Kona AA 1st Retro Build. Kona Help

[HooT9790]

Hi all,

please bare with me, this is my first post and first retro build, so I'm bound to ask some crap questions.

I volunteer for a Charity cycle shop where we refurbish donated bikes and sell them on at a small profit. So as a thank you the boss of the shop gave me a choice of the wrecked & rusting bike and in the back of the pile was this little beauty of a 1996 Kona AA. (right place right time I guess!)

So I now have my prize, and I'm considering doing a refurb of the bike and get it back to its former 1996 glory as possible.

I've been scanning the site for a few weeks now, picking up tips and so forth, I found the catalogue section and have discovered the original spec for the bike.

It has all the original Curve componants, no pedals, only the Sniff front tyre, the rear is a Continental, mavic 221 rims, even the original Kool Stop brakepads which look hardly worn, and theres No seat or seatpost.

Its not mint, I've stripped it down and discovered a few issues.

1. Front Mech - states in the cat that it has a LX, it currently has a Sachs, sourcing an LX isnt an issue there seems to be loads on ebay, but what model do i need? I think band size is 28.6??

2. Corrosion - there are some marked areas of corrosion on the frame and under some of the paint work, whats the best way to treat this?, i have the ability to get it powder coated for £35, would this be a better option?

3. Seatpost & saddle- are Kona Race Light 27.0 posts hard to come by, and would putting a Selle Italia Flite saddle be ok rather than the stock Expedia

4 Cables, they were crossed under the down tube, is this normal on Kona of this age or did someone have a bit of fun routing them?

5. Forks - It has a set of Rockshox Quadra 21R, the elastomers are completely knackered, but i have a set of Speed Springs that was removed from my old RS Judys, they look about the same length as the elastomers, could i just use these instead?

Stripping the forks, i've hit upon a snag. I cannot remove the lowers, i've seen a video on Youtube and the guy was using a very long hex bolt to get them out, i was trying with the normal short one you get in a socket set but to no avail. Plus one of the legs has an awful lot of rust inside it, but the outer stanctions are nice & clean.
Ive been toying with the idea of scrapping the forks and getting a set of P2's as i like the look of a fully rigid Kona.

below are some pics

Thanks in advance

HooT

 

[eshew]

The front derailleur on my 96 Sex One which I'm assuming is the same year as yours came with a sachs front derailleur just like yours, it's stock, don't sweat the catalog.

The cables on the down tube were crossed and remained crossed until I had to put the ol' ride down. No issues.

 

[al-onestare]

1. Front Mech - states in the cat that it has a LX, it currently has a Sachs, sourcing an LX isnt an issue there seems to be loads on ebay, but what model do i need? I think band size is 28.6??
2. Corrosion - there are some marked areas of corrosion on the frame and under some of the paint work, whats the best way to treat this?, i have the ability to get it powder coated for £35, would this be a better option?
3. Seatpost & saddle- are Kona Race Light 27.0 posts hard to come by, and would putting a Selle Italia Flite saddle be ok rather than the stock Expedia
4 Cables, they were crossed under the down tube, is this normal on Kona of this age or did someone have a bit of fun routing them?
5. Forks - It has a set of Rockshox Quadra 21R, the elastomers are completely knackered, but i have a set of Speed Springs that was removed from my old RS Judys, they look about the same length as the elastomers, could i just use these instead?

1 - yep, 28.6 I think. It was later aluminium models where the tubing was 31.8m.
2 - give it a really, really good clean taking everything off. Treat the areas with a bit of wire wool to get the excess off, then when dry a bit of clear coat. You touch it up as well beforehand.
3 - think about your arse ;-) and what it most comfortable with your padded shorts. Flites are the bee's knees IMO.
4 - crossed everytime
5 - not sure, Quadra's aren't the best. If you don't fancy rigids, then you can't go wrong with a nice pair of RC35/36's especially with colour of the AA frame.

 

[Canuck]

Regarding your first point, I'm no expert on aluminum Kona frame's but I'd be very surprised if the clamp on your front
mech was 28.6mm. Of course I could be wrong but I reckon it would be closer to 31.8mm. Measure twice, buy once
Is the size not printed somewhere on your old Sachs?

 

[BobCatMax]

take a look at mine, i';m pretty sure the sizes stayed the same from 95 to 96.

 

[HooT9790]

Guys,

Thanks very much for the input, off to get some humbrol paint this weekend and some clearcoat, Thx eshew for the tip on the front mech that was really bugging me.

Starting the cleanup this weekend, well as much as my busted up hands will allow, any tip on polishing?

Hoot

 

[cce]

check those cranks carefully for cracks. I had a NOS set that cracked in under 6 months.

 

[konaman1]

31.8 for the mech band as its an alu frame. The sachs is original and a very good mech. Kona had quite an eclectic parts mix in the early to mid 90's it was one of the reasons they stood out from the crowd

 

[cce]

I've got a suitable LX front mech listed in the FS forum if you do decide to change it.

 

[HooT9790]

Visited the cycle charity I volunteer at today and struck lucky, in a pile of donated bikes was an old Kona Cinder Cone, with a seat post which I managed to liberate, Its not a Race Light, But with a bit of elbow grease it should shine up pretty well, it has some damage but its well down the post, luckily i'm a short arse so it wont show!

I also hit upon a pair of forks for the build, The Cinder cone had a pair of old RST's, I thought I might get lucky and liberate a set of P2's, but I managed to get a set of Manitou Magnum. they looked pretty grotty and there was next to no movement in the fork, but there was no rust anywhere and no cracks. I think the forks are 1993/4 (please correct me if wrong), but its all I have to use atm until I completely refurb the 1996 RS judy XC's (cream & red) I also have.

so here are some before & after shots of the forks

After a full strip, degrease & inspection, I discovered that the elastomers were in pretty bad condition & one of the bolts is pretty much solid in the fork brace. the stanctions are in great condition so are the bushings. After inspecting the elastomers I hit upon the idea of 'would my speed springs fit in these from my old Rockshox Judys'

I've done a dry rebuild on the forks and everything seems fine, would the speed springs cause any damage? they fitted without any problems at all,just slid straight in and top caps went on with no issues. I still have the elastomers just in case! took about 2 hours in all, not a bad job as I was learning as I go!

Theres a lot of rust in the steerer, any tips for getting it out?

So now I've gone from a threaded steerer and the velocity stem, to a headset stem, so I'm now in a quandary about what bar/stem combo to now have. I have some Humbrol paint & clear coat, plus I have next week off of work so lets see how much I get done!

Cheers

Hooty