chouca
Dirt Disciple
but hey - maybe this is a little different. I've been looking for a Merlin Extralight in the right size for quite some time - almost 2 years to be honest. And then 1.5 years ago this lovely Kona Hei Hei caught my attention.
I used to have a '92 Hei Hei back then and decided to give it a another go. In December 2013 I drove down to Vienna to pick it up. Its a nice 1000 km roundtrip from my place in Northern Bavaria. I did built it with modern components which made for a nice ride.
But the geometry of the '94 frame wasn't perfect for a SID with 63 mm of travel. So the handling was a little light and tricky. And I didn't use it as much as I wanted.
Last September I found a '96 Merlin Extralight in the right size 16.25" by chance in Basel/Switzerland. My brother went to see it the same weekend and picked it up. What a service! It got to my place via Spa in Belgium
the frame is in a lovely condition, very few scratches and still on original decals.
from the serial number I guess its a late '96 or early '97 frame. So I decided to put some t.c. components on it that were sitting unused on my old '96 Juchem FS frame. XTR M950 derailleurs and brakes, Avid Ultimate brake levers, Syncros Revos and ProSeries BB, Ibis Ti stem, Merlin bar, Moots seatpost, Flite, Mavic Crossmax I - wheels I bought here from Wizard of OZ with IRC tires.
I wanted to do it right this time. So the built wasn't finish until - well yesterday.
what shall I say? What a ride. So different. Stiff at the BB but resilent over the small ruts and roots that litter our forests. Quick but stable on the fast stuff. Can't see any hardtail being better than this. What did the ad say back in the days? Nothing compares to the original. I love it...
I used to have a '92 Hei Hei back then and decided to give it a another go. In December 2013 I drove down to Vienna to pick it up. Its a nice 1000 km roundtrip from my place in Northern Bavaria. I did built it with modern components which made for a nice ride.
But the geometry of the '94 frame wasn't perfect for a SID with 63 mm of travel. So the handling was a little light and tricky. And I didn't use it as much as I wanted.
Last September I found a '96 Merlin Extralight in the right size 16.25" by chance in Basel/Switzerland. My brother went to see it the same weekend and picked it up. What a service! It got to my place via Spa in Belgium
the frame is in a lovely condition, very few scratches and still on original decals.
from the serial number I guess its a late '96 or early '97 frame. So I decided to put some t.c. components on it that were sitting unused on my old '96 Juchem FS frame. XTR M950 derailleurs and brakes, Avid Ultimate brake levers, Syncros Revos and ProSeries BB, Ibis Ti stem, Merlin bar, Moots seatpost, Flite, Mavic Crossmax I - wheels I bought here from Wizard of OZ with IRC tires.
I wanted to do it right this time. So the built wasn't finish until - well yesterday.
what shall I say? What a ride. So different. Stiff at the BB but resilent over the small ruts and roots that litter our forests. Quick but stable on the fast stuff. Can't see any hardtail being better than this. What did the ad say back in the days? Nothing compares to the original. I love it...
please more photos of the completed bike :facepalm:
