'91 Kona Lavadome...."ride up the mountains of your mind"

[SIMONFREESE]

Just spotted the thread Mart, you don't hang about! It looks absolutely fantastic, with you riding that there's no way I will be keeping up with you!

is it coming out on Sunday?

As I mentioned earlier I reckon Shwalbe Black Jacks look good for the money, in 1.9:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schw ... -prod48767

I reckon with something as as sweet to ride as this you're going to need some good knobblies!

 

[SIMONFREESE]

Also, the Black Jack's have a nice bit of blue on em'!

 

[sherlylock]

Just spotted the thread Mart, you don't hang about! It looks absolutely fantastic, with you riding that there's no way I will be keeping up with you!

is it coming out on Sunday?

As I mentioned earlier I reckon Shwalbe Black Jacks look good for the money, in 1.9:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schw ... -prod48767

I reckon with something as as sweet to ride as this you're going to need some good knobblies!

Haha....it's not a race! Yep had a massively indulgent day on Sunday....was in my element. Cabled it up last night but have an issue with the Impact headset - I stripped the threads in the pinch bolt, and on closer inspection the casting is cracked anyway. Might have an issue with a ride on Sunday as I'm up in Norfolk! Could possibly ride at Thetford though if you fancy a trip up - just not sure I can get my bike there easily. Will text ya later.

So....aside from sorting the headset the bike is pretty much together and ready for a ride. I've done nothing really cosmetic yet (other than clean and polish the frame), I plan to get it out on the trails and to see how it feels/fits before cleaning up the forks/stem/bars.

Think it deserves a before/after comparison:





Found a way round the tyre issue - I have 2x brand new sets of Splashbacks - a 1.8 set and a 2.1 set. I have 2 bikes which need a narrower tyre on the rear - so I just fitted the narrower tyres to the rear of both bikes and the wider to the fronts. Is this OK to do? (1.8 on rear and 2.1 on front)



Some detail shots:

Chainset - dx arms, shimano big ring and suntour platinum mid/small rings



XT thumbies/ Dx levers & cheapo Wilkinsons foam grips:





Mint sauce stickers (look at the state of the fork!):

 

[Dare]

different sized tires are quire common thing so I think it is ok.

you have done nice job on restoring this. That fork is in great need of paint job.

 

[Ollie]

Wow .

 

[sherlylock]

Cheers guys. Can't wait to re-finish the fork as it really is rough!

Anyone wanna pass comment on the cable routing? I never know if I get the lengths right.....looking at the before/after pics I've gone a lot longer than the guy had them originally (not saying that they were right of course)....I just tried to get a nice flowing bend.

What's the right technique/best practice for cabling routing/lengths?

 

[sherlylock]

A couple of new bits arrived to get this finished (or at least ready and rideable).

Impact headset and Kona branded Avocet saddle courtesy of Raidan73 (cheers Adrian!)

My Impact headset top race unit was goosed. I managed to strip the thread on the clamp bolt but on closer inspection the casting was cracked anyway - meaning that the bolt wouldn't have tightened properly.

Anyway - feeling like a standard locknut type headset would take something away from the bike I started looking for a secondhand Impact headset.....and then gave up with no luck. A few days later I got a PM from Adrian saying he had one if I got stuck.....some PMs and a few days later the postie drops a couple of parcels off for me including some nice Kona bits!

Saddle needs a little TLC to get it where I want it - but it's a good start.

Headset is fitted and feels lovely.....interesting to see that the lower race on the replacement Impact is made up of larger ball bearings. Suggests that the headset I had was a mis-match of 2 headsets as my lower race was made up of smaller bearings (same as the top race). Presumably the Impact never had smaller bearings in the lower race??

Anyway - some pics now that she's ready to ride. Just need the owner to get over the 6 week cough/cold and we'll be good to go!

 

[haggis]

Looking good bud. I picked up one of these around 6 months ago and I love it.

 

[SIMONFREESE]

That looks great Mart. Hope you're feeling better and looking forward to seeing it in action sometime soon! Have you been out for a ride on it yet?

 

[sherlylock]

Cheers guys, I've read good things about these bikes - considering that it's quite a low end model so hopefully it'll ride really well.

Simon - cough has finally broken so I'm going to leave it a few days to fully get over it and then I'll be back on the bikes. Really missing getting out for a ride.....I've had this lurg since 5th Jan! Thought I was quite fit and resilient....maybe not.

So as a result I haven't even had a chance to ride it yet!

Anyone know how to size these frames....the Kona catalogue suggests it's a theoretical horizontal line from the headtube centre to the seattube....centre? - hard to tell from the catalogue (measurement C). Mine measures 23.5" suggesting it's a 19" frame. But it looks larger than some of the other frames on retrobike which are classed as 19s.