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

[44Racing]

Lads I reckon hes figured out time travel and hes going back to the 90's, buying bits and bringing them back to 2021.

How on earth are you sourcing all these minty fresh parts?!

Mind blown

Unfortunately I haven’t figured out time travel...if only!

Ive literally sourced parts from all over the world for this build over the past 2.5 years. I’d say 70+% of the parts on this build are NOS. I’ve restored and have had a couple of parts restored (fork lowers & barends), but that’s about it really. All parts are genuine with no reproduction parts at all. It’s certainly not been a cheap build :facepalm:

Still looking for a couple of bits.

 

[44Racing]

Not had much time recently, but made a little more progress on this today...black Onza HO canti’s with black Onza Chill Pills, Onza straddle wires, XTR brake blocks, M900 XTR brake cables, XTR brake outer cables, XTR black ferrules and Venhill titanium canti bolts all fitted and set up.

 

[Mortonm]

Wow this is crazy clean. Going to almost be shame to ride it

 

[44Racing]

Wow this is crazy clean. Going to almost be shame to ride it

Id say 70% of the parts are NOS.

It’s just a workshop queen...it’ll be completely functional, but won’t be ridden as I have modern bikes for riding

 

[Mortonm]

Id say 70% of the parts are NOS.

It’s just a workshop queen...it’ll be completely functional, but won’t be ridden as I have modern for riding

I get it. Still makes me a little sad.

At least take her around the block on a sunny sunday ?

 

[44Racing]

I get it. Still makes me a little sad.

At least take her around the block on a sunny sunday ?

Will get a gentle test ride

 

[abr303]

That is an awesome build in all fairness..... It had me thinking to myself, ' I'd not want to ride it due to the rarity of so many of the parts'. The potential of breaking/damaging it when ridden would play on my mind so understand the workshop queen status it's been given. I had a similar situation with a really early Zaskar frame that turned into NOS fest of parts and it hung pride and place on the living room wall at home with not a single pedal stroke made in anger. Fast forward 3 years when I was contacted by a GT collector about it and a price was eventually agreed..... he rides it despite it being the flagship of his fleet.... Horses for courses I guess but I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to ride your Unicorn. Top job fella

 

[44Racing]

That is an awesome build in all fairness..... It had me thinking to myself, ' I'd not want to ride it due to the rarity of so many of the parts'. The potential of breaking/damaging it when ridden would play on my mind so understand the workshop queen status it's been given. I had a similar situation with a really early Zaskar frame that turned into NOS fest of parts and it hung pride and place on the living room wall at home with not a single pedal stroke made in anger. Fast forward 3 years when I was contacted by a GT collector about it and a price was eventually agreed..... he rides it despite it being the flagship of his fleet.... Horses for courses I guess but I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to ride your Unicorn. Top job fella

Cheers mate

Its taken around 2.5 years to source the parts and some parts I just don’t think I’d find again in NOS condition.

Whilst I own it, it’ll only ever be a workshop Queen/display bike as it’s a bike I always wanted, but could never afford back in the day. I have my retros purely for reminiscing from where/when it all started and the bikes I dreamt of.

I do lone them out every now and then to trusted friends for use in their shops/stands for others to enjoy.

 

[44Racing]

So finally after spending 2.5 years of sourcing parts I have managed to get this build “finished” (still looking for a couple of parts).

The build with the current tyres comes in at 22.8lbs.

A massive thanks to Regan_EV, Omar @ GT Retro Tech Shop, Gil @ Retro Decals, Pipmeister, Wadsy & Brink Cycleworks for help with this build

This is the full spec...

Frame - 94 Kona Hei Hei 17” frame (VGC)
Forks - 94 Mag 21 SL Titanium fork with long travel kit (lowers restored to new condition fitted with NOS decals)
Cranks - Topline cranks in black (NOS) with titanium Real Racing chainrings (NOS), SRP chainring bolts in black (NOS), Venhill titanium inner chainring bolts (NOS) and Upgrade titanium crank bolts in dark grey/black (NOS)
Bottom Bracket - Topline Titanium bb in black (NOS)
Rear Wheel - Tioga Disk Drive Pro on XTR M900 hub on hard anodised Mavic 231CD rim (VGC)
Front Wheel - Ringle SuperBubba hub in black (NOS) on hard anodised Mavic 231CD rim (NOS) with black nipples and silver snowflaked spokes
Bottle Cage - Ringle H2O bottle cage in black (NOS)
Quick Releases - Ringle Holey Titanium QR’s in black (NOS)
Stem - Ringle Zooka stem in black, 130mm 0 deg rise (NOS)
Seat Post - Ringle Moby seat post in black (NOS)
Seat Clamp - Ringle Holey seat collar in black (NOS)
Handlebars - Kona Race Light titanium bars (VGC)
Saddle - 1994 Flite Titanium saddle in black (NOS)
Front Mech- Shimano XTR M900 front mech (VGC)
Rear Mech - Shimano XTR M900 rear mech (VGC) with black CNC machined jockey wheels (NOS), black jockey wheel pivot bolts (NOS) and black mech hanger bolt (NOS)
Shifters/Levers - Shimano XTR M900 levers/shifters (VGC/NOS)
Gear/Brake Outers - Shimano XTR gear/brake outers in silver/grey (NOS)
Gear/Brake Cables - Shimano XTR gear/brake cables (NOS)
Barends - Onza Titanium barends (VGC)
Pedals - Onza HO Titanium pedals (NOS)
Brakes - Onza HO Canti’s in black (NOS) with XTR M900 brake blocks (NOS)
Grips - Onza Porcipaws grips in black (NOS)
Brake Straddles - Onza Chill Pills in black with Onza straddle wires (NOS)
Headset - Chris King no logo aheadset in black (VGC)
Tyres - Panaracer Smoke & Dart black wall tyres (NOS)
Innertubes - Panaracer presta inner tubes (NOS)
Cassette - Tioga titanium cassette (VGC)
Extras - Black/raw titanium bolts throughout and Venhill titanium canti bolts (NOS).

 

[44Racing]

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