Lipstick on a pig? Kona Jake upgrades

[Woz]

Not forgetting, practically one of the few ground up specific retro / vintage CX was an Alan glued and screwed for added excitement.

Everytime I see these forsale I say yes. Then I say no. Then I say yes. Then I say no. An eternal struggle right there which doesn't go away.

 

[Woz]

Anyhow, in all fairness to the OP about "lipstick on a pig" (which is funny as hell) all that matters is the fun factor of wrenching and riding.

It's not like we are going to the Worlds or Olympics and we certainly don't need to listen what GCN and what not proclaim to be happy.

 

[moonlite]

Thanks for the comments re the front derailleur -- that's still definitely a work in progress and the decision has already been made to make the front 2x. If that proves troublesome, I'll delete the front derailleur and use it as a 1x -- not sure what to do about the left-hand lever in that case but will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Q-factor doesn't bother me much -- I ride MTBs all the time too, so can adapt.

 

[moonlite]

Update on the pig. Had to shorten the chain, but once it was off I ended up replacing the derailleur with a 105 version on an extended link.

Then spent what seemed like ages fettling the shifting, front and rear. And of course, when the front derailleur had been lowered, it needed a new cable, so that was fitted and everything tied up again.

Once everything was back together, I took it out for a ride and within a km, the pin I'd replaced when shortening the chain worked its way loose. Luckily I was ready for it so it didn't go through the derailleur and wreck it.

So tomorrow's job is fixing that.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Update on the pig. Had to shorten the chain, but once it was off I ended up replacing the derailleur with a 105 version on an extended link.

Then spent what seemed like ages fettling the shifting, front and rear. And of course, when the front derailleur had been lowered, it needed a new cable, so that was fitted and everything tied up again.

Once everything was back together, I took it out for a ride and within a km, the pin I'd replaced when shortening the chain worked its way loose. Luckily I was ready for it so it didn't go through the derailleur and wreck it.

So tomorrow's job is fixing that.

View attachment 877011

It's so hard to rivet a narrow chain that id always recommend using a snap link. It's almost always the newly riveted link we see on a broken chain, even from the factory on a newish machine.
I carry a spare with my repair kit,

(I'm assuming I can improvise a chain breaker from road debris, like a screw or nail and a stone to remove a damaged section
.. only had to do it once in 10,000's of miles)

Won't that derailleur run that 32? cassette without the drop link, just a bit of b-adjust?
The drop link makes shifting worse because the top jockey is pulled further away from the sprockets.

 

[Nob]

The drop link makes shifting worse because the top jockey is pulled further away from the sprockets.

Not on my set up

 

[bikeworkshop]

Not on my set up
View attachment 877016

If you've got to use one... I'm surprised the chain doesn't rub on the bottom of the f mech cage onthe small chainring in all but 1st gear

 

[Nob]

If you've got to use one... I'm surprised the chain doesn't rub on the bottom of the f mech cage onthe small chainring in all but 1st gear

Its a rather special set up of full on experimentation & the front mech is basically useless so wil only change down but not up as to big a gap unless i add a middle ring probably 54T would do.

The frame is up for sale now as i can only take limited bikes with me when i leave Uk next year.

 

[moonlite]

It's so hard to rivet a narrow chain that id always recommend using a snap link. It's almost always the newly riveted link we see on a broken chain, even from the factory on a newish machine.
I carry a spare with my repair kit,

(I'm assuming I can improvise a chain breaker from road debris, like a screw or nail and a stone to remove a damaged section
.. only had to do it once in 10,000's of miles)

Won't that derailleur run that 32? cassette without the drop link, just a bit of b-adjust?
The drop link makes shifting worse because the top jockey is pulled further away from the sprockets.

I had a huge B-tension screw on the last derailleur and it didn't do enough to get onto the largest cog, so I bunged the drop link in here to see if it works. Of course, I should have googled the maximum size of cog this derailleur can handle. And as I'll be fiddling around with it again, I'll be sure to do that beforehand!

I do have some replacement Shimano snap-off pins for 10-speed which is what I'll use to join this chain. And will order some appropriate snap links for future use. It's all these little bits and pieces that extend project time and cost . . . and interest I guess.

 

[moonlite]

I've been riding this a bit around the neighbourhood and it's become clear that the wisdom in the comments above from @bikeworkshop and @Woz is of course correct: the road front mech can't easily handle the MTB cranks / rings, partly because of the greater Q-factor. It was frustrating, as I had it nearly working, but couldn't get it to the point where it wasn't making a horrible noise in one or the other ring.

It was also noticeable that on the smaller ring I was only accessing the very highest three or four ratios at the back, so the answer seemed to be to keep the chain on the big ring and delete the front derailleur.

All good so far -- had to resort to some rather industrial-looking spacers to get the chainline into the zone, and of course the chainring is not narrow-wide, so there's a risk I'll be shedding the chain if the 'shadow' derailleur isn't enough to keep everything engaged. The spacers mean a bash ring would be ineffective, so I've ordered a cheapo chainring that claims to be singlespeed-specific.

Yes, it would have been simpler to use a road chainset, but this is what I had in the spares box and stubbornness means I want to make it work!

I'm still using the Sora brake / shifter with the cable removed -- it's visually very similar to the 105 on the other side, so it will probably stay.