My unicorn - 1994 Kona Hei Hei - FULL SPEC/FINISHED PICS ON PAGE 8 & 9 - BOTY 2021, BOTM April 2021 & 2nd MucOff Show & Shine Malverns Classic 2021

Turned out nice :cool: not a fan of the wheels personally though, would look cleaner with normal ones but just being picky :)

Are you going to ride/race it?
 
Turned out nice :cool: not a fan of the wheels personally though, would look cleaner with normal ones but just being picky :)

Are you going to ride/race it?

Thank you 😊

Would be a boring world if everyone liked the same things.

No my retro bikes are are for reminiscing, I’ve got modern bikes for riding 👍
 
One day I'll start a thread like the recent Klein one, about how much I don't get the love for Tiaoga disk drives! ;)

But even with that, I can't help but admire the level of spec and attention to detail of this build.

It's pristine to an insane degree.

Although, if it's an "out and out race bike", it's a bit depressing to think about it never getting thrashed about!
 
One day I'll start a thread like the recent Klein one, about how much I don't get the love for Tiaoga disk drives! ;)

But even with that, I can't help but admire the level of spec and attention to detail of this build.

It's pristine to an insane degree.

Although, if it's an "out and out race bike", it's a bit depressing to think about it never getting thrashed about!

Thank you 😊

DD’s are definitely a marmite component. For me they encompass early/mid 90’s MTB of crazy designs, loads of industry trial/error and stuff that simply didn’t/doesn’t make sense design wise at all. I was a massive Tomac fan and to me they were the ultimate must have component, but I couldn’t afford one back in the day...roll on 25+ years and I own a couple of DD’s. When you see one in the flesh the design is so creative and out the box thinking it’s quite mind blowing, but in all honesty I cant believe any have survived this long as they’re quite fragile (especially the DD Pro) and in hindsight I definitely wouldn’t of wanted to have ridden one in anger especially as a privateer racer back then.

People build retro bikes for many different reasons...for me it’s purely for reminiscing, mainly building race bikes I could only dream of owning, but simply couldn’t afford back in the day. I enjoy the hunt for the original rare parts, building fully functioning period correct bikes and once finished I appreciate them almost like works of art that instantly take me back in time to where I found a sport/passion that completely took over/changed my life, a sport that took me all over the world seeing places I would of never have seen, put me in a lot of hospitals, racing at every level, being lucky to have had numerous factory sponsors, to testing prototype parts, designing bikes/component to and owning & managing a factory race team helping others to achieve their dreams/fulfil their potential. I personally have no interest in riding my retro bikes in anger as I like the efficiency and functionality of my modern bikes. I totally get that people like riding their retro bikes, it’s like I like driving my classic car and other people just don’t get it...it’s either your thing or it’s not 🤷‍♂️
 
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Amen brother!!!

Nothing but love from me, and admiration for the skill and dedication shown in all your bikes.

I know who I'll be coming to when I win the lottery and can pay someone to source and build my ultimate dream machine! ;)
 
Amen brother!!!

Nothing but love from me, and admiration for the skill and dedication shown in all your bikes.

I know who I'll be coming to when I win the lottery and can pay someone to source and build my ultimate dream machine! ;)

😍😍

When you win the lottery I’d be honoured to source/build it 👍👍
 
The Pace, GT and Kona are all stunning builds. :cool: I have to ask, what do you plan to build next?

Thank you so much, it’s really appreciated 😊

I have a 16” 1993 GT Tech Shop anodised black Zaskar and a 2000 Intense M1 that are next in line for some love, but these will just be frame restorations for the time being as I have other projects including a house build (subject to planning being authorised) and full restoration of my classic car, however I will be slowly sourcing & squirrelling parts away for their eventual builds.
 
Great to seeing this getting a lot of attention outside the site. The prod to get this on The Cog as a dream build is spot on. Let me know if you need a direct contact at Kona to speak with.
 

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