and during the early days of the internet, paper-based media was the easiest and most common way for manufacturers to display their products to the public. Those of certain age (myself included) would spend hours flicking through the pages of magazines and catalogues, pouring over specifications and descriptions. Kona produced amazing catalogues from 1988 through to 2017, full of bikes, features, and stories.
During the weekend I met Joe who noticed I was missing the 1994 edition. We talked about how cool that year was for Kona bikes. Every year in the 90’s was a transition as technology evolved at an alarming pace and in 1994 aluminum was the new thing in town. It had been used since the early days of mountain biking, but it was this year that mass-produced aluminum frames really took off with the Kula and AA making their first appearances.
Downhill racing was making big waves, and for one year only, Kona strike a deal with Iron Horse and rebadge into the “EFS,” the first downhill Kona bike available for purchase.
Cindy Devine, Steve Peat, and others famously rode and won on them.
Photo Credit Steve Behr
Joe’s dream bike is the 1997 Hei Hei King Kahuna which he revealed he had owned from new but had sold a few years back. He deeply regretted it, and we jokingly agreed that if I could find him one in his size and specification, he’d donate the 1994 catalogue.
Fast forward 3 months, a friend was looking to move on some of his collection and asked me if I knew anyone who’d be interested in a pristine blue decaled 1997 Hei Hei King Kahuna. The rest is history with Joe now the proud owner, and me with his personal copy of the 1994 catalogue complete with pricing annotations!
Photo Credits Joe Cook
Which is your dream bike from 1994? I chose the Explosif because of the super-sweet, ribbed Tange Ultimate down-tube and classic olive-green livery. It was so good Kona repeated it in 1996!
