New bike project. Advice needed

[Seventy Three]

Hi everyone, after losing a bit of fitness after an eye op at the start of the year I'm putting a bike together to get back in shape and thought I'd go back to mountain bikes. Last decent bike I had was a Diamond Back probably circa 1993 but I've got what appears to be an old early 2000's Giant GSR I picked up at an auction. Its a 21" frame which is too big for me (I'm 5'11 but like a smaller frame to throw around) so I've bought a 2005 Kona Hoss Dee-Lux frame and mechs off ebay and I'm going to build a bike from all the parts and new ones I buy second hand.

Anyway, I have the frame which I've just stripped to respray, Deore mechs and shifters, wheels, headset and bars and stem, and some Tektro disc brakes. I've got an older Sugino Crank off the Giant but I'm not sure if it'll fit with the bottom bracket I'll need for the Kona as it had Raceface gear on it. So will I really need to source a Raceface cranck and BB for the Kona frame?

Also, are Sugino any good? The Giant frame had been really modded it seems.

Thanks in advance,

David

 

[feetabix]

hi dave....welcome to retrobike!....certain cranks will need certain width bb's....i would decide on which crank you prefer and then source an appropriate bottom bracket to suit it....the suguino cranks were oe on kona's of the period and whilst not being particularly blingy, they did the job perfectly well. they are narrow and will require a fairly narrow bb to keep the 'q' factor reasonable....here is my '95 cindy with original suguino crank....

....it's your bike. build it your way and enjoy it.....

 

[Charlieboy28]

The bottom bracket axle length for the cranks should stay the same , so if the current bb is say 113mm the new one should be about the same.

the other sizing you need to be aware of is the bb shell size , most commonly 68 or 73 mm.

Sugino make good no nosense cranks IMO

 

[elPedro666]

Also a fan of Sugino, all the ones I've had have run on 113mm axles. So long as cranks and axles are square taper just bung them on and see if the chainline looks okay

 

[Seventy Three]

Cheers guys. According to bikepedia the 05 Hoss Delux came with a raceface SRS ISIS bottom bracket. Just getting used to all this new (even in 2005) tech and I'm not sure whether it takes one of those exteral BB's or not, or even how they differ from old ones. Can anyone advise?

 

[elPedro666]

ISIS is an internal BB with splines and will only fit ISIS cranks. BBs are relatively cheap though so I would suggest (if you want to use the Suginos) getting a BB to match your cranks - 68x113mm square taper.

Have a look through the for sale section on here, expect a tenner tops for a good UN5*, slightly more for the more desirable UN7*. They come up very regularly, sure there's a couple there now

 

[Seventy Three]

Cheers El. Good advice.

I'm also thinking of going with a rigid fork. Mostly because I feel more precise with them over a shock fork but also because they save a tonne on weight. Another point is cost as even a second hand cheap suspension fork goes for £50 plus.

Was thinking about a second hand Exotic carbon rigid sonot to spend a fortune. Any views on this? Mostly I'll be on the road and rough tracks but no jumping.

NIce bike by the way Feetabix.

 

[elPedro666]

The bike came with 100mm travel forks so I'd suggest 440mm axle-crown, nowt wrong with Exotic as far as I'm aware. That said, with what I think I might know (fairly little) about Konas the frame shape didn't change for years so you could probably go with a 420mm fork (and perhaps a slightly longer stem) to sharpen the handling slightly. Whichever suits your body shape and riding style best

I've just looked up your frame though and it's a pretty heavy duty thrash/jump bike - are you 100% that you're doing the right thing? Don't want to appear negative at all, but just be sure before throwing a bunch of money at it that you're not going to end up with not quite what you need at the end (we've all done it).

Stop and think about what you want, then by all means tell me to go jump - it's your project! But just want you to be sure first!

 

[Seventy Three]

No offence taken El, the thought crossed my mind too when I found out what I'd bought. I literally just got the frame by itself though and I'm only really buying second hand stuff to do it up so I'm not spending a fortune. I like the style of the Kona frame though and I like having something that definately isn't going to break, even if I do decide to take it off road at a later date.

I guess my idea behind the rigid forks is that suspension forks are very expensive and if I go for a second hand set under £80 then they're going to a much cheaper fork to begin with. Then theres maintaining them. Also, I like the more retro look of non-shock forks. If, at some point, I really got into wanting to take it off road I could get a suspension fork and know that the frame is up for almost anything.

Saying that, I did look into it, and the Hoss frame is around a kilo more than the regular frames. Then I thought, bloody hell, its only a kilo and I've probably saved half of that already with a carbon fibre seat post I've inherited. I'll also save 2 whole kilos on a rigid forks over suspension forks.

At the end of the day, I can always change the frame and sell it on if I got all weight obsessed as its not as difficult and time consuming as I thought.

Thats the thing with projects, you never quite know what they'll turn out like and I think thats the charm with them.

 

[elPedro666]

That's the thing with projects, you never quite know what they'll turn out like and I think thats the charm with them.

Can't fault your attitude!

I wouldn't rule out picking up a decent set of bouncy forks for good money on here though. I am a fan of rigids though - there were some Salsa Cro-motos on here recently that might've been perfect, not sure whether they sold...