White Wine for the Lady? Kona Explosif makeover

[The History Man]

The boss has been told she has some issues that will benefit from 30 mins of exercise a day so the search began a couple of weeks ago. I found on here a 17" 2004 explosif in preston so hot-footed it across the Pennines and picked it up. A well used but not abused bike set up for commuting and also as a boat anchor it seemed. On the luggage scales it came in at just under 15 kilos :shock:



A bit of a strip (it all worked well despite the grime) and a little THM type adornment and we were ready to go. Down to 12kg already. A short trip up the hill behind the house via road and footpath brought us to the photo op.



She's happy so i'm happy.

 

[The History Man]

Thinking red panaracers would compliment the accents.

And by the way. If you haven’t been on a bike in 30+ years it can all be a little testing.........

Gives a whole new meaning to 'stepover'.

 

[jimo746]

Re:

An interesting post.
And the bike leant against it is all the better for the declutter :shock:
Red Panaracers could look good... But... it's not going be another's Triggers Broom is it???

 

[The History Man]

No this s pretty much as is.

 

[drcarlos]

Based on my ladies requirements (she doesn't ride often) she wanted something comfortable (decent sus forks) and fast rolling so it's easy going and as she won't use her bike in the wet and she won't push hard tyres can be quite the faster rolling ones with the lighter carcasses.
I'd go with some Schwalbes and use a racing ralph on the rear with a rocket ron on the front. Get the evo folders and not the cheap wire bead ones. They are far better than the Panaracers (I took those off and replaced them with a Ralph/Nic combo and it was miles better) which are a really old design and will hopefully encourage her to get out more. Definitely function over form though. Once she is coming out more often she may want some front bounce so be prepared to have change that.
I think at some point i'll be converting the wifes Cube to 1x transmission as she doesn't get gears and is forever in the small/small combo so having just the one shifter with a wide range cassette would be better for her. It will also save a chunk of weight too.

 

[The History Man]

Re:

Liking the simplicity of less gears. The conti vapours are fairly fast rolling and give her confidence off road at present.

 

[drcarlos]

Re: Re:

Liking the simplicity of less gears. The conti vapours are fairly fast rolling and give her confidence off road at present.

Looking at the vapors they are quite cheap and are fairly knobbly. I wouldn't say they'd roll that well to be honest (the Conti X-King or Race King are the fast rollers from the Conti Range) and they are described some places as an entry level enduro tyre which means they'll be tough and grippy but not particularly fast rolling. The Fires will be similar. I was amazed at the difference that changing tyres made to my riding on my XC bike, even going from the same patterns (cheap Rapid Rob and Tough Tom to the more expensive with better rubber and folding Racing Ralph and Nobby Nic) made loads of difference as the rubber just works better than the cheap stuff although I admit it does wear faster.
As for the gears, you can pickup a 11-40 cassette in 9's from ebay for around £15 and add in a hanger extender (don't quote on this just yet but I'll be doing this later this year on the old Hahanna for my youngest) and a Snail 34T narrow/wide ring up front you could convert it for less than £30 to 1x9 with almost the range that the 3x has but less complexity. You could go 1 x 10 or even 1 x 11 on the same hubs but the cost of mech and shifter needs to be added.

 

[The History Man]

Could I just remove the outer rings from the front crank, fit a bash guard and put the 11-40 0n?

 

[Tricky1977]

Could I just remove the outer rings from the front crank, fit a bash guard and put the 11-40 0n?

But you won’t get the “wide-barrow” benefits from a dedicated 1x chain ring. I have the snail one as recommended above and it works well for a fiver. And your chain won’t drop, without any additional paraphernalia.
1x10 works well, I will build all my bikes this way unless I want the retro look of a nice triple up front.

As Carlos says you can build them cheaply especially with 9 on the back, the gear steps are just a bit bigger.

 

[The History Man]

You calling my Mrs a wide barrow?