[Closed] Giving an old bike a new lease of life

Modern bikes are great and all that, but.....

I wanted a bike to take solarider jnr's bike seat, and something I could lock up without fear of unwanted attention. I was nervous about clamping the Hamax to my other bikes which weren't really made for utilitarian duties.

My first proper mountain bike was a 1989 Kona Explosif (I have been at this mountain biking lark for too long!). I loved that bike, and I go slightly misty eyed around old Konas of that generation, so I set my sights on an old school Kona. I have been scouring eBay for months, but every one in decent condition seemed to go for silly money.

Then this one came up last week for a bargain buy it now price. Fortunately the chap had looked on the stem and called it a Kona Velocity in the listing with a low buy it now price, so it hadn't attracted too much attention. Totally original Suntour XC Ltd 7 speed groupset with thumbies, Impact headset and even the original front tyre and brake blocks. For a 25 year old bike, it is in amazing condition, and to find one with so many fully working original parts was great. Plenty of battle scars, but it all adds to the charm and patina of the bike, particularly since everything works so well.

It hasn't seen much use in 25 years, and had 25 years of accumulated grime and grease, so the muckiest strip down, regrease and rebuild has occupied me for the last week. Every bearing, every part stripped down. Partly for fun, and partly just to check everything is working. Just replaced the saddle, grips and brake blocks and replaced the toe clips with SPDs. Otherwise, just a spruce up and deep clean.

So, what to say?

1) I had forgotten how difficult and finicky cantilever brakes are to set up!

2) How did we used to ride 7 speed 13/28 cassettes?

3) Thumbies are fantastic.

4) Geometry has come on in leaps and bounds, but actually my relative position on the bike is the same as it is now.

5) You can have as much fun on a £50 barn find as thousands of pounds worth of bouncy new tech.

6) How on earth did we used to ride with such narrow handlebars?!

Really looking forward to getting him out on the back this weekend and to many more adventures to come.

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