originsoundd
Kona Fan
I'm in the process of building a bike for a ~3,000km trip to Croatia. I also have really wanted to build something from the ground up for a long time, something I'll keep for many years and take on many adventures! I've been through two other frames with this build. A 1996 Brodie Energy and 1995 Kona Lava Dome, 14" and 16" respectively. I mistakenly measured my Hahanna as 16" when its actually 18" which led me down this big rabbit hole of small frames when I didn't really need anything drastically different to what I had. I realised pretty much straight away that Brodie was too small for me and I had already bought the Lava Dome prior to that, in the case that it was. It turns out that was also too small for me, so I began searching for another frame! I'll probably sell the Brodie as I don't really have any use for it but the Lava Dome and will be kept and turned into a bike for my brother.
I'm too young to have any experience with these older bikes but I'm drawn to them by the versatility they offer and the price you can get them for. My commuter is a Kona so I know the brand decently well and I've also always admired Orange so thats what I kept my eye out for. I was recommended in the Lava Dome thread to look for something a bit more modern since it would have slacker geometry more suited to what I'm trying to achieve and this '98 P7 popped up on eBay in 17" which seemed good, and after checking a bunch of details (geometry, seattube diameter, BB width etc) I bit the bullet.
Frustratingly nobody seems to sell frames and forks together that much, I presume due to people just parting out bikes and also people using the forks off other frames for other builds. This P7 was no exception and the OG F7 forks (1 1/8", threadless) were missing. I would love to get my hands on these but they seem super rare, so I went for a different option instead. On bicyclist.cc there was a set of Zenith 1 1/8" threadless forks for sale, brand new, with good measurements so I grabbed those. Annoyingly they are chrome and the frame is matte, but I think it works. Anyways, here's the build so far!
The geo is much better than the Kona and with this quick mock-up it already feels much closer to being comfortable. There is also a few teething issues which I'll go into after this parts list. It's quite a mishmash of parts and far from being period correct or restoration worthy, but this is serving function over form by quite a wide margin. Anything in italics is likely to be changed.
Frame: 1998 Orange P7 17"
Fork: Zenith curved blade unicrown 1 1/8″ ahead fork
Headset: Tange Seiki Technoglide
Stem: Kore 50mm
Handlebar: Onone Geoff
Grips: ESI Extra Chunky XL
Brakes: Tektro RBP V Brakes
Brake Levers: Shimano BL-M600
Shifters: Shimano Deore MT-62
Front Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT FD-M750
Rear Derailleur: Shimano XTR RD-M952
Cassette: Shimano Alivio HG400
Chain: KMC X9
Cranks: Ritchey Logic
Chainrings: Ritchey Logic
Bottom Bracket: FSA RPM 68x118mm
Pedals: Crank Brothers Stamp 1 (not pictured)
Hub Skewers: Kore
Rims: Mavic X517 SUP (F), Mavic 217 SUP (R)
Hubs: XTR M950 (F+R)
Tyres: Continental RaceKing BlackChilli 26 x 2.2
Tubes: Schwalbe
Saddle: Charge Spoon
Seatpost: Easton (unknown model)
Now for the teething issues:
Brakes: The brakes are quite weird in the fact that they have an "adjustable pin", instead of using tensioning screws. You adjust it with a spanner or adjustable wrench to center the brakes. I had one pair of these Tektro RBP V brakes installed on my Lava Dome and they were really good once set up. I tried to get them set up on the front for a quick roll and it was a nightmare. It seems that these brakes rely on the clamping force from the boss bolt to hold spring tension and I wasn't able to get them tight enough to hold tension reliably. They worked fine on my Lava Dome so not really sure what's going on. The fork is brand new so maybe that is something to do with it? I've tried tightening the bolt a lot and I'm scared I'm going to start actually pressing the brakes onto the boss, maybe that's what I'm supposed to do? Not sure. If anyone could provide some insight on this it would be useful as there isn't much about these online. There is this comment on a post on here, but will I damage anything by tightening the boss bolts too much?
Saddle: On a ride to Bristol from London I found the Brooks C17 I had to be slightly uncomfortable so I need to get something that suits me better. Shouldn't be a big deal to settle on something and on my next test ride, this time with this bike, I'll bring two saddles and swap halfway to try each out.
