Dablk's 1997 Kona U'I

[dablk]

Dablk's 1997 Kona U'I

Well went a bit out on a limb with this one.

I've never owned a full susser and when this came up in a bit of an odd state I had a long think.

Cracks? bearings? knackered shocks? is 19" too small for me?
What was going for it was it was local to view before handing over the cash and came with enough random bits to cover the cost in a worst case. So bid..and no else did.

No obvious cracks on collection so...

Todays pile of bits


Let the stripping comence

 

[dablk]

I have just had a total result.

following on from my saving quadras question..
http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... 3#p2476663

i found a perfect set of elstomers in the other fork... which i was told were manitous but infact are some form of judy/indy



So i can save the quadras!

 

[Plus one]

Nice one .. I nearly landed one of these last year but balked at possible bearings/wear/shock issues .. Your braver than me

What's plan retro mod ? Original ?

Col

 

[dablk]

Hi Col,
yeah it was the cash collected factor which made me jump. Still not 100% confident in it so the first plan is to get it back to a similar spec level.. lx 7 speed and some girpshift. probably with some rubbish curves too. i dont wanna get into turning into a posh build. plus its rubbish spec had a certain charm now that the quadras have ben saved.

i also have my 98 pahoehoe rebuild going on at same time. The paint and stickers alone cost more than this bike

 

[dablk]

So i finally got to the very bottom of the lot and its started to go back togther. I have no idea what was used to stop cable rub on the headtube. was like some sort of tinfoil tape sealant. I can safely say i have never had so much trouble getting anything off a bike before. still its done. Theres no kidding here....the paints bad, plenty missing, plenty lacquer missing. I'm however going to ignor all that and just built it back up to a factoryish spec.



First the rockshox quadra rebuild went really well after finding the holy grail of two new elastomers in the tat extra kit. I found one of the adjuster to have broken so i simply packed it with some of the old knackered elastomer. A mate even found his old Judy butter and karama'd me a silver bar. Found a complete tioga alchemey headset in my box so thats gone on too.



I'm not getting upset with the paint for now. I have painted many projects, and enjoyed them. However all paint does is help you sell a frame, it doesn't really gain you much extra cash back. So untill i know this bike its staying in its used style

Most of the gear/brake were rotten/incomplete/missmatched. So i ahve had to start spending.
so far the shopping bill is
Nos 7speed srt400 from china
a kona seatpost clamp
Most of a curve brakeset. I think I have sourced the rest.
Shout out for a fd-567 lx 31.8mm top swing top pull.

i have a see of rubbish cyclone cranks (kona spec) already. the orginal lx rear mach. two possible sets of budget period wheels.

the best new though has to be... still not found a crack in it.

 

[dablk]

Team 96-99 Photo as going have to store a couple while the new builds continue.

 

[dablk]

Mini update,
bits arrived form china and portugal of all places. Amazed that the china source NOs gripshift. not only came with the little washer but cables and cable crip ends.. delivered from china for £14 ish. I know its not high end stuff but still.



hopefully have a seat clamp coming from another retrobike member.

Just really missing a front mech.

 

[dablk]

Little progress

Front end mounted.. started to look like a kona now..



correct 97 seat clamp sorted. Think these ti in nicely when the project 2 are being used or in this case the rear triangle




Just this damn Lx front mech thats hiding from me. Theres plenty of more expensive options but just seems nuts putting xt on this when its a bargain basement build everywhere else.

 

[Wienerwald]

Re:

You could probably go for STX or even lower, I had a '97 Manomano with LX on the rear and (I think) the front mech was STX. Besides forks and colour I haven't spotted huge diffences between U'I and Manomano :shock:

Mathias

 

[dablk]

Yeah, its probably actually lower spec than LX orginally. just kind of like the look of the m567.

Just trying to stop myself going full xt on a cheap fun build