Kona Unit 26er SS

[TD75]

Anybody converted one to a 69er? I'm curious, was out single speeding and I miss the roll over ability of the 29er. Was wondering if I'm going to make it worse putting a 29er wheel on the front.

Also I was climbing through a rock garden and I struck the cranks hard. Now every time I pedal I get an intermittent greek like a granny on a cold day coming from the bottom bracket area. Have I borked the BB?

 

[klunkrider]

Not gone 69er with a Unit but I put a 29+ front end on a bike and I currently run a 26" rear/27.5" front on my klunker.

I didn't like the 29+ front, well, I did in some ways, it rolled over anything and gave a little suspension but I didn't like the way it made what was, with a 26" front, a very chuckable bike into something that needed a bit more muscle to flick around.

The 27.5" front on my klunker hasn't made any noticeable difference to the handling I wouldn't have said. It's running a 2.5" tyre so bit less weighty.

I reckon a non plus size 29er front would be a nice set up.

 

[TD75]

Thanks mechanicalvandal thats encouraging. Think I'm going to look for a 29er front suspension fork and give it a go.

 

[Andy R]

A 29” wheel plus a suspension fork will add too much height. You’d be better off using rigid forks of around 440-460mm axle/crown. The best choice (imho) would be Singular Gryphon forks - 445mm a/c and with 55mm offset.

 

[TD75]

Thank Andy R will bare that in mind. Still trying to fix the bottom bracket. Fitted a new hope one and it's still making a noise.

If I wanted to fit a QR seat clamp, anyone got any ideas what size that would be. Konaworld said 28.6, I got a hope one and it's too small.

 

[Andy R]

Re. seat clamp - if it’s a 27.2mm seatpost then I would say, on a steel frame,that it’s 99% certain that it’ll be 30mm. Salsa is the best, imho.
Check other stuff for what appears to be BB noise - rear wheel QR not tight enough, sprocket needing grease on the freehub, chainring loose on cranks, whatever....

 

[LongboardSi]

pedal threads, lockring on your cassette, basically anything that could be loose, or have a bit of dirt trapped in the threads or whatever. Lots of things sound very like dodgy bottom brackets.

 

[LongboardSi]

Oh, and I've got a SS with a 650b up front and 26" rear - took a bit of playing with bar and stem combos to get it feeling right, but it's very nice now. The problem with sticking anything bigger up front is lifts the BB. slackening head angles is less of an issue, but if you squeeze a bigger wheel in you probably want to be careful about increasing the fork length as well, as you end up making quite a big difference to bottom bracket height.

It's actually a bit more complicated as the whole relationship between head tube angle, fork offset impact on 'trail' which changes how it steers, but whatever happens with that a higher bb will feel very different (worse, - unless it was really low before) through the corners, and make the bike seem more top heavy and unstable.

 

[TD75]

Thanks Andy R & LongboardSi

I've checked the chain ring and tightened it, it was a little loose. I've taken the back wheel out and spun the wheel, seems smooth and not rough. The only thing I can see is inside the drive side crank where it meets the spider, it’s looking a little damaged. Would this cause a loud knocking noise? is this a serviceable part or just buy new cranks?

The noise is quite loud when under load. BB is new so it's not that. I've tried changing the pedals because my commuter ones are a little rough, it's not them either.

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[klunkrider]

Try removing the chainring, thoroughly cleaning the faces of the ring and crankarm which meet and the chainring nuts and bolts and applying a little grease to the meeting faces of ring and crank when you reassemble.