1999 Kona Hei Hei

jinjrich

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This will be my second bash at getting one of these built up, having moved on my 1993 version to 1bhp last year (and an awesome job he did of it as well!) due to financial reasons.

I mention Ben's bike as he has built it up in exactly the style I wanted to go for, minimalist, simple and fast. His bike will be an inspiration for mine, although i'll be making a few changes as time and budget allow.

As I need a new bike to ride to work on the weekends, as well as a midweek local ride bike, the Hei Hei will be built up with parts i have, and then evolve over time as the more desirable parts become available. Watch this space...

One thing I do know is the drivetrain will be relatively modern. I'm a massive fan of 1x drivetrains, in my opinion they not only work with the minimum of fuss but make a bike look better too. Don't shoot me!

Here's the frame as i got it. Its a 99 (verified by the remnants of red paint inside the headtube and around the cable stops). There's some areas where the finish has polished up over time, as well as some chain suck marks. The decals are 97, which I absolutely hate, so they'll be removed and some classier versions sourced (maybe the 95 font, as it was always my favourite). I'll break out the fine scotch-brite to try and bring some of the brushed feel back to the frame.

But first job is to source a seat clamp, as its missing...

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Spent an hour or so in the shed last night, and got rid of the dreaded yellow 1997 decals. I then took some fine scotchbrite finishing pads to the frame to try and 'bring it back' a bit (thanks for the advice, Primo!). There were various areas of old sticker residue, light scratching and general dirt and wear. I was quite happy with how the simple process of rubbing it down fairly lightly has brought the finish back to life a bit. Its not perfect, there are still marks from chainsuck, and one area near the downtube bottle bosses with some scratching, but overall it looks miles better. I also noticed one bottle boss rivnut has been replaced in the past, no biggie, there'll be a bottle cage on there anyhow.

Still not sure on forks. The scarecity of P2 forks in the right a-c has had me looking at Z2 bombers again....

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Mocking up some forks today... i'm on the fence now whether to go suspension or not. I'll be restoring this Z2 anyway, but I'll think some more... quite fancy doing the forks in a lime green or luminous orange, and a stem to match, to catch some retro Marin vibes!

In other news, decided on the 98 decals. I really like the earlier fonts but the 98 is a nice compromise between the garish yellow 97 decals that were on it and the muted colours of earlier years. Thanks to Gil at Retro decals for sending them so fast.

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