By Ambassador Alasdair McAlley
This week we’re celebrating Pip’s Kona legacy. The first bike from Pip’s collection we’re featuring is the extremely rare 1998 Ku as described by Pip:
“Without further conformation, we understand that only 50 Ku frames in total were produced in 1998. Considering it wasn’t until January 2016 that we had even seen a confirmed photograph of one, I and others think that this figure could be lower.”
Indeed, six years on and thanks to Pip’s registry of rare Kona’s, only 6 1998 variants are in the public domain. The first batch totalled 50 but a second batch of unknown volume was made much later in the production cycle. Kona tech have confirmed:
“There were very few Columbus ones made; they were a sponsor for our team at that point and they’d send us various tube sets to try for our production and custom models. Quantities ranged from 20 to 2 for a run. Also, they were shared out among various builders like Altitude and Enigma and even our Taiwan factories so we could get feedback from a variety of sources on the tubes.”
Pip continues the story:
“1998 was the last year of production for the handmade Kona frames – the Ku and the Hot. We can assume for now that it was Enigma Design (who welded the tubes), while Velographics were responsible for the paint job.”
This was because of the shift in the sport and market from high-end, race-ready XC hardtails, to full-suspension, do-it-all bikes, downhill and the fledging out-of-bounds and free-ride movements.
These frames are made from Columbus Altec2 Megatube, and as the name suggests, they were one of the largest aluminium tube-sets in production.
This was the only time Kona used an ovalised aluminium tube-set on a mountain bike (it was used on the 99 Haole and Kapu road bikes) as it was fearsomely expensive to manufacture. Even the cable guides had to be specially produced to fit the wider circumference.
Pip’s search for a 1998 Ku was lengthy but eventually through his network he located and shipped the bike from Canada. He quickly made some component changes to suit his XC riding style, as he describes:
“…on went a pair of proper Cross Country racing tyres – Kenda Klimax Lite 345’s… I fitted these yellow hub Crossride instead…I swapped (the old saddle) for my Selle Italia Signo Gel Flow….and it was a good excuse to buy a new Chris King in Black with white logo.”
Velographics did an incredible job with the paintwork. The bright yellow has a beautiful multi-coloured sparkle, which was replicated on the sister Kona 1998 Hot, another bike Pip owned!
Pip rode this bike extensively, even when he was very feeling poorly. He really loved the agility and rigidity of the frame, and its rolling speed was second to none.
All of Pip’s bikes are with new owners now, and through his registry and these articles, his memory lives on. Stay tuned for the next installment.
