Kona Dream Builds: Sam's Psychedelic Process 153 G3

Kona Ambassador Ben Gerrish recently posted photos of his friend Sam's bike to his Instagram account. The bike and the aforementioned amazing photos are hard to miss, we just HAD to know more. Sam got back to us detailing his inspiration for the build as well as providing a complete build list for all you detail-orientated Kona fans out there. Enjoy!

Inspiration for the paint came from a few sources, some people who paint bikes, especially squid bikes, and @savethepostalservice who both advocate the use of spray paint to paint bicycle frames but I also took influence from graffiti