Kona Fire Mountain repaint

[moonlite]

Took it out for a spin on a rather rainy afternoon and was pleased with it -- the narrow bars and long stem demanded a bit of a stretched-out position but it spun along very sweetly. Even on the rather claggy, clayey wet dirt roads it went well, climbed nicely and felt direct, planted and reasonably lively. And well set-up cantis are pretty darn good -- better than badly-adjusted Vs.

Even having just 7 speeds wasn't much of a hindrance -- sure, the gaps between ratios are wider and you can't run up and down the cassette in the same way as you can on 9, 10 and more, but you adjust. Your pedalling cadence just varies a bit more to compensate.

With some lighter wheels, tyres and maybe wider bars, it should ride very well.

(Oh, and I don't usually use a bar bag on my MTB but given that the bike was just assembled today, I wanted a few more tools than usual -- just in case)

 

[MCA4President]

Great photo, steel Kona's just look so bare bones good.

 

[moonlite]

So I've been looking for a shorter stem for this -- the 150mm is correct for the frame size, but I wanted a less stretched riding position so have been looking for something a bit shorter.

Finally, eBay yielded this very nice 120mm Velocity in good nick with the requisite cable guide, for a 1" steerer. It arrived today so will be swapping it as soon as I can.

 

[Spanky22b]

Nice and it still has the elusive plastic top cap which is always a bonus

 

[moonlite]

Minor update -- fitted the new stem, which was the first quill version I've ever done. It's not hugely different from the longer one but I can feel the difference in riding position which is the desired effect.