1994 kona hahanna, to build or not to build??

[claud butler]

hi all new here and after some advice!
Just been given a kona bike and im wondering what to do with it!

i am new to this retro thing and dont know if building this would be worth it!
i will tryto take and upload some pics tomorrow but none as yet.

the bike has all the original parts as far as i can see apart from the rear wheel and seat and possibly seat post.

good points.
seems to be mostly original
bb is nice with no play.
frame is straight with no dents

Bad bits,
paint on the frame and the forks is in poor condition really, it would want spraying.
front wheel is not very true, is this a hard job? i imagine it is a skill aquired over time to straighten this up.

are these bikes any good and is it a worthwhile project to cut my teeth on bike building?

 

[a.davis12]

im a fair noob too, so i wont comment on the kona for fear of making an ass of my self.

with the wheel strightening, it is not especially difficult and can be done well with a little practice, look up wheelbuilding/trueing on google and there will be countless articles to get you started.

out of interest what groupset is on the bike?

 

[lewis1641]

Only you can decide really. Parts can be picked up reasonably cheap and paint and decals are not expensive either but it all depends on how far you want to take it. Also think hard before repainting. I repainted my old fire mountain frame. It looked amazing but it also looked brand new. It was as if the past 15 years of use had been deleted. There's a lot to be said for patina. I think that its worth saving any retro bike but it may not be financially viable.

 

[Mr Panda]

Depends what your expecting - a Hahanna is never going to be worth a fortune, but it is a perfectly respectable bike. Just get it up & running and use it

 

[claud butler]

thanks for the replies, it llooks like im goin to cut my bike building teeth on this then!
the groupset is alivio with gripshift.

 

[lewis1641]

cool. get it built and show is the progress