Hi, this is my first post and as will become apparent, my bike knowledge is limited, so please be gentle!
Back in the day I went to through to Bikescene in Guisborough to look at bikes, but was unable to afford anything, so after a chat with the staff i was shown a second hand bike that had apparently been raced by someone who was sponsored by the shop. I was shown a review from. And was told I would not be disappointed with it.
I cant quite remember whether it was 6 months or a year old, but from memory I paid £500 for it.
Back then I remember being envious of my mates riser bars and trigger shifters on their Orange bikes, so fitted these to mine as well.
Some time later i sold the Project 2 forks on ebay to fund some RST Mozo XLs which were in the sale at the time.
After a very embarrassing/dime bar moment going under a low arch with the bike on a roof carrier, the bike was pulled from the roof and sustained damage to the down tube which ended up squashed. It also smashed the cycle holding clamp, bent the roof bars down which dented the car roof. Possibly not my finest hour.
The down tube was replaced by Avanti cycles in Bishop Auckland as I was told that he had built bikes for the British Olympic team, and although I have no idea if this was true, i was happy that it was a quality repair.
After the repair I went to a local powder coater and was offered (now brace yourselves) a colour flip from a cancelled order. Although a big departure from standard, the colour scheme is nowhere near as bad as it sounds, flipping from metallic green to metalic purple depending how the light catches it, but if I had my time again it would have been done in the origional colour.
As the girlfreind at the time (now wife) had a Cannondale that needed painting he gave me a very good deal on both bikes, and so, to my eternal shame, we now had his and hers bikes!
I can remember a different seat,seat post and middle ring going on and I think that's pretty much how the bike has stayed until now.
The bike was used around the local forest, and I did the coast 2 coast on it before it spent its time hanging in the garage coming out occasionally for a road ride and also used if I had left the car somewhere on a night out and needed to pick it up.
I was always carefull not to scratch the paint.
I pulled the bike down early spring to use again to ride with the wife and kids, youngest on a tow along, and that's when the biking bug started to bite again.
I have no idea why, but I have always really liked that bike, it just always felt right to me and i always liked the look of it, so when I popped up to the local forest (Hamsterly) and found that the place had changed drastically from when I used to go up, I decided to get a full suspension bike and not to risk the Kona getting damaged/destroyed.
Whilst waiting for the new bike to come, I found that I was way more excited at the thought of rebuilding the Kona than I was of getting the new bike, so i stripped the Kona down to the bare frame.
Unfortunately the wife was made redundant, so we are down to one wage, meaning that all plans to rebuild are now on hold long term, but....... (finally he's getting to the point) I have been thinking about pooling the best bits from the Cannondale and the Kona and rebuilding it that way.
Now I know this may upset the purists out there,but i am aiming to use the Kona frame, seat clamp and stem but when it comes to component specs its all just numbers and letters to me, I would appreciate some help speccing and also ideas about how to go about this build on a budget.
For the time being i was thinking about a new bottom bracket (existing is a BB-UN72) and only one ring on the front(as that's all I really use and its more of a second bike for going out with the kids), a set of forks bought in a sale which are vbrake and disc compatible, so that i can switch when funds allow.
I was also thinking of using the XT brakes and wheels from the Cannondale, which are black Coda 500 rims and hubs as well as the rear mech which is a Nexave and a Megarange derailleur.
If it is possible, and also a good idea, to use the Coda wheels and cassette then the single drive cog could be bigger than the normal middle ring as the cassette has a Megarange cog on it.
So as I have now worn out my typing finger, I welcome any spec tips, ideas and advice that anyone who is still awake, may wish to offer.
Thanks in advance.
Sent from my iPad
Back in the day I went to through to Bikescene in Guisborough to look at bikes, but was unable to afford anything, so after a chat with the staff i was shown a second hand bike that had apparently been raced by someone who was sponsored by the shop. I was shown a review from. And was told I would not be disappointed with it.
I cant quite remember whether it was 6 months or a year old, but from memory I paid £500 for it.
Back then I remember being envious of my mates riser bars and trigger shifters on their Orange bikes, so fitted these to mine as well.
Some time later i sold the Project 2 forks on ebay to fund some RST Mozo XLs which were in the sale at the time.
After a very embarrassing/dime bar moment going under a low arch with the bike on a roof carrier, the bike was pulled from the roof and sustained damage to the down tube which ended up squashed. It also smashed the cycle holding clamp, bent the roof bars down which dented the car roof. Possibly not my finest hour.
The down tube was replaced by Avanti cycles in Bishop Auckland as I was told that he had built bikes for the British Olympic team, and although I have no idea if this was true, i was happy that it was a quality repair.
After the repair I went to a local powder coater and was offered (now brace yourselves) a colour flip from a cancelled order. Although a big departure from standard, the colour scheme is nowhere near as bad as it sounds, flipping from metallic green to metalic purple depending how the light catches it, but if I had my time again it would have been done in the origional colour.
As the girlfreind at the time (now wife) had a Cannondale that needed painting he gave me a very good deal on both bikes, and so, to my eternal shame, we now had his and hers bikes!
I can remember a different seat,seat post and middle ring going on and I think that's pretty much how the bike has stayed until now.
The bike was used around the local forest, and I did the coast 2 coast on it before it spent its time hanging in the garage coming out occasionally for a road ride and also used if I had left the car somewhere on a night out and needed to pick it up.
I was always carefull not to scratch the paint.
I pulled the bike down early spring to use again to ride with the wife and kids, youngest on a tow along, and that's when the biking bug started to bite again.
I have no idea why, but I have always really liked that bike, it just always felt right to me and i always liked the look of it, so when I popped up to the local forest (Hamsterly) and found that the place had changed drastically from when I used to go up, I decided to get a full suspension bike and not to risk the Kona getting damaged/destroyed.
Whilst waiting for the new bike to come, I found that I was way more excited at the thought of rebuilding the Kona than I was of getting the new bike, so i stripped the Kona down to the bare frame.
Unfortunately the wife was made redundant, so we are down to one wage, meaning that all plans to rebuild are now on hold long term, but....... (finally he's getting to the point) I have been thinking about pooling the best bits from the Cannondale and the Kona and rebuilding it that way.
Now I know this may upset the purists out there,but i am aiming to use the Kona frame, seat clamp and stem but when it comes to component specs its all just numbers and letters to me, I would appreciate some help speccing and also ideas about how to go about this build on a budget.
For the time being i was thinking about a new bottom bracket (existing is a BB-UN72) and only one ring on the front(as that's all I really use and its more of a second bike for going out with the kids), a set of forks bought in a sale which are vbrake and disc compatible, so that i can switch when funds allow.
I was also thinking of using the XT brakes and wheels from the Cannondale, which are black Coda 500 rims and hubs as well as the rear mech which is a Nexave and a Megarange derailleur.
If it is possible, and also a good idea, to use the Coda wheels and cassette then the single drive cog could be bigger than the normal middle ring as the cassette has a Megarange cog on it.
So as I have now worn out my typing finger, I welcome any spec tips, ideas and advice that anyone who is still awake, may wish to offer.
Thanks in advance.
Sent from my iPad
