NigelFinnighan
Rocky Mountain Fan
I figure it's time to start posting some of my builds. Starting with the most recent, since it has me the most excited at the moment- Plus I need an opinion on the fork-
I was lucky enough to pick up this 94 Kona HOT local to me a few days ago. It came as a complete with a mix of parts- some sweet Manitou 1's, Kona i-beam seatpost and nice race light seat, XT fd, LX rd, LX crankset. garbage brakes, bar/stem, shifter/lever, wheelset, and a broken Kona Dog Bone. The only thing staying with this frame is the seat and maybe the fd, the rest on the parts wall or to be given away.
Boken down and cleaned up- it's TET 1522- 18" 94 Kona HOT finished in Cobalt blue- it's missing the "Custom" decal on the top tube and "thumbs up" decal on the seat tube. I'm not sure if they were there and now gone? or maybe the missing "custom" decal is part of the custom...(if you just smoked a joint I bet your mind is blown)
The frame is in decent shape, a little bit of chain suck that should clean up ok. I'm going to take the frame to the auto shop to get some paint matched for some touch up. In the meantime I've been mocking up the build to see what I'll need to source to get it where I want it. I have a few sets of P2's on hand so I figure I'd use one of those on it, maybe paint-match them to the frame, or colour match to the 94 grey.
I knew I wanted the frame to wear a few things I've been saving for a build like this- First off some Ti bars, I believe to be Kona, will go on, then I happened to have a spare syncros seatpost in the right size, that was a must, Then it needed to wear some Race Face cranks, I have a nice blue set that'll work well. So I ran to the parts wall to grab what I needed- PROBLEM 1- My Ti bars are 22.2, my stems are 25.4, I don't have a shim, so I sourced one, it's on it's way. No worries, I'll mock it up with a spare 25.4 set. PROBLEM 2- My blue Race Face crank set that I thought would be perfect... is far from. PROBLEM 3- My Threaded P2 steerer is WAY too long, my threadless P2 steerer 1" too short.
Ok back to the drawing board for the forks... Then I see some switchblades I've been wanting to use on something, measure the steerer... I think it might JUST work, so I move on with them...
I have to do something about those cranks...
At this point I'm stoked! it's all coming together nicely... too nicely- so I start thinking... should I colour match these forks to the frame? That'll be cool... or maybe paint match to the velocity stem? that'll even be cooler! But what about the Ti bars... how will that work looks wise, so I got out some tape to make a shim just to see how it'll all work. I also had to get some tires on it and other bits just to get the full visual.
At this point I'm thinking I don't really have to paint a thing, nothing matches perfectly, but still works. Off to the races!
In the back of my mind I'm still thinking this couldn't have worked out this well, I better double check that steerer- So I clean up a 11/8 threaded headset, fit the cups, dry fit the forks... NOPE too short... (the plan was to lengthen the steerer on that fork so it's still an option, but) Gutted!
I look around the garage to see suspensions I have (I'm impatient), I don't want to swap the headset,and want to stay 1994-1996, so that leaves me with some Quarda 21R with a custom brace, I test fit the steerer, it fit! Dropped some speed springs in from another set, and we're back in business (for now, until I can source a rigid fork).
Wheel wise, I have some Mavic 217 Sup gold laced to m738 hubs wearing black on black Michelin wildgrippers, Shifter/lever will either be m738 or m739, brakes will be XT V-brake. or Onza HO Canti's. deraileurs will be m738.
Thoughts? v-brake or canti? what forks should I run/ source? anything else I should change? Should I run silver turbine cranks?
***EDIT this might be 3D Blue, not Cobalt blue... please enlighten me.
I was lucky enough to pick up this 94 Kona HOT local to me a few days ago. It came as a complete with a mix of parts- some sweet Manitou 1's, Kona i-beam seatpost and nice race light seat, XT fd, LX rd, LX crankset. garbage brakes, bar/stem, shifter/lever, wheelset, and a broken Kona Dog Bone. The only thing staying with this frame is the seat and maybe the fd, the rest on the parts wall or to be given away.
Boken down and cleaned up- it's TET 1522- 18" 94 Kona HOT finished in Cobalt blue- it's missing the "Custom" decal on the top tube and "thumbs up" decal on the seat tube. I'm not sure if they were there and now gone? or maybe the missing "custom" decal is part of the custom...(if you just smoked a joint I bet your mind is blown)
The frame is in decent shape, a little bit of chain suck that should clean up ok. I'm going to take the frame to the auto shop to get some paint matched for some touch up. In the meantime I've been mocking up the build to see what I'll need to source to get it where I want it. I have a few sets of P2's on hand so I figure I'd use one of those on it, maybe paint-match them to the frame, or colour match to the 94 grey.
I knew I wanted the frame to wear a few things I've been saving for a build like this- First off some Ti bars, I believe to be Kona, will go on, then I happened to have a spare syncros seatpost in the right size, that was a must, Then it needed to wear some Race Face cranks, I have a nice blue set that'll work well. So I ran to the parts wall to grab what I needed- PROBLEM 1- My Ti bars are 22.2, my stems are 25.4, I don't have a shim, so I sourced one, it's on it's way. No worries, I'll mock it up with a spare 25.4 set. PROBLEM 2- My blue Race Face crank set that I thought would be perfect... is far from. PROBLEM 3- My Threaded P2 steerer is WAY too long, my threadless P2 steerer 1" too short.
Ok back to the drawing board for the forks... Then I see some switchblades I've been wanting to use on something, measure the steerer... I think it might JUST work, so I move on with them...
I have to do something about those cranks...
At this point I'm stoked! it's all coming together nicely... too nicely- so I start thinking... should I colour match these forks to the frame? That'll be cool... or maybe paint match to the velocity stem? that'll even be cooler! But what about the Ti bars... how will that work looks wise, so I got out some tape to make a shim just to see how it'll all work. I also had to get some tires on it and other bits just to get the full visual.
At this point I'm thinking I don't really have to paint a thing, nothing matches perfectly, but still works. Off to the races!
In the back of my mind I'm still thinking this couldn't have worked out this well, I better double check that steerer- So I clean up a 11/8 threaded headset, fit the cups, dry fit the forks... NOPE too short... (the plan was to lengthen the steerer on that fork so it's still an option, but) Gutted!
I look around the garage to see suspensions I have (I'm impatient), I don't want to swap the headset,and want to stay 1994-1996, so that leaves me with some Quarda 21R with a custom brace, I test fit the steerer, it fit! Dropped some speed springs in from another set, and we're back in business (for now, until I can source a rigid fork).
Wheel wise, I have some Mavic 217 Sup gold laced to m738 hubs wearing black on black Michelin wildgrippers, Shifter/lever will either be m738 or m739, brakes will be XT V-brake. or Onza HO Canti's. deraileurs will be m738.
Thoughts? v-brake or canti? what forks should I run/ source? anything else I should change? Should I run silver turbine cranks?
***EDIT this might be 3D Blue, not Cobalt blue... please enlighten me.
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