Bars: As pointed out on my Lava Dome thread, these bars are more suited to modern bikes and modern geo. They need to be raised a lot to work on older mtbs like this one, so I need to swap them out. I'm not sure what yet, but some decent rise and backsweep will be necessary.
Thanks for reading! Here's a link to the Lava Dome thread if you'd like to read further back.
Alex
I'm too young to have any experience with these older bikes but I'm drawn to them by the versatility they offer and the price you can get them for. My commuter is a Kona so I know the brand decently well and I've also always admired Orange so thats what I kept my eye out for. I was recommended in the Lava Dome thread to look for something a bit more modern since it would have slacker geometry more suited to what I'm trying to achieve and this '98 P7 popped up on eBay in 17" which seemed good, and after checking a bunch of details (geometry, seattube diameter, BB width etc) I bit the bullet.
Frustratingly nobody seems to sell frames and forks together that much, I presume due to people just parting out bikes and also people using the forks off other frames for other builds. This P7 was no exception and the OG F7 forks (1 1/8", threadless) were missing. I would love to get my hands on these but they seem super rare, so I went for a different option instead. On bicyclist.cc there was a set of Zenith 1 1/8" threadless forks for sale, brand new, with good measurements so I grabbed those. Annoyingly they are chrome and the frame is matte, but I think it works. Anyways, here's the build so far!
The geo is much better than the Kona and with this quick mock-up it already feels much closer to being comfortable. There is also a few teething issues which I'll go into after this parts list. It's quite a mishmash of parts and far from being period correct or restoration worthy, but this is serving function over form by quite a wide margin. Anything in italics is likely to be changed.
Frame: 1998 Orange P7 17"
Fork: Zenith curved blade unicrown 1 1/8″ ahead fork
Headset: Tange Seiki Technoglide
Stem: Kore 50mm
Handlebar: Onone Geoff
Grips: ESI Extra Chunky XL
Brakes: Tektro RBP V Brakes
Brake Levers: Shimano BL-M600
Shifters: Shimano Deore MT-62
Front Derailleur: Shimano Deore XT FD-M750
Rear Derailleur: Shimano XTR RD-M952
Cassette: Shimano Alivio HG400
Chain: KMC X9
Cranks: Ritchey Logic
Chainrings: Ritchey Logic
Bottom Bracket: FSA RPM 68x118mm
Pedals: Crank Brothers Stamp 1 (not pictured)
Hub Skewers: Kore
Rims: Mavic X517 SUP (F), Mavic 217 SUP (R)
Hubs: XTR M950 (F+R)
Tyres: Continental RaceKing BlackChilli 26 x 2.2
Tubes: Schwalbe
Saddle: Charge Spoon
Seatpost: Easton (unknown model)
Now for the teething issues:
Brakes: The brakes are quite weird in the fact that they have an "adjustable pin", instead of using tensioning screws. You adjust it with a spanner or adjustable wrench to center the brakes. I had one pair of these Tektro RBP V brakes installed on my Lava Dome and they were really good once set up. I tried to get them set up on the front for a quick roll and it was a nightmare. It seems that these brakes rely on the clamping force from the boss bolt to hold spring tension and I wasn't able to get them tight enough to hold tension reliably. They worked fine on my Lava Dome so not really sure what's going on. The fork is brand new so maybe that is something to do with it? I've tried tightening the bolt a lot and I'm scared I'm going to start actually pressing the brakes onto the boss, maybe that's what I'm supposed to do? Not sure. If anyone could provide some insight on this it would be useful as there isn't much about these online. There is this comment on a post on here, but will I damage anything by tightening the boss bolts too much?
Saddle: On a ride to Bristol from London I found the Brooks C17 I had to be slightly uncomfortable so I need to get something that suits me better. Shouldn't be a big deal to settle on something and on my next test ride, this time with this bike, I'll bring two saddles and swap halfway to try each out.
Bars: As pointed out on my Lava Dome thread, these bars are more suited to modern bikes and modern geo. They need to be raised a lot to work on older mtbs like this one, so I need to swap them out. I'm not sure what yet, but some decent rise and backsweep will be necessary.
Thanks for reading! Here's a link to the Lava Dome thread if you'd like to read further back.
Alex
