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We'll, this is something that I haven't seen before. Kona KuKu BMX. Judging from the graphics, it's 98 or 99.
IMG_6522.jpg

Check out the stamping on the fork dropout and gusset, they went all out!
 
We'll, this is something that I haven't seen before. Kona KuKu BMX. Judging from the graphics, it's 98 or 99.
View attachment 259300
Check out the stamping on the fork dropout and gusset, they went all out!



That's a cherry example!


I have always kinda wanted a Kona BMX Bike,...my preference is the Two-Four, but the KUKU, Mama, & Big Mama are pretty .... cool as well...

041_copy9_blowup.jpg
f3525f7b-2539-48f6-a236-5351209ab0935d0db757924a2_blowup.jpg
2001 Kona Two Four.jpg
 
Elsewhere, I posted a magazine page of Joe Breeze in his fancy dress with his fancy bike. Charlie Kelly had this to say about it:
"In the winter of 1989 the Braunstein-Quay Gallery in San Francisco commissioned thirteen Northern California frame builders to make their most artistic bikes for an exhibit called The Art of the Mountain Bike. I have a page on my website with the official images sold in a package of descriptive cards by the gallery.

Bicycling Magazine hired a noted sports photographer and participant in many of the early MTB adventures, Dave Epperson, to do a studio shoot for an article that I "wrote," if a few hundred words is writing. Apparently these five are all that showed up for the shoot, so they all got a free page in the May 1990 issue of Bicycling Magazine."
TomRitchey_1.jpg


Here's a link to Charlie's page
http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/artofmountainbike.htm
 
Oh me oh my, this is pretty. @Captain Awesome are you looking? I never knew he made BMXs...
aHR0cHM6Ly9mc3RhdGljMS5tdGItbmV3cy5kZS9pbWcvcGhvdG9zLzEvMy81LzUvMy8yL18vbGFyZ2UvQnJvZGllYmFkYX...jpg
aHR0cHM6Ly9mc3RhdGljMS5tdGItbmV3cy5kZS92My8yNy8yNzg3LzI3ODczNDMtN3N3enozOGdyeXZoLWJhZGFzc2JteD...jpg
aHR0cHM6Ly9mc3RhdGljMS5tdGItbmV3cy5kZS92My8yNy8yNzg3LzI3ODczNDYtNmhkbG03bmcwejU0LWJhZGFzc2JteD...jpg

But that's his signature brake noodle
aHR0cHM6Ly9mc3RhdGljMS5tdGItbmV3cy5kZS92My8yNy8yNzg3LzI3ODczNDctazJ5dHgwcjlyajRwLWJhZGFzc2JteD...jpg

Guy who posted said,
"If I remember correctly, this frame was exhibited at the Interbike in Anaheim in 1995. The guys from the bike shop "california sports" imported it to Germany directly from the interbike. A friend from Berlin then bought it in the shop. Only two such frames were built."
 
Oh me oh my, this is pretty. @Captain Awesome are you looking? I never knew he made BMXs...View attachment 260021View attachment 260020View attachment 260019
But that's his signature brake noodle View attachment 260022
Guy who posted said,
"If I remember correctly, this frame was exhibited at the Interbike in Anaheim in 1995. The guys from the bike shop "california sports" imported it to Germany directly from the interbike. A friend from Berlin then bought it in the shop. Only two such frames were built."
Oh My George Takai GIF
 
I don't quite understand the tightening bolts for the BB shell, but I do like the tandem eccentric BB as a chain tightening mechanism.....🤔
 
I don't quite understand the tightening bolts for the BB shell, but I do like the tandem eccentric BB as a chain tightening mechanism.....🤔
I didn't know about those bolts, but I know eccentric bottom brackets, they're a cleaner option for chain tension if you have vertical dropouts.Plenty of MTB options out there too.
images.jpeg

Found the answer to the little bolts at the Problem Solvers site:
"Old eccentric bottom brackets were held in place by threaded screws in the bottom of the frame.
2-Old_EBB_1__1_480x480.jpg
These screws would often be stripped or damage the EBB by over-tightening.
3-Old_EBB_2__1_480x480.png
The original eccentric bottom brackets from the ‘70s, were heavy aluminum chunks held in place by either tightening a split frame shell or screwing sharpened bolts through threaded holes and into the EBB."
https://problemsolversbike.com/blog...tric-bottom-bracket-the-time-tested-tensioner
 
Oh me oh my, this is pretty. @Captain Awesome are you looking? I never knew he made BMXs...View attachment 260021View attachment 260020View attachment 260019
But that's his signature brake noodle View attachment 260022
Guy who posted said,
"If I remember correctly, this frame was exhibited at the Interbike in Anaheim in 1995. The guys from the bike shop "california sports" imported it to Germany directly from the interbike. A friend from Berlin then bought it in the shop. Only two such frames

Oh me oh my, this is pretty. @Captain Awesome are you looking? I never knew he made BMXs...View attachment 260021View attachment 260020View attachment 260019
But that's his signature brake noodle View attachment 260022
Guy who posted said,
"If I remember correctly, this frame was exhibited at the Interbike in Anaheim in 1995. The guys from the bike shop "california sports" imported it to Germany directly from the interbike. A friend from Berlin then bought it in the shop. Only two such frames were built."
Oh yeah. Small frame builders also do a lot of shadow work for other companies. That's where another company pays you to make one-offs.

Examples;
One year the TDF had a number of Ventana frames. Pro riders are very finicky about fit and geometry. Sometimes a stock frame won't fit.

A couple of years back I went to the shop (Ventana). There I ran into Chris Chance standing in front of racks of Yo Eddys. This was a contract build.

I cut tubes for a large road frame for a very tall rider. The Ryder (hint, hint) was a pro mountain biker. He had signed a contract with a pro road team. The team didn't have a carbon fiber frame that large. So we built him a aluminum frame and powdered it matte black to look like carbon.

No small builder makes beaucoup $. They do it because they love it. You take work wherever you can get it.
 
Oh yeah. Small frame builders also do a lot of shadow work for other companies. That's where another company pays you to make one-offs.
Paul B has a notebook recording the serial number of everything he ever made. As far as I know, the only other company he made frames for, was Rocky Mountain, before he launched his own. 4261 was the last Brodie by Paul
 
Didn't he work for Kona before he went out on his own?
Sorta. He collaborated them with them when they were TBG (The Bike Group), likely his influence that caused their sloping top tube style. I don't think he actually built any bikes for them, he wanted Kona to be a "low buck" alternative to Brodie bikes. His were all handmade by him in Canada, Konas were similar designs, often made overseas
 
thanks for posting that. It was a good read. Such an interesting fella. I like his Brodie Roadie.
 

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