Off the moto and onto peddle power

[Rob Wise]

Hey all
So i am making the change from motox to DH i am going to be building my bike due to funds and well i think it will be fun
I have purchased a Kona southwood frame with seat handlebars and peddles (truvativ) i also purchased some disk breaks avid bb5 (until i get the feel of the bike) but i am currently finding it hard to find forks with as close to 200mm travel as i believe that's what i want to look for to offset the rear shock (glad its not 300 anymore 200's hard enough) so any recommendations on forks or even if anyone has any hidden in the back of there sheds they would like to part with then please PM me also any advice on what i should run would be greatly appreciated

here is what i have so far

 

[driftking]

If you can find out what the maximum recommended fork is on that frame.
It looks like it may be short travel in the rear 4-6inches?
Frames while they can or should be able to handle a bigger fork the frame may not be designed around these sizes, this can result in a few things.
First up it might throw out the geometry of the bike and make it ride poorly, and secondly it can place excess stress on the head tube and result in damage or strain to the point of failure.

I agree frames should be strong enough to handle this stress anyway But it is not advised to go over the recommendation for the frame.
As for forks running 203 most manufactures will have them, fox, rockshox, marzocchi, bos, manitou plenty out there just have a look at the for sale section on here in long travel.

Welcome to the sport, its good to see more people coming into it, more so a moto rider, A lot of dh riders use moto as cross training it will be interesting to see if riding dh helps your moto skills. Hopefully you enjoy this sport as much as many of us already do.

 

[CHEWY]

Hey all
So i am making the change from motox to DH i am going to be building my bike due to funds and well i think it will be fun
I have purchased a Kona southwood frame with seat handlebars and peddles (truvativ) i also purchased some disk breaks avid bb5 (until i get the feel of the bike) but i am currently finding it hard to find forks with as close to 200mm travel as i believe that's what i want to look for to offset the rear shock (glad its not 300 anymore 200's hard enough) so any recommendations on forks or even if anyone has any hidden in the back of there sheds they would like to part with then please PM me also any advice on what i should run would be greatly appreciated

here is what i have so far

View attachment 240739

That looks like one of the older kona stinkys with 5" of travel, if that's the case I would be looking for a fork with 5-6" travel (125 - 150mm)

 

[Rob Wise]

i am unable to actualy do too much other than look in the trading section right now, i am also having a little trouble finding the age of the frame a few people have said it could be around 2004 i found a pic of one built with the front shocks but cant see the model of the shock

 

[TheBug]

i am unable to actualy do too much other than look in the trading section right now, i am also having a little trouble finding the age of the frame a few people have said it could be around 2004 i found a pic of one built with the front shocks but cant see the model of the shock
View attachment 240759

The first thing that jumped out at me was the aftermarket rocker link. Didn't look right to me. No stinky rocker looked like that (completely flat) as far back as I can remember.
I don't recall a Southwood model of Kona either.

Seemed a bit odd so went sleuthing. Here you go - 14th Review down (near bottom). That's you frame. Explains why the rocker link is different and that it's an '01 MY. The 'southwood' is just the guys surname.

 

[Rob Wise]

The first thing that jumped out at me was the aftermarket rocker link. Didn't look right to me. No stinky rocker looked like that (completely flat) as far back as I can remember.
I don't recall a Southwood model of Kona either.

Seemed a bit odd so went sleuthing. Here you go - 14th Review down (near bottom). That's you frame. Explains why the rocker link is different and that it's an '01 MY. The 'southwood' is just the guys surname.

AWESOME thanks heaps so its a Kona 2001 Stinky Dee-Lux (unless i read wrong haha) that helps a fair bit as i can now find specifications on the bike thanks heaps for finding that

 

[CHEWY]

The first thing that jumped out at me was the aftermarket rocker link. Didn't look right to me. No stinky rocker looked like that (completely flat) as far back as I can remember.
I don't recall a Southwood model of Kona either.

Seemed a bit odd so went sleuthing. Here you go - 14th Review down (near bottom). That's you frame. Explains why the rocker link is different and that it's an '01 MY. The 'southwood' is just the guys surname.

Good find ! :thumb:

 

[Rob Wise]

im still going to be building up this bike however i managed to get a astrix havoc for a REALLY good price (07model) so going to build this is up for one of my kids