'99 Hei Hei Ti - *Finished* Page3 - Under Attack!

RadNomad

Senior Retro Guru
Bought this 19" Kona Hei Hei bare frame a year ago. Living abroad it's taking me a while to source the parts i want and fly them over in my luggage, but i'm determined to get it finished...one day!
Originally owned by a tech at Singletrack Cycles in Gloucester, then sold to it's long term owner who raced it extensively over the years before selling on ebay. I bought the frame from the ebayer who bought it to strip and sell off the parts (shame really...). I learned it's origin by using ebay history to track down the long term owner and find out from him that it's a genuine bike, not stolen. He even had the original laminated owner card and handbook.
The frame is a 1999 but the owner removed the decals and red paint from the headtube when they got tatty, the red overspray residue is still visible inside the headtube, so no doubt about the year.
This Hei Hei will get mostly new parts so it won't be pure retro but it will retain it's classic looks (no discs or modern fork) and hopefully will ride like a new bike :D
Here goes then...
 

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Re: '99 Hei Hei Ti

Before kindly delivering the frame to me on a visit my father (a retired RAF jet engine technician and engineering instruction manager) hand worked the chain suck damage to remove potential stress points and restore the surface. To even up the finish of the frame and get rid of old decal discolouration and cable rub i polished the entire frame with autosol. This had the effect of brightening up the original matt shot peened finish to a velvety lustre. I'm happy with the result and the fame is now ready for building up.
 

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Re: '99 Hei Hei Ti

Pulling up a chair - always enjoy geeking out over Ti projects, and this IMHO is the best year of the Hei Hei which doesn't need the awful dog collar. What forks you thinking of?

EDIT: I could keep your father busy with some similar work ;-)
 
Re: '99 Hei Hei Ti

That's some lovely work on the frame finish :cool:.

Getting more and more drawn into the idea of a Ti frame ....... must resist [bead of sweat smiley].

Regards
 
Re: '99 Hei Hei Ti

Woz":3jl8bfj3 said:
What forks you thinking of?

Hi Woz. Took a while to settle on a fork. Started with thoughts of disc conversion and modern fork, then went hunting for a quality 1300g air fork with v bosses but couldn't find anything brand new (Floats, SIDs and Durins no longer coming with v bosses for example). Finally decided for unthreaded rigid P2s. Bought a double-butted P2 but was suprised by the notable lower quality and higher weight than the triple-butted version, so finally found a TB P2 with the nice dropouts and enough steerer length. I'll have to build the bike with the DB then swap for TB once i get a chance to reach UK and pick them up. The Hei Hei was built with black rigid fork back in '91 / '92 (see below magazine extract from '91) so my build will pay homage to that earlier layout...unless anyone's got a Ti P2 needing a new home?
Started fiddling with a test build.. i'll post another update when i get some time..
 

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Re: '99 Hei Hei Ti

That's a great job on the Ti refinishing. Are you going to add the red splash back? Painting of Ti isn't allowed unless your Kona trying to disguise your bikes circa 96/97 ;-) but the 99 finish was pretty cool.

The difference between a CM and TB is really notable isn't it? It's most apparent in the handling differences. The TB is lively and responsive, the CM is dull and uninspiring. It's amazing what a difference to weight and construction can make. Any plans to tidy the fork up a bit?
 
Re: '99 Hei Hei Ti

al-onestare":66xvx4xm said:
Are you going to add the red splash back? ... Any plans to tidy the fork up a bit?

Hi al-o, i'll probably improve the fork in a similar way like the paint on my CinderCone. Yes agreed the '99 colours look good, but i also like the simpler design of the '98 and since the red paint is aready gone i have decided to replicate the '98 design. I already have the decals:
 

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Re: '99 Hei Hei Ti

Keeping the Kona feel with the P2 fork but also some Kona cockpit parts. Got a few sizes and colours to play around with and find a nice combination:


The Hei Hei will get this new Shimano XT 2013 3x10 groupset:


Some nice shiny silver parts from Hope:




After looking for ages i finally found a nice used Shimano XTR 27.0 post which will be held in place by a Thomson clamp (i didn't like Hope's clamp design much):


Hopefully i did my research well enough that all this stuff fits together.. :eek:
 

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Re: '99 Hei Hei Ti

loving the hei hei, the ultimate bike in my own opinion, loving your choice of upgrades keep the photos coming

dab
 
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