I'd add to that by saying that slightly unfashionable ones are a good deal - as said good Marins are less fashionable than top drawer Konas, so are a bit more of a bargain.
1999 Konas (the first full range in Alu) seem to be very cheap, and seem to me to have all the handling of the steel ones, but less weight. They build up easily into 21lb machines as rigid singlespeeds using non-exotic components (I'm talking vanilla Deore and Sugino, not even XT).
1999 Konas (the first full range in Alu) seem to be very cheap, and seem to me to have all the handling of the steel ones, but less weight. They build up easily into 21lb machines as rigid singlespeeds using non-exotic components (I'm talking vanilla Deore and Sugino, not even XT).