My New SS Build

[Flippa]

After riding a "converted to SS" 26" Giant XTC for a year, I decided to take the plunge and get myself a SS specific frame.

 

The order I placed on 7 December arrived today.

[Flippa]

_{This is what I found in the box.}

[Flippa]

Mmmmmm, 2012 Kona Unit with Kona P2 rigid fork.

[Flippa]

Now for the wheels.

[Stretched@Birth]

Hope you're in the garage building... Spose I should drop those bars off for you tomorrow!

[Flippa]

Hope you're in the garage building... Spose I should drop those bars off for you tomorrow!

 

Racing tomorrow, Krugersdorp Game Reserve 40km. I'll give you a buzz tomorrow when we are on our way back to arrange to pick up the bars. Also need to get a headset, chain and seatpost and then she's done.

[Flippa]

OK, so after wrestling unsuccessfully the whole of Sunday to fit headset cups, the frame is going to the LBS today to get them pressed in.

 

On the bright side though, I got the bars (Ragley Carnegies), stem (KCNC Fly Ride) and seatpost (Truvativ Stylo).

 

I'll post more pictures tonight.

[BushGoblin]

awesome bike.

[divernick]

Nice! Where did you buy it?

[Flippa]

Got it from Maverick Cycles. They are distributors for Kona in South Africa.

 

It took an absolute age for them to get it to me, but that's a story for another time. Looking forward to getting it going.

[nathrix]

Very nice Loaded rims are bling bling, gonna look nice with the frame.

[Flippa]

Very nice Loaded rims are bling bling, gonna look nice with the frame.

 

Thanks! I've converted them to tubeless using a 26r tubeless rubber strip and valve with Maxxis CrossMark LUST.

 

That anodised green is an awesome match for the matt orange of the frame.

[Nobody]

I LOVE that colour.

Okay so i have a few questions:

 

1. Why did you go for KONA and not any other SS specific brand?

2. What travel or hieght is that fork equivalent too? (Would be the same angle with a 100 or 120 or 140 fork)

3. What material is the frame made of?

[Flippa]

I LOVE that colour.

Okay so i have a few questions:

 

1. Why did you go for KONA and not any other SS specific brand?

2. What travel or hieght is that fork equivalent too? (Would be the same angle with a 100 or 120 or 140 fork)

3. What material is the frame made of?

 

Thanks.

 

1. I was specifically looking for Paragon style sliding dropouts. I'm not a fan of EBB's as they are known for their issues, and horizontal dropouts are not great with discs, having to adjust the caliper if you take the rear wheel out. There are very few stock bikes available in SA with sliding dropouts and I narrowed my choice down to the Kona Unit, Ragley TD1 and Ritchey P-29. The Ragley was out of my budget, I couldn't get the Ritchey in a medium until July 2012, so I went with the Kona. The Kona matches the geometry of my XTC the closest, plus it has the shortest chain stays, great for agility in a 29r.

 

2. I think the fork has an A-C of 465mm which I think is suspension corrected for 80mm. I know that Kona has OK'ed fitment of 100mm suspension forks for this frame.

 

3. Steel is real.

[Flippa]

Some more pictures.

 

At this point she is about 90% done. Just needs grips and to cut the steerer tube.

 

Apologies for the poor quality.

[divernick]

Looks rad. Excellent colour combination.

 

And WOW that's a long steerer!