Not to be confused with the more common and less durable aluminium frames, these are ultra tough and equally rare. The idea behind these was to provide a really strong frame, forks, and finishing kit inc chainset, some tough wheels, but keep it affordable by using lower end mechs and V brakes as these would be easy to upgrade in the future. I bought this new many years back, but I had other bikes I was riding at the time, and it felt a bit small, so I never really rode it. Since then I upgraded it slightly with some Avid V brakes (original Tektro weren’t great), new pedals (Kona ones are available but have some paint flake), grips (old ones disintegrated), and a smaller jump specific saddle (not sure where the original is) and gave it to my son to ride. Unfortunately he isn’t a keen rider and has ridden it about 5miles in total I would guess, hence bobbles on tires, and us now taller than me! It is in amazing condition for it’s age (2003/4), and the frame and forks are nearly indestructible and worth loads on their own. The geometry is great, and this is the sought after second generation frame where they modified the seat tube and backstay design to fix the failure point of the MkI (I was a Kona dealer at this point).
