Restoring a bike for a mate, What would you do?

[enc]

I've been on a few ride-outs with a mate who has a Scott hybrid and he's developed a liking for retro Konas. He knows zero about bikes so the restoration and careful maintenance a retro bike requires is highly unlikely (by him). He's asked me to find and restore something for him with a budget of £300 max. With prices of early Konas stable it's possible we can do this but, an issue for me is restoring a bike I know for a fact will not receive the future care it requires. I'd be pissed seeing it treated the same way he treats the Scott hybrid BUT.... it scratches an itch for me. Currently, I have nine bikes... five ridable and four leisurely build projects ... I really enjoy the restoration, build, cleaning, etc though I daren't take on any more for myself... id be quite happy to restore something for my mate but as I said id be cut up if it wasn't looked after properly. Opinions?

 

[KermitGKona88]

Use Deore DX/LX components they were made to be abused and neglected by the masses and still work well.

 

[abr303]

If your mate is not very mechanically minded and lacking in retro steed sympathy will the project need to be mint and super tidy like your use to with your own projects.....? I'd be peed off too seeing a project go to rack n ruin so maybe a decent base model ie. Hahanna, Fire Mountain etc scratches and warts then use something like STX/STX RC which would be cheap enough to replace if the dreaded happens in the future.... I'm assuming he's not expecting a Kona Hei Hei with full XTR

 

[Joe_Rides]

Just done something similar for a work colleague (last night in fact!), although they weren't bothered about it being retro, they just wanted a cheap-ish bike of quality.

My tip would be to buy the most complete bike you can, in the best condition. I always try and find something with a low milage drivetrain, so that chain/cassette have worn together and are nice and smooth. I do enjoy building bikes from scratch, with parts sourced from different places, but for me they always seem to require that little bit of extra 'ongoing' fettling to get right - not something your mate is going to be able to do.

I ended up winning an early 00's Cinder Cone (aluminium one) with a couple of nice upgrades and (seemingly) low miles, for £99.99 on ebay. Just needed a minor adjust to the brakes and some lubrication.

 

[Joe_Rides]

This looks ok though and in Stockport?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplac..."upsell_type\":null,\"grouping_info\":null}"}

 

[markoc]

An old 98/99 steel Hahanna is a good honest frame, reasonably forgiving and a nice ride - complete bikes tend to go reasonably cheap on ebay. £300 would go a long way to replacing some of the parts with some better kit as I think they had cantis - so pop some STX V's on as they work well and cost bobbins. Slap some new cables and pads on, a quick service and maybe some shiny bits. You could have change from £200...

If you pick something at that end of the spectrum I'd be looking at it as a success to get something back out on the trails where it belongs. Better that (and possibly be abused) than become skip fodder I guess.

They also make great Singlespeeds - so maybe talk to him about that - and then the maintenance side of things becomes less relevant.

 

[enc]

If your mate is not very mechanically minded and lacking in retro steed sympathy will the project need to be mint and super tidy like your use to with your own projects.....? I'd be peed off too seeing a project go to rack n ruin so maybe a decent base model ie. Hahanna, Fire Mountain etc scratches and warts then use something like STX/STX RC which would be cheap enough to replace if the dreaded happens in the future.... I'm assuming he's not expecting a Kona Hei Hei with full XTR

He’s actually quite keen to get involved.. thst might change when he realises whats involved with stripping a chain set to detail

 

[enc]

Just done something similar for a work colleague (last night in fact!), although they weren't bothered about it being retro, they just wanted a cheap-ish bike of quality.

My tip would be to buy the most complete bike you can, in the best condition. I always try and find something with a low milage drivetrain, so that chain/cassette have worn together and are nice and smooth. I do enjoy building bikes from scratch, with parts sourced from different places, but for me they always seem to require that little bit of extra 'ongoing' fettling to get right - not something your mate is going to be able to do.

I ended up winning an early 00's Cinder Cone (aluminium one) with a couple of nice upgrades and (seemingly) low miles, for £99.99 on ebay. Just needed a minor adjust to the brakes and some lubrication.

Sounds good joe.. sounds like your colleague has the right idea. To the casual onlooker…paying a couple hundred quid for “an old bike” may seem madness , but when you look what you get for similar money in halfords etc , I doubt your gonna get the same ride experience … certainly not long term. Sadly, to the uninitiated this will always be the case… they don’t see the potential advantage of an older bike.

 

[enc]

This looks ok though and in Stockport?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplac..."upsell_type\":null,\"grouping_info\":null}"}

Stop it joe… I’m half tempted myself

 

[enc]

An old 98/99 steel Hahanna is a good honest frame, reasonably forgiving and a nice ride - complete bikes tend to go reasonably cheap on ebay. £300 would go a long way to replacing some of the parts with some better kit as I think they had cantis - so pop some STX V's on as they work well and cost bobbins. Slap some new cables and pads on, a quick service and maybe some shiny bits. You could have change from £200...

If you pick something at that end of the spectrum I'd be looking at it as a success to get something back out on the trails where it belongs. Better that (and possibly be abused) than become skip fodder I guess.

They also make great Singlespeeds - so maybe talk to him about that - and then the maintenance side of things becomes less relevant.

Yes, yes and yes