1999 Kona Chute slalom/play bike build!

I've been visiting this site quite regularly now and am very happy to see there are other people that have an interest in older bikes!

This may seem like a 'mid skool' bike to many of you but for me this build represents to me what was hot whan I first started getting into mountain bikes, 12 years ago.

My first proper bike was a 1998 celebration edition Kona Nunu. I absolutley loved that bike and thought it was amazing, I loved the snappy feel of the v brakes, the pogo stick style travel of the RST 381, the riser bars and just felt at home with the feel of the bike.

After this I had a few other bikes, notably a Kona Roast, a Kona Chute and then my dream bike, I thought DH was the way forward and managed to get a 2001 Santa Cruz Bullit with UD180 forks, hope DH4s, big un hubs etc it was my pride and joy. I bought it from Jamie Hibberd who used to feature in MBUK, the bike had a double page spread.

I sold the Bullit to buy a car and never really got into biking like before, I bought a few mags here and there but the bikes didn't interest me. I felt the frames looked over complicated, everything had discs and I ended up losing touch.

This little story brings me to my 1999 Kona chute build which I started with the forks that I bought on Ebay about 8 months ago for no apparent reason! I remember drooling over then when they were new and won them by accident really! Next came the frame from Ebay again and since then I've become slightly obsessed with Ebay and this forum, looking for bits to suit my build.

I'll show you some pics of the build I'm talking about! I plan to have the frame and fork resprayed - Gil M is on the case making me some new stickers. Everything else I've bought is new (including the D521 rims) so I hope to end up with a brand new retro bike! (Save a few colour coded parts like the saddle I'm going to replace)

Let me know your thoughts! (I've decided to keep the silver Shorty stem on for now as it makes the ride more versitile, the Funn henchman is more iconic I think though)

good build, what colour are you going for?

I would love one of those in the original colours

Lacuna":pjnq9awi said:

I would love one of those in the original colours

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Yeah I very nearly bought one of the original grey Chutes, but ended up going full sus. Always really liked them.

This one looks great too though. I'm kinda of doing the same ebay thing to get my B17 back up and running.

have a pic of my Chute to keep you going:

legrandefromage":120sax9h said:

have a pic of my Chute to keep you going:

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Lurvely

Nice one mate, I love chutes too.

Here´s a couple shots of my 2000 model.

Great to see plenty of Chutes alive and well. I remember back in '99 or '00 there was an article in Total Mountain Bike or somesuch on hardcore hardtails (as was the correct parlance) featuring the Chute, spooky M'head, DMR trailstar, and something called a Hardcore DSV. All great frames bar one, and like a plonker I bought the Hardcore, sigh.....

Thanks for all the pics and kind comments

Today I got my KMC gold chain throught the post and the only ohter thing im waiting for is some gold chainring bolts, but it meant i could take it for its first ride!!

It rides exactly as I wanted it to, it accelerates like a rocket and stops just as fast with that lovley v-brake cabley feel that I miss. It such fun throught the woods - its one of those bikes that really doesn't feel like a chore to ride

One thing that was disappointing though was the cranks that I bought on a member on here, I thought thee drive side splines looked too wide for the BB and it turns out they are as a result of wear. I wasn't told abut this when I bought them! So the cranks 'knock' on every pedal stroke

I'm going to discuss this with the seller and see what can be done.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

I just bought some mags off the bay, recognised this:

thats why I wanted one back then.