Kona Manomano 1997

[al-onestare]

Re: Kona Manomano 1997: Red-5

Here's the first one I've found. It's either the Cheddar Challenge or the Cheddar round of the NPS in '97.

That's an ace picture by the way. Here's a modified Manomano complete with a home made head-tube brace a la Stab-style from the September 1998 edition of MBUK. The article says it's an old Mokomoko but a) Mokomoko's weren't old, in fact they'd only just come out in 1998 and b) it's got the canti guide on the rear. And it's bright Manomano red!

Still, as someone mentioned on the Kona Retro Community Facebook page, it's a real weekend warriors bike. I may not be a warrior, but it is my weekend messing about bike.

 

[yeti_bomb]

Re: Kona Manomano 1997: 2018 refreshed

So rad

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

Will Spring 2018 ever turn up? Last weekend was looking dire but for most of Saturday it was dry. The trails are awful right now so what else is a boy to do when the legs want to get out there and you've got a refreshed toy to play with? Answer, head to Stratford and the 2012 Olympic legacy.

I spent 4 hours messing around on the mountain bike trails and I had a blast. You can't really get more urban that this without doing a city ride. There's 6 miles of trails total but it's not about the distance, it's about practicing skills in my view. There's definitely enough to get stuck into: some very tight drop-offs, some cheeky short rock gardens and jumps. Tons and tons of jumps, probably too many actually as there's not enough space to maintain your speed. But I'm being picky. At the end of the day I was outdoors all day, was whooping for most of it and I pretty much had the place to myself. I can cycle to and from the venue via the foot tunnel at Greenwich, which means throwing in a few local loops where it wasn't a total bog-fest. And all for a fiver*

If you want to have a laugh, practice and practice, and you're stuck in suburbia, then I highly recommend it.

As for the bike, wow. I sound like a stuck record so apologies, but why bother with Rock Shox when you've got Marzocchi. The previous Judy's weren't bad, but the Z1's are from a different universe. I've not tried SIDs and I understand they are in the same ball-park so you'll know what I mean when I say these are plush, responsive and have excellent controlled rebound. With the longer length, the front is a little more upright and that makes a tremendous difference. You can feel (and see) how our sport evolved to todays enduro, all terrain bikes, where you can sit-up and roll over "everything". The amount of confidence this bike gives me is scary and yet it's retro. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect - it's got a flexy rear-end for starters, and it's pretty heavy - but for pure grin, none of my other bikes come close.

IF Spring, let alone Summer, ever turns up, I can't wait to take her around Swinley again.

*Excluding bike, bike parts, etc. etc.

 

[SEANSTEPHENS]

Re:

I mainly agree with you on the marz/rs statement, but partly i dont. I love the z range bombers, they always feel so rock solid but finding a pair without worn bushings these days is hard, especially when replacements aren’t available like the seals are. Major drawback! Sids of that era are known to be a bit fidly, you dont expect to fit and leave em like a pair of marz (or so i hear) But when i last had a pair of 98 sids i was really surprised how versatile and forgivable they were

The bike in mbuk does look pretty awesome with that headtube gusset doesn’t it?!

Sean

 

[al-onestare]

Re: Re:

I mainly agree with you on the marz/rs statement, but partly i dont. I love the z range bombers, they always feel so rock solid but finding a pair without worn bushings these days is hard, especially when replacements aren’t available like the seals are. Major drawback! Sids of that era are known to be a bit fidly, you dont expect to fit and leave em like a pair of marz (or so i hear) But when i last had a pair of 98 sids i was really surprised how versatile and forgivable they were

The bike in mbuk does look pretty awesome with that headtube gusset doesn’t it?!

Sean

Fair points. As mentioned earlier, I cannot praise Mark enough for the quality of his work: https://www.mtbforksbymark.com/

I prefer the simpler, cleaner designers but I totally understand why gussets became a thing

 

[shedobits]

Re:

I can cycle to and from the venue via the foot tunnel at Greenwich,

Tut tut

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

Obviously walking that bit!

 

[shedobits]

Re:

I got told off for going round and round the lift shaft

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

I've seen people escorted all the way back to the other end of the tunnel and walk back to the other side supervised.

 

[al-onestare]

Re:

My first blast at Swinley for 18 months and what a time we had. After a blue lap warm up, I took in the red and blue combined. I'm pretty sure the route is longer than before and there's been a tremendous amount of logging activity. Many of the sections I thought were new were not, they just looked totally different like the cork-screw. The pine wood twisty bit is still as technical as I remember but somehow less janky (although it's still got some cheeky rooted corners).

Sections 2-5 were out of bounds due to water-logging and there were too many fire-road breaks for my liking, but overall, it's a good work-out on a retro machine. Even with the Z1's and Fox, my wrists and torso were tired at the end. And the less said about my pitiful drops the better - I still need to work on those and get my arse over the rear wheel :facepalm:

I video'd the lot with my GoPro but have hit the first snag that Quik only runs on Windows 10 or higher so it'll be a while before I can check and edit any usable footage. It was an ace day and highly recommended :mrgreen: