My 1998 Kona Caldera build

jhnbssll

Retro Newbie
Hello all, I'm new around here and thought I'd share my old Kona build with you :)

First things first I had a Caldera way back in 1998 when they first hit the market. It was a warranty replacement for a Hahanna frame I'd cracked - I knew the shop owner so they helped me out with a cheeky upgrade in the process :oops: :LOL: It was a lovely bike and I quickly regretted swapping the frame a few years later for a well used Azonic DS-1 that was too small for me :roll: :LOL:

Anyway, fast forward to last christmas. I was away with the in-laws flicking through eBay when an 18" 1998 Caldera frame popped up. I bought it immediately and at £90 probably paid over the odds for it :LOL: I also started scouring eBay for some retro bits to go on it and ended up spending rather a lot more than perhaps I should have :eek: :LOL: I then spent the rest of the christmas break waiting to get home and receive my goodies :cool:

When the frame arrived it was immediately obvious it was in pretty good condition. I decided to go with Bomber Z2's of the era; I'd had Z1's on mine but they were a bit too long for it really. Besides, the Z2's matched the colour better :LOL: :oops: I also decided it needed XTR kit as I couldn't afford it at the time and figured old second hand stuff would be cheap - not entirely correct :LOL:

Anyway, the bike came together nicely and rides well but I hadn't realised quite how far technology has come on... When push comes to shove my 2016 Stumpjumper carbon 6fattie gets picked every time I go out so the Kona very rarely gets used, poor thing :( :facepalm:
 

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And here's the Stumpjumper that it plays second fiddle to :LOL:
 

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jhnbssll":3b1knaqm said:
Hello all, I'm new around here and thought I'd share my old Kona build with you :)

When push comes to shove my 2016 Stumpjumper carbon 6fattie gets picked every time I go out so the Kona very rarely gets used, poor thing :( :facepalm:


but the Kona is the better looking one of the two :D

by the way welcome to Retro Bike,
 
So the Kona never got ridden as a mountain bike so I decided to turn it in to a commuter. It's since covered 30 miles, just 2 commutes, but will come in to its own when the weather gets a little worse as I've got some studded marathon winters to go on when it gets icy out :cool:

Basically I've added full length mudguards front and rear, a tortec rack identical to the one I use on my other commuter (a Charge Plug) and Schwalbe marathon tyres. I've also popped some SPD pedals on, not retro ones but I had them in the cupboard and they do the job nicely.

Anyway, its all reversible should I need/wish but it will see a lot more use with this setup and it's a great bike to ride so I'll likely keep it like this for the foreseeable future.

I've picked up an 18" 2008 Fire Mountain frameset that needs a bit of TLC which is my next project. Nothing special but something to keep me out of trouble in the evenings :mrgreen:
 

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That frame is in great condition, looks pretty good in commuter spec, and the main thing is that it's getting used. Not many commuters with an XTR cranket I bet.
 
Thanks, I love the bike. I've just put Marathon Winter studded tyres on so it's ready and waiting for any ice and snow we may get in the coming months :mrgreen:
 

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Re:

Great bike there heres mine,that red bomber looks great ! could do with it on mine :LOL:
 

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