Kona had the best paint/looks bitd.
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I wish you could just look up who did the design. Like if bikes came with a colophon. I bet the designer would love to hear people still enjoying something they did so long after they did it.
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yeah it’s really difficult to track down the designer of most products, outside of some furniture companies like DWR and ikea. it’s a really backward thing about design that shouldn’t be hidden.
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I don’t feel like Kona’s not that big of a company that you couldn’t contact someone there and ask. I mean, LinkedIn exists
Strong agree. Im writing up a piece on the history of road bike design, and the lack of accessible institutional history is very frustrating.
Same goes with clothing - I want unique model numbers and design history on the tags!
This is the sort of stuff that’s collectible a hundred years later
SO TEMPTED
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Stem spacer
shear elegance
I really don’t like that bike.
Remove spacers, get risers.
Shifters are dumb
Brake levers are extra dumb
Maybe it’s just the angle of the picture, but the saddle looks awkward that far back.
I like it but it I wouldn’t want to own it
I realize I’m probably the minority, since I grew up with them, but I really don’t get the vintage MTB trend. Those bikes sucked to ride back then. 30 years hasn’t made them any better.
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Do vintage mtb people seek out the kind of terrain / trails that were more popular in the era in which their bike was made? I know squat about mtb, but I assume that a 1987 stumpjumper would struggle on a route that would be easy on a modern enduro bike.
How many are getting used for mountain bike sport riding, too? My sense is that a lot of retro mtb is for commuting and very gentle trail riding. For that they probably work great for the price (like the $400 I spent turning a stumpjumper into a commuter earlier this year).
Period aesthetics always return the new-passe-retro cycle. we are just all old enough now to see things make a comeback even though they weren’ that great the first time around.
Most of the trails around here are from the same vintage. We had a period where there were no new trails being built. That is a phenomenon largely from the last decade or so.
I do see people on the vintage bikes complaining about how rough some of the older trails are on the local lists. The trails have always been rough, so not much has changed there. Most of the frames were built to barely handle a 2" tire. There’s not much cushion. Flow trails are definitely ridable, but the geometry back then was more like modern gravel bikes. I would anticipate going OTB a lot.
I don’t think these bikes are actually getting used on singletrack, there are far better bikes for cheap that make that kind of riding a lot more fun and safe.
These mtb conversions are for commuting and rail trail touring. They have the clearance for decently big tires, they’re affordable (since you’ll need to replace a bunch of rotted out stuff anyway), and have the braze-ons for racks fenders that people want to use. Plus, aesthetically, they’re cool and how often have we bought one thing over another cause it looks cool?
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I have a slightly older version of that bike
It’s a great commuter
I like to take it on the rumblier end of what folx would call a dirt road
I would ride across the country on it
It does not really shred
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Certain old bikes look really cool
Especially with some new parts
See also: late 80’s and early 90’s steel road bikes with deep section carbon rims
I regret selling my 90s steel S-works mtb even if it was beat up. I needed the cash at the time but that was dumb.
Switzerland trail?
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