Forks to complement a 1997 kona hei hei ?

[bills_shack]

Hi,

I have just bought a 1997 kona Hei Hei King Kahuna from rb member solo. while i excitedly await its delivery i am considering what forks would would best complement the bike.

I currently own a pair of FOX talas RL on my 2005 specialized with have manual lock out & adjustable travel. I get on well with these but don't consider fox forks to be an option on the hei hei as they are nearly all disk brake only and i intend on running v brakes.

My initial question, are forks say pre 2003 functionality wise any good ? and secondly what forks would the more knowledgeable folks on here recommend.

Currently considering up to 100mm travel (with limited knowledge) the below

Rock shox SID variant
marzocchi bomber variant


Constructive criticism of the above welcome

 

[Splatter Paint]

Re:

Early ~2001 Fox Float 80mm would be my choice, these will be v-brake. Fully retro the maybe Marzocchi Bombers or Rock Shox Judys.

SP

 

[cce]

SIDs if you're a lightweight
Fox F80 if you're not

there's a small number of Rockshox Rebas with v brake studs and 80mm travel too.

 

[mk one]

As already mentioned, you can get fox forks that run v brakes. If you want forks from the same era as the frame you could look at rockshox judy sl's or sids, marzocchi z range or even manitous. There are others too but it largely depends on the intended purpose of the bike. Personally i would run sl's or even sids on it

Remember to post pics when you get it too

Mark

 

[bills_shack]

Re:

Thanks for the reply's.

Embarrassing i am at least 15kg over my "fighting weight" so cant see that the extra weight on the forks will make any difference

The Fox F80 look a good option.

I have had a good look in the for sale section and ebay but none available at the moment.

 

[secret_squirrel]

Re:

Pace rc38 if you're a whippet.
Rc36's if you are on the lardy side.

 

[ishaw]

I've been lucky enough to find a set of modern sids with v brake bosses but I understand these are rare and hard to come by. I have a couple of sets of fox floats with v brake lowers currently not fitted to a bike and could be persuaded to part with one of them. I also managed to get a set of new/modern 2014 fox forks and some new v brake lowers and swapped them over so that could be an option.

Reba forks as mentioned came with v lowers, have some world cups on a bike (again had to transplant the lowers from another fork). Recons also came with v lowers. I believe that the tora lower legs were the same so you could get another cheap set and swap over the lowers onto the far ether Reba fork.

You could run discs up front and vs at the back. Personally if I did this it would have to be cable discs so I could match the brake levers.

Later pace hollowform forks also had v/disc lowers, as did some magura forks, though some had mountings for magura brakes only so I guess you could run magura brakes front and rear as another option?

Good luck with your decision.

 

[bills_shack]

Re:

Thank you for the comprehensive reply ishaw

i have sent you a pm regarding the your fox fork offer.

 

[Adam_S]

You've made a horrible choice of bike. It will bring you nothing but pain and misery. I feel that the only decent thing to do would be for you to send it to me immediately to relieve yourself of this dreadful burden.

If you must keep hold of it, there are several decent Pace forks on EBay right now that would work a treat.