Its been a stop, start beginning to my new retro ride, with 2 Kona's come and gone since christmas :roll: ... but i'm happy to introduce what i hope will become a 'keeper'..
Many thanks to Mheywoo1 for letting me buy this from him.
Some minor paint repairs to sort first... more to follow
The frame arrived with various small chips i can live with, but with some paint missing from the BB and some bubbling on the left seat stay.
I removed the bubbled paint and found only a light brown surface rust, which came away with light sanding. Both areas had 2 coats of acid etch primer applied with a brush, followed by 3 coats of enamel. Luckily, we have a box of touch ups in the workshop that's been collected over the years, and i got an almost exact match to the cobalt blue metallic! Its not perfect, but it'll do me.
Primer applied:
Searching for a perfect match!
Top coat
Handy to have someone with artistic talent (my daughter) on hand...
38 Miles of mixed terrain today, bridleways, lanes, a few bits of road.
First impressions: Yeah, she's rigid. I mean REALLY. Theres no give in that back end at all, and it threw me at first. The first rooty twisty section and i swore i had a flat. Its ok though, i got used to it, and the 1.9 wildgripper doesn't help at all. No grip in the corners either. What an awful tyre! Modern rubber is on order.