The other day I "picked up" this 1997 Kona curiously named after a 90's TV dating show 
the seller only lived around a mile from me, so I walked there on my way to the shops, and rode the bike back, I was impressed with the rear end and generally how the bike handled for a Retro full-sus.
I think it's pretty much standard spec STX/LX, Avid levers, Fox Vanilla coil rear shock, and a nice condition but internally dead Rockshox Indy XC fork.
The plan is to modernise it a bit with parts I have to hand, and it'll replace the Hahanna that is my other halfs bike which languishes in the shed unridden in over a year. At least with this bike I can ride it now & then and justify its place in the shed (I just haven't got around to telling/asking her about the change yet ).
Today I completely stripped it down, interestingly and unknown to me the fork is actually the dual-crown version, as in... there were 2 crown races fitted on top of each other :facepalm:
I'm going to do something with the chain slap damage on the chainstay, just a bit of touch up paint needed, and grease the pivot points upon reassembly.
and I've made a start on repairing a few of the top tube decals with some model paint.
Fork wise, I could use the silver Marzocchi Z3's from the Hahanna (traditional and period choice), or use some black 2000 Rockshox Jett's I have (just because they're handy), or go nuts and fit the Pace RC36 Evo's I have hanging up (the "skys the limit" option).
the seller only lived around a mile from me, so I walked there on my way to the shops, and rode the bike back, I was impressed with the rear end and generally how the bike handled for a Retro full-sus.I think it's pretty much standard spec STX/LX, Avid levers, Fox Vanilla coil rear shock, and a nice condition but internally dead Rockshox Indy XC fork.
The plan is to modernise it a bit with parts I have to hand, and it'll replace the Hahanna that is my other halfs bike which languishes in the shed unridden in over a year. At least with this bike I can ride it now & then and justify its place in the shed (I just haven't got around to telling/asking her about the change yet
).Today I completely stripped it down, interestingly and unknown to me the fork is actually the dual-crown version, as in... there were 2 crown races fitted on top of each other :facepalm:
I'm going to do something with the chain slap damage on the chainstay, just a bit of touch up paint needed, and grease the pivot points upon reassembly.
and I've made a start on repairing a few of the top tube decals with some model paint.
Fork wise, I could use the silver Marzocchi Z3's from the Hahanna (traditional and period choice), or use some black 2000 Rockshox Jett's I have (just because they're handy), or go nuts and fit the Pace RC36 Evo's I have hanging up (the "skys the limit" option).
. 
