This is my first retro MTB - a 1996 Kona Hahanna. I've had it since July 2024 so I'll go over what's already been done to it here. It was my first bike after owning a 1996 Carrera Kinetic road bike for a couple years. I found it on FB marketplace for a steal, just £50. When I got it it was on Schwalbe Marathon commuter tires (1.5") and the brakes were cooked. It was quite hectic picking it up as the seller said there was five other people after it so I ended up going out at 9pm on a Monday to go grab it. This was just after I graduated university and had no money at the time. This £50 was basically my whole bank account but after buying a 20" Specialized Hardrock that was way too big for me I could see that this 16" frame was much better. I also love the color combo on this so I felt quite compelled to get it.
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Here it is the morning after, given a bath. OG Acera X groupset with gripshi(f)t, Sunrims and P2 forks. This was my only bike at the time and it was quite uncomfortable. I had one pair of bars that fit on it from my old road bike and after sniping a shorter stem from my LBS, I ended up with this. (below)
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This felt
super nice compared to my old Carrera, I loved how nimble and agile it felt and I much preffered the riding position. A week later (after this photo) I went on a 6 hour ride with my friend down to Divers Cove. I had the 20" Specialized Hardrock at this point and I pinched the slightly wider tires off it which you can see below. I ended up knocking the front wheel quite badly out of true by hitting a pothole going down a super rocky hill at 30 km/h !
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From here on I began to build it up (more) properly, first by fitting a Charge Spoon saddle. I've still got this on now and having tried no other saddles (apart from the Selle Italia that was on it before) I'm not sure if I genuinely like it or not. I want to try a Brooks B17 still.
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I started a new job and began to commute more frequently and generally just use bikes to get around more so I demanded some practicality. I found a Pendleton saddle bag in a charity shop for £7, a rear rack on Vinted for £2, a cheapo eBay front rack for £9.50 and a basket from Poundland. I know it's not pretty, but the functionality is there! The cantis were also getting on my nerves at this point. Despite new pads I was just not able to get them adjusted properly for whatever reason. It felt like every time I set the pads in the right place, it only took me to ride my bike and brake once for them to go completley out of alignment again. (and start squeaking!)
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This next set of upgrades probably made the biggest difference. A Nitto Baby Bosco bar, Avid SD-3 v-brakes (with Problem Solvers clamp), some cheapo Shimano thumb shifters and a period correct Topeak rear rack! This brought the geometry much closer to what I deemed comfortable and on this I've been able to ride ~4 hours without any pain. After this point I still get some in my neck and wrists.
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To compliment, I treated myself to some SKS Bluemels and a pair of Maxxis DTH 2.3" tires. These fat tires made it much more comfy, but it feels more sluggish than it used to, I imagine due to rolling mass. They do have much more grip than the Marathons do and are definetly worth it for that reason. It's suprising how often near misses happen in London and I've found myself making emergency stops more often than I would like. In wet weather, the Marathons slid around like crazy and it felt like the bike would slide out from underneath me during hard, fast cornering but these DTH tires feel
way more planted.
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Since christmas, I've just been riding it. I think I've put ~4000km on this frame already since July. Admittedly, I don't look after it as much as I'd like to, primarily due to time. The frame is pretty rusty from all the salt, in the (I presume) typical areas for a bike frame to rust, the fork and dropouts being the worst. A beater would be nice but I'm yet to come across anything that fits the bill. It's still my only bike at the moment (but not for long) and I have neglected servicing it at times when I've just been too busy to. I invested in chain waxing, only for my first ride with my waxed chain to be an expedition out into the muddy fields around Borehamwood and for my entire drivetrain to get completley gunked up with thick, clay-like mud. This is where I learned why people don't run overfenders on the trails! This stripped the whole molten wax treatment I'd done and due to wet conditions the chain quickly began to rust. I then just threw a bunch of wet lube at it for Jan/Feb which worked but after a couple weeks of wet weather riding the Acera X rear deraileur's jockey wheel became incredibly noisy and loose, so I replaced it with an STX deraileur. I forgot to mention, I also had a go at sewing and made my own (shitty) custom frame bag.
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So far I'm extremely happy with this bike. I first came accross mountain biking and off road adventure cycling a couple years back and the Surlys and Kogas are simply just way too expensive for me. To be able to have similar experiences that are possible on those bikes at a fraction of the price is great!
My plans for this bike in the future are:
- Tubeless setup. I've never ridden tubeless before and I'm really curious as to what the difference is in terms of feel.
- New wheelset. The wheels on it have been out of true since I've got it and an LBS I took it to "trued" them but they are far from perfect. Every time I've tried to true them myself I just round the brass spoke nipples ._.
- New, longer stem. Again just to play around and learn about geometry.
- New chainset. The one on there is quite rusty and worn and the cranks are 200mm for some reason?
- Have a go with various saddles.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I will update this post as I swap parts around, but I don't think that will be anytime soon as I'm building my second bike shortly.
