Saturday, March 04, 2017

New/Old Bike

I recently purchased a retro MTB, a 1991 Kona Lava Dome. Back in the day I owned a 92 Lava Dome. I bought it off eBay for £72.
The forks and stem were corroded, The tyres were shot, but other than that it seemed ok.
Alas, the forks and stem were a bit further gone than I thought, Vernon Barker who tried to sand blast them and powder cost them told me I would never get a flawless finish. So I just had them powder coat them as best they could. Also the Headset on the original was worn and the replacement I bought was also worn so I had a standard headset fitted.
I changed the tyres, grips and pedals and added bar ends to fit in with the look of the time.
Overall I was quite please. However, despite being able to strip and rebuild a vintage bike. I forgot how tedious fiddling with Cantilever brakes can be and the weight of the bike is actually heavier than my modern full suspension bike.
Not the outcome to the project I wanted but I'll use the bike as a gym bike and go to a few Retro MTB meetings..



A box of bits for cleaning