2002(?) Sunn Crosss

[ajantom]

Seem to be a few Sunns on here at the moment - thought I'd put mine up

This is a bit of 'Frankenbike' as I inherited the frame from my sister's ex. He is an outdooe sports instructor in the Pyranees, and this bike started life as a hire bike at the centre he works at.

It came with the odd looking Deore hubs/28 hole/deepish rim wheels as pictured, but nothing else is original.

It's been through a few changes in the 5 years I've had it - but mostly as a singlespeed. Not really retro, but definately retro-flavoured

SS Commuter - RS Jetts and lovely red CNC Maguras.

SS Offroad - Up on Woodbury Common, still with the RS Jetts.

Fully rigid SS - with Exotic alu forks.

In use - up on Haldon Hill.

Need to take a current photo, as it has a bit more red ano on it to match the Maguras and a different chainset/ring.

 

[letmetalktomark]

Looks a lot better with the rigid fork

I do like the Sunn bike - they are very "kona" in their design......Which is a good thing

How do you find the gearing? Much walking needed?

 

[ajantom]

Yeah - defo agree about the rigid fork. Though the aluminium fork is VERY stiff, so I've put a larger tyre on the front to soften the bumps a bit.

They are very nice to ride - as you say similar to Kona, low standover height, and quite racey geometry.

The gearing is ok - on these photos it was a 32/18, but I've upped it a little to 38/19. The only hill I have to get off and walk locally is a really steep (1 in 4ish!) road hill. I can manage pretty much all the offroad stuff on it

What I'd really like to get is a nice steel Sunn frame, and then have the rear dropouts replaced for SS ones - that would be a bit ace

 

[ajantom]

Had a bit of a revamp of the Sunn this week.

After doing this to my lovely cnc & red ano 20th anniversary Maguras:

:cry:

I dug out some old Racelines from the spares bin - the levers had been stripped down months ago and never re-built, and the brakes needed new pads and a damn good clean + new hoses all round.
So a sunday morning spent fettling and they were up and running

I was also given some Mavic Crossmax non-disc wheels last week! a bit scruffy, but in decent order and straight. So they went on too (ignoring the UST tyre only sticker in them of course - tubes and some old Velociraptors fitted fine!)

And voila...........





Did 25 miles on it in t-shirt and shorts this afternoon - lovely

Feels incredibly light and nimble with the new wheels on. The weight for the while bike must be down around the 20lb mark
Also I'd forgotten how much power/leverage those old Raceline 4 finger levers give. Proper old school stopping power!

 

[Tazio]

I need to get myself a Sunn

 

[coomber]

Nice.

Is that at Woodbury?

 

[cyfa2809]

i didnt like the first but it got a lot better
some nice guises there

i didnt realise you were local (ish?)

 

[ajantom]

Coomber - yup, just at the start of the bridleway and then again on top near the castle.

Cyfa - Cheers yes....the SS commuter guise was pretty fugly! It looks and rides a lot better now.

 

[coomber]

Cool.. well I expect to see this when we meet in early summer for a ride

 

[Reluctant]

Looks ace - love Sunns and love the colour of the Crosss. Nice gift getting a pair of Crossmax for free too, regardless of condition, mustn't grumble! Seems a shame to stick Velociraptors on a lightweight wheelset though - i always found them heavy and very draggy. Sunn specced a lot of Hutchinsons being French. The Python airlight is a lovely fast rolling cushty tyre that works great on a rigid bike - cheaper option would be Conti Race King, grippy fast and with a lovely cushioned ride feel. (with yellow decals on the sidewall too which would match your paint work!)