Basically got given a Kona Smoke (29er) bare frame with another bike I bought a while back. Didn't really want it, but the seller was all set to scrap it, and I just couldn't say no.
Intention was to build it up into a pub bike with spare/cheap used parts but got slightly carried away. I think it ended up costing just over £300 in the end, but then it's mostly SLX/XT components. And the wheels are new rims (Halo White Line) self built onto Hope hubs. Following an understated/stealthy theme, pretty much every part is black.
Frame didn't come with forks, so I got some Kona P2 700c forks. They're not the exact ones that originally came on the Smoke - the A-C height is a bit shorter, whilst sharpening up the handling barely left enough clearance for the mud guard, so it's really hugging the tyre. Not ideal, but I can't see much alternative.
Very happy with how it's turned out, rides quite nicely, and those 700c tyres roll really freely. The tyres and mud guard clearance is the only thing holding it back from muddy off roading.
From this:
To this:
Intention was to build it up into a pub bike with spare/cheap used parts but got slightly carried away. I think it ended up costing just over £300 in the end, but then it's mostly SLX/XT components. And the wheels are new rims (Halo White Line) self built onto Hope hubs. Following an understated/stealthy theme, pretty much every part is black.
Frame didn't come with forks, so I got some Kona P2 700c forks. They're not the exact ones that originally came on the Smoke - the A-C height is a bit shorter, whilst sharpening up the handling barely left enough clearance for the mud guard, so it's really hugging the tyre. Not ideal, but I can't see much alternative.
Very happy with how it's turned out, rides quite nicely, and those 700c tyres roll really freely. The tyres and mud guard clearance is the only thing holding it back from muddy off roading.
From this:
To this:
