Kona Caldera Aluminum Mountain Bike Frame

The Kona Caldera frame is fast with that aluminum ping that keeps your legs spinning at warp speed. It is more chunky than the Explosif and is a little more confidence inspiring on boulder strewn tracks. The square top tube and beefy gusseting add extra strength. It climbs really well,  descends like it’s on rails and the blood red colour is a definite head turner.

I used the Caldera for the Mongolia trip in 2010. It performed well and was surprisingly comfortable off-road over long distances. A couple of things I would point out with regards to using the frame for touring are the frame comes with a replaceable rear gear hanger made from milder aluminium alloy. Compared to the chunky horizontal sliding dropouts on the Explosif, the Caldera’s gear hanger isn’t quite as durable. I would definitely recommend taking a spare rear gear hanger. It is possible to bend the hanger back into shape but because it is aluminium you wouldn’t want to do it much as it will weaken.

I would say that the steel framed Explosif is a less susceptible to general scratches and wear and tear in transport. Tom and I transported our bikes in the back of public transport on our return to the capital of Mongolia from the Northern regions. The bikes were not ideally packed and vibrations seemed to cause more scratches to my aluminium frame than Tom’s Explosif steel frame.

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