Question:

>I have a 96 Hei Hei King Kahuna w/Vbrakes, they work great on the rear with >a bit of setup >easier to draw with pen and paper.

Thanks Charles, I guess I had the same idea forming in my head.  Thanks for making my worries of purchasing the V-brake less stressful. :)   If you want, and your good with drafting, draw something up.  We can have it scanned and put it on a (yet to be created) Kona bike users page.  Others have talked about even starting a kona mailing list.   Be well, -chris — Chris Hufnagel

Response:

I have a Kona with the same collar set-up (I think most of us do).  I ditched the stupid plastic cover and ran the cable bare all the way back from the 1st cable stop at the front.  As you can imagine this reduced the friction.  The downside. I’ve seen some nicks in my clear coat on the top tube. Christian – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >Hi all, >I’ve had a Kona Kilauea ‘96 for the past 8 months now and I’m starting to >have problems with the design of the rear brake line.  For those who don’t >know, Kona was trying to be slick and made a cable collar that went on the >seat post tube.  The exposed rear brake line cable is put in a plastic sheath >that passes through the collar.  Looks neat at first put I’ve found it to have >too much friction and the plastic eventually rips apart and starts slowly >hacking at the collar.  Obviously Kona found out the design problem and >has promptly dropped this feature from the ‘97 line. Anyways, I’m wondering >if any other Kona owners have had the same problem or have seen solutions >to this design flaw.  I’m thinking of getting the rear Deore XT brake and >patching a ferrel into the collar with some cable housing.  I believe one >of the Kona models has this exact setup (Ku I think). >Anyways, any comments appreciated. >Be well, >-chris >– >Chris Hufnagel >. >.

Response:

Hi all, I’ve had a Kona Kilauea ‘96 for the past 8 months now and I’m starting to have problems with the design of the rear brake line.  For those who don’t know, Kona was trying to be slick and made a cable collar that went on the seat post tube.  The exposed rear brake line cable is put in a plastic sheath that passes through the collar.  Looks neat at first put I’ve found it to have too much friction and the plastic eventually rips apart and starts slowly hacking at the collar.  Obviously Kona found out the design problem and has promptly dropped this feature from the ‘97 line. Anyways, I’m wondering if any other Kona owners have had the same problem or have seen solutions to this design flaw.  I’m thinking of getting the rear Deore XT brake and patching a ferrel into the collar with some cable housing.  I believe one of the Kona models has this exact setup (Ku I think). Anyways, any comments appreciated.   Be well, -chris — Chris Hufnagel

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->Hi all, >I’ve had a Kona Kilauea ‘96 for the past 8 months now and I’m starting to >have problems with the design of the rear brake line.  For those who don’t >know, Kona was trying to be slick and made a cable collar that went on the >seat post tube.  The exposed rear brake line cable is put in a plastic sheath >that passes through the collar.  Looks neat at first put I’ve found it to have >too much friction and the plastic eventually rips apart and starts slowly >hacking at the collar.  Obviously Kona found out the design problem and >has promptly dropped this feature from the ‘97 line. Anyways, I’m wondering >if any other Kona owners have had the same problem or have seen solutions >to this design flaw.  I’m thinking of getting the rear Deore XT brake and >patching a ferrel into the collar with some cable housing.  I believe one >of the Kona models has this exact setup (Ku I think). >Anyways, any comments appreciated.   >Be well, >-chris

I have a 96 Hei Hei King Kahuna w/Vbrakes, they work great on the rear with a bit of setup There is a slight problem with the way the seattube mounted brake cable router works: take it and rotate it slightly clockwise (as viewed from the top), what you are trying to accomplish is to minimize the friction on the cable caused by going through the router, just play with it a bit, and when you rotate it clockwise the back part of it that the cable exits from and goes towards the brake arm aligns better, again, reducing friction and binding. take a 1/4" drill or dremel tool and route the back hole where the cable goes into and make it recessed a bit so that the brake cable end cap "seats" into there a bit, an 1/8" max depth is all that is required, and you want it to angle down towards the brake arm, again, trying to setup a natural cable path with minimum friction. the cable "line" should be about the same angle and parallel with the seatstay. easier to draw with pen and paper. Charles Coker Austin, TX

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