Kona Hahanna upgrades - where to start??

[ledgie]

I have a 1995 Kona Hahanna which I pulled out of the back of the shed and had a great ride on today.

I've owned the bike since new and it still has the original tyres! I've been inspired spending the afternoon looking at some of the Kona builds on this forum and was thinking about making some upgrades to my bike rather than getting a new one.

Problem is, even though I'm capable with a spanner, I don't know where to start when it comes to bikes. Was thinking I'd like wider bars, a front suspension fork, v brakes, better groupset etc but no idea what is compatible with my bike and how to find out. Is there a FAQ for beginners or a good resource for me so start reading?

Thanks!

 

[Joe_Rides]

Re:

Hi Ledgie,

Most MTB stuff from a similar era or up to 5 years newer (2000ish) will fit your Kona, in short. Even a lot of new stuff will work........

Your forks are likely to be 1 1/8th diameter steerer (with threads). A lot of suspension forks come with the same diameter, but with an un-threaded steerer. It will, therefore, fit your bike, but you would need to change the headset (to a threadless type) and also change the stem.

The frame geometry probably limits the amount of suspension travel you can have without causing excess stress to the frame. Around 80mm should be ok but someone with better Kona knowledge will be able to help.

Most bars you buy will fit (25.4mm) and all V-brakes (that I know of) will definitely fit.

Again, most / all MTB groupset's should work with each other with some fettling.

If I were you I'd look to replace the tyres, perhaps find some Rockshoxx or Marzocchi forks with 80mm travel, a new stem (perhaps a little shorter than the original if you fancy a change) and some wider bars to start with. Everything else (brakes, gears) can probably be tuned up and kept for now.

It sounds like you might be best going seeing your local bike shop for advise, if you have one. It's difficult to run through all of this in words!

Hope that is of some help!

Joe

 

[cce]

a bit of fiddling needed to get a rear v brake working on konas of that period, but it isnt massively complicated

 

[ledgie]

Re:

Thanks for the advice. Feel a bit more confident now, some sensible suggestions on what to start with.

Here's a pic of the bike today after a lunchtime blast:

And after a bit of a clean:

Think it's all as it was in 1995 apart from the bottle cages, bar ends and new grips.

Things that annoy me are the bar ends - make my hand feel a bit cramped, so they'll be going. Grip shift annoys me so that might be for a change too, although I'll see if it's better once the gears are tuned up and the bar ends are gone. Rigid fork was also a bit hard on my body on the rocky downhill trails so may look to change that.

 

[Bowie]

Re:

If its nearly all original, try and leave it as it is, it'll hold its money more easily

 

[BikerB]

I have tried to keep my kona mostly original ,if not at least nothing fitted to modern ..
I know what you mean ref forks, i have been suffering on a few runs with rigid forks.
Again going to try and get a suspension fork from roughly the same era..where abouts are you ?

 

[ledgie]

Yeah, I'm a bit torn... good that it's original but would be nice to make some subtle improvements to make it more ridable. I'm located just north of Glasgow.

 

[BikerB]

Yeah, I'm a bit torn... good that it's original but would be nice to make some subtle improvements to make it more ridable. I'm located just north of Glasgow.

I would personally 100% get rid of the gripshift(nasty),just keep any parts you take of so you can make it original again..

 

[ishaw]

What's the goal of the upgrade? Suspension Forks will help with comfort for sure, you could lool for forks with a threaded steerer so yoy dont have to change the headset a d stem, but that will limit your optuons a bit. A grip shift change may also help with gearing, but new gear and brake cables would be a good start to better shifting. Changing the brake blocks would improve braking as if you are using the original rubber, they will be way passed their best. Tyres are also a good way to reinvigorate the bike, I belive rubber technology has moved on, plus old rubber dries and cracks so won't we doing the best job anymore. Removing the bar ends and moving everything out will give you more bar space, if you still need more, new bar time.

Are you looking to modernise, lighten, move up the food chain component wise?

 

[KermitGKona88]

Re:

TBH the quickest way to lighten the bike apart from all the good advice you have been given so far is to change the chainset, at the moment there are several good period options in the for sale section right now