Mikey08
Kona Fan
I believe in silver linings and Covid19 has had its positives for me. To explain, I have been into bikes since my first Raliegh Burner BMX back when I was a little nipper. My First MTB was a Rigid Saracen back in the mid 90's which was tricked out with Pace hubs, Purple Campagnolo rims, Cook Bros cranks and a Hope Ti BB. It even had a Flextem! I've had a couple of Konas over the years and a GT Zaskar LE but always loved Kona, especially the steel frames. However for the last 10 years I have not owned a bike or done any riding... Until Covid!
A friend of mine who buys and sells bikes called me up saying he was at the local tip and had found a old Kona Lava Dome. He asked if I wanted it for £30 so I said why not. It sat for a while and then when lock down hit I began wondering. I had the idea to get a disk tab welded on and do a restomod with it. So the process began gathering secondhad parts from the Pinkbike BuySell pages. A 2013 SID XX and some lovely Crossmax Wheels found there way to me along with some other goodies. As the process went on I began to feel it would be a shame to mess up the lovely purple paint on the old Kona...
I had been talking to Wasdsy who builds some of the most beautiful retro mtb's out there. He mentioned that he had a 2000 Kona Kula frame in near mint condition. The previous owner had bought him and his wife a pair of kona bikes back in 2001 and hardly ever used them so it had sat in his garage for 19 years. A deal was struck and the frame is now mine! Thanks Wadsy
EDIT: Details on the history of the frame here in Pips original thread: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... p;t=326440
The build will be a kind of resto mod although I cant go too modern as I dont think 29" wheels will fit!
A friend of mine who buys and sells bikes called me up saying he was at the local tip and had found a old Kona Lava Dome. He asked if I wanted it for £30 so I said why not. It sat for a while and then when lock down hit I began wondering. I had the idea to get a disk tab welded on and do a restomod with it. So the process began gathering secondhad parts from the Pinkbike BuySell pages. A 2013 SID XX and some lovely Crossmax Wheels found there way to me along with some other goodies. As the process went on I began to feel it would be a shame to mess up the lovely purple paint on the old Kona...
I had been talking to Wasdsy who builds some of the most beautiful retro mtb's out there. He mentioned that he had a 2000 Kona Kula frame in near mint condition. The previous owner had bought him and his wife a pair of kona bikes back in 2001 and hardly ever used them so it had sat in his garage for 19 years. A deal was struck and the frame is now mine! Thanks Wadsy
EDIT: Details on the history of the frame here in Pips original thread: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... p;t=326440
The build will be a kind of resto mod although I cant go too modern as I dont think 29" wheels will fit!