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Product Reviews -
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An Old Friend - Tex's Vintage Kona Hei Hei:
 | | Vintage Kona Hei Hei |
I have had an old Kona Hei Hei frame that has been hanging in the garage for a couple of years. The frame is my second mountain bike I ever owned. My wife bought me the frame for my birthday, used in 1991 for $800. I think MSRP was $1600. This was a lot of money in ’91. My first bike got broke when I fall down. Head not same since.
She purchased it from some dude sponsored by Kona. He included a Chris King headset which still adorns the frame. Man they are not kidding that they last forever. Anyway, the old titanium frame has seen a lot of miles and has been all over the country. It has seen many drivetrains and shocks. I had an original pink stickered RockShox on it for a couple of years. I used it as my first single speed. The set up was a Surly Tensioner and a cheapo wheelset using cogs and spacers from an old cassette. After I got my first dedicated single speed, a Surly 1x1, she has been hanging in my garage for a while.
I cannot remember when I finally decided to buy the components to fix her up, old school single speed. I had slowly amassed components. I started with Paul’s levers and Motolite brakes . These are pretty sweet. I have not used linear pull levers for ……well lets say a while. I hoped they worked as well as they looked. This was a major purchase for non-disc brakes. Heck you can buy discs for less, even top notch ones. I had no option since my frame is non-disc. I could have run one up front, but I wanted it to be uniform, clean and simple. Next purchase would be a wheelset. I knew what I wanted, White Industries ENO eccentric hubs with Salsa Delgado rims . Luck had it Bikeman had a black hubset in the Closeout Closet for not a lot of scratch. I ended up paying less for a wheelset than the brakeset. After reading opinions of flat vs. riser, I decided to go flat and wide. Salsa’s Pro Moto was the answer, with the 11 degree sweep. I also bought Kona’s Project 2 fork, either I was being cheap or wanted a change, maybe both. Some other items include Panaracer Fire XC’s and Greenlight tubes , a Surly chain ring with Problem Solver bolts and a new FSA ISIS bottom bracket . I had all the other components so it was time to build.
I have no problem with building bikes. I have put together a few in my day. It is a single speed. How hard can it be? I had been reading some reviews on the Paul’s brakes and a lot of people seemed to have trouble setting them up. I thought about taking it to a professional. Time or laziness got in the way. So I did it myself. Everything went together beautifully. The brakes work just dandy, a wee bit of squealing. The chainline was good, the bars are good and wide, the tires are light as a feather. One thing I did forget was rim strips. I used electrical tape. Yeah I know black tape. I have used it before. I also have used duct-tape with nary a problem. This brings up something a bike mechanic asked me once, “Who works on your bike?” Knowing he was referring to my work I replied “Uuuhh the shop down the street.” I recall he just smiled. When I finished, as you can see by the photos, it is pretty sweet. Did I say it is light also? 19.9 pounds by an Ultimate digital scale.
I took it for the maiden voyage. I went to a new area called Texas Canyon. Texas Canyon is an off-road vehicle area. I had a good map so I was not too worried about where I was. I rode for about 5 miles up then down a canyon. I was beginning the next ascent when I realized that only 2 of the 5 chain ring bolts where in place. DOH!!!!! What a schmoe. The ring was pretty twisted. So I turned around and limped back to the truck. At least I did not have to walk. I even found one of the bolts on the ride back. I got home, bought a new chain-ring and bolts, and put them on tight. Ever since then I have had no issues. Been on a few long 20-30 mile rides. It sure climbs nice but descending is sure rigid or hard. Take your pick. I have given new life to an old frame or should I say an old friend. Read my reviews of various parts listed.
Tex |
; "Vintage Kona Hei Hei")
