My Retrobuild King Kahunna

thrustyjust

Devout Dirtbag
Right,I have my King Kahunna retired from regular duties and now stripped to a frame.I have had this from new and am looking into retro building it up.The only original parts were the King headset(Which for now is on another bike,but they all look the same anyway) and XTR front mech.I have a Ringle 130mm silver stem and a Syncros post.Now this is the issue.I had a disc mount welded onto the frame in 2002 and prior to this used the hope torsion arm on C2 discs and prior to that XTR v brakes on crossmax wheels.Which way should I rebuild this up.Head for discs or go for XTR V's?.I have some XTR STi's in the cupboard,and some other trinkets.The other issue is forks.Originally I put on a pair of Judy SL's with Englund air cartridges,which weighted nowt and then went to Mazzochi Atom Z2's in a nasty green colour IIRC,then onto some black Sid XC's which were actually very nice and plush.The next dilema is what to look for up front.Any ideas? cheers guys
 
I cringed when I read about the disc tab, did they do a good job of it? I had a tab added to a Marin Team Ti in 2002 also, I wished I hadn't bothered although with a fair bit of grinding and sanding it came up OK in the end.

What year is your KK?

There's a few guys on the board with Kahunas, I've got a '98 KK and I'm using it more than any of my other bikes these days, it's set up rigid and as my singlespeed. There's a pic in my gallery if you want to check it out.
 
Steve,its the same year as Yo Crashy's at '97.Gil has just made me a set of decals to fit,when I have the nerve and a bottle or two of beer.
The disc mount isn't fantastic,but it has had a Hope 4 pot brake on it up to last week and hasn't come off.It 'could' be neater,but I could probably grind it off,but won't.
 
Got to be XTR V brakes. They work OK and will look way better than discs on this frame in my opinion.

It will probably look too high at the front with SID's... Go rigid!
 
Well ti's pretty tough stuff, the Team Ti that I had the tab welded onto is still going strong (owned by a friend of mine now) It's been running Hope Minis all this time without any problems.

The frame was designed to use V's but it shouldn't be a problem with discs, so it's your preference, I did think about using an adapter on mine to enable me to use discs but have instead gone for XTR V's with ceramic rims.

Rigid would look way cool I reckon, but I'm biased!
 
my rickety old self couldn't take rigid, even on some high volume tires and a flexy ti post...so i went squishy on my '99. the original superfly fork on the '99 was 75mm, so stay close to that and you won't screw up the handling (or the aesthetics) too badly.

i had an 85mm reba on an old steel frame that was designed for no suspension and it totally ruined the ride, so i moved it to the KK and i love it. +10mm is not noticeable in the handling.

and i can't say enough good things about the reba. plush, tuneable, plenty stout. not exactly period correct, but a great fit. a little heavy.
 
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