cockpit setup can have a big effect on how a bike feels and this is where I will be likely deviating from the normal retrobike rules - traditionalists look away now!
as we all know, one thing with vintage konas is their iconic 'stance' - all those beautifully contrasting, straight line diagonals just screams racey and (to me at least) is a huge part of what makes them so good looking and popular. Its probably the main reason I have always wanted one (that and the cool colours/graphics)
There is a
potential minus to this of course and that is (like many others here by all accounts!) my ancient spine is not so racey anymore, and this is one of my main concerns with the build. I will get some sort of build up and running before splashing any cash to see how the 19 inch frame setup traditionally gets on with my creaky back first
the million dollar question I want to try and answer is can you effectively get away from the low flat bar on long stem thing and not ruin the "kona aesthetic' in the process.
I could well be on a hiding to nothing here - I rarely see konas with anything but a traditional flat bar and the ones that have deviated from that, mostly seem to fail the above test. I suspect getting the stem/bar combination 'just so' might be a key factor to making it work
Below is a comparison of some bar choices I have lined up (I got
totally down a massive rabbit hole with this so I doubt there are many options I have not considered. Many got nixed because too wide or because they won't fit in an old school stem, though of course I
could go a different route there which opens up some more options if I run a quill stem convertor). All of these are Nitto, or simworks (also made by Nitto) cos they still make a lot of bars in 25.4 options and because Nitto are just cool
the getaround bar is a bit of an outlier in that it sweeps forwards then back - so it doesn't really affect reach but does give. a more comfortable backsweep than traditional XC bars without being especially 'risery'
the other options are ordered in terms of rise and backsweep. I definitely prefer some shapes over others - think the MowMow is probably my favourite on pure shape. It's debatable how much actual functional difference some of these would make beyond aesthetics