I've been gravel riding for the last couple of years on an entry level vitus substance which I put 1000s km on and i decided I wanted a much better gravel bike, I've been exploring lots of different options for a new bike and then I saw a video of a 90s Kona conversion. The thing that caught my eye was that it used modern components throughout, the end result didn't just look like a 90s MTB with some drop bars on and coincidentally it was the same Kona as my first MTB that I bought new back in 97.
I love making stuff and do all my own bike mechanics (between me and my gf we have 9 different MTB and gravel) so I thought I would make my own gravel bike. Anyway it's a mixture of second hand MTB parts and carbon (ali express) wheels and components. It's got the large range cassette as we live in the UK near some big hills so I ride up some steep stuff, I've put 700c wheels with 50mm tyres and I also have a set of MTB 27.5 wheels with 2.2 tyres on it and it's got clearance for plenty more (I had some 2.35 downhill tyres on for a test fit)
There was a bit of cutting and welding of the dropouts to fit the bigger wheels with through axles and mounting the brake caliper and I also had to move the mudguard mount as I didn't have the wheels when building it and was mocking it up with my vitus wheels.

It's not finished yet as I have some more parts on the way and I will paint it when I've done lots of testing. Currently I've done 250km on it to get the setup correct and I'm now very happy with how it rides which is way better than my vitus and allows me to attack the rough downhill trails much more like I do on my MTB.

by johnonabike

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7 Comments

  1. awesome build, mind me asking how you learnt to weld disc brake mounts and thruaxles dropouts? I am in the UK as well

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