1995 Kona Sex Too

[GeneralOsik]

Here is what I've decided to fit to the bike, along with the rear derailleur:



I just happened across this gorgeous golden champagne colored Bullet Bros. Hypertension, so of course I had to pick it up for this build, with all the existing precious metal colors. I also happened across this very interesting take on the usual rear derailleur pulley, called a Delta DeRoller. I have used many Avid Rollamajigs, and I have one of the Crud Cog Hogs, but I've never seen one of these before. Kona liked to use parts from Taiwan, so I think it fits nicely.




All that I'm waiting on to finish the build are some brass ferrules from Rivendell Cycles that shipped yesterday, and then the bike will be strung with cables and test ridden within a day of delivery. I also need to pick up some replacement 606 bearings and probably some different washers for the pulleys, which I think are ControlTech, but I can swap those in at any time after the first ride.



And as a bonus pic, here's the bike on two tires for the first time! The fork rebuild went off without a hitch, thanks to @Dr-Zocchi! It was deceptively simple, and I actually can't wait to rebuild the second fork that I have.

 

[GeneralOsik]

Here's a little write up on how I swapped out the pulley bearings.

The original bearings for these silver Control Tech were already shot when I bought them, as well as these black Vuelta pulleys I had on my Trek 990 for a little bit.



The Vuelta, no joke, had plastic bearings! You can see the pieces in a pile in the top right. The balls were still metal, but the housing, both races, the retainer, and the seal were all hard plastic. The upper bearing lasted maybe 200 miles. I also just bought a purple pair that looks the same, but with regular bearings (also worn), so I'm going to say those are Vuelta too.

To press the old bearings out, I like to use a big C clamp, a suitable socket to hold the pulley, and a 5mm ball end allen bit, since it fits inside the ID of the bearing. It presses right out without any real effort:



To press the new one in, I leave out the bit and press with just the clamp face, which kinda floats a little:



I press until I think it sits flush, and then I flip it and press from the other side if I need to center it. This takes only a minute or two, and the bearings are quite cheap. The ControlTech and Vuelta use 606-2RS bearings, which are 6x17x6mm, and the red Bullseye have 36-RS bearings, which are 6x19x6mm. You can get them on eBay, I found the 606-2RS replacement bearings from Canada.



What you can't easily find are the spacers, which come in some different shapes and sizes. I ended up buying these washers here from McMaster Carr, that sit on the 6mm inner bearing race pretty much perfectly. The ones here in the photo in the middle are from the Bullseye I think, and the bottom are ones I found in my miscellaneous hardware, which are too large diameter to work properly:



These here are the two different sizes of flanged spacers, that came with the Vuelta pulleys. These are extremely nice, and fit the 6mm inner diameter of the bearing like a glove. The thinner ones are 1.3mm, and the thicker ones are 2.3mm:



Out of these pulleys, the black Vuelta are going back on the Trek, the purple are probably headed to my Cinder Cone since it has a little purple in the decals, the red I'll probably install on my recently finished Diamondback Arrival since it has a little red in the decals, and the silver pulleys are already installed on the Sex Too. Here's a test fit of everything in it's place:

 

[moonlite]

Fascinating and very useful! Will have to try this on one of the old derailleurs in the spares box.

 

[GeneralOsik]

Switched to black housing, and yep, this looks proper:



There will still be orange housing on the rest of the bike, it matches the decals and other orange Kona details nicely.

 

[mamadirt]

Switched to black housing, and yep, this looks proper:

View attachment 942290

There will still be orange housing on the rest of the bike, it matches the decals and other orange Kona details nicely.

Clear or braided housing would look pretty good too

 

[Mr CC]

Beutiful details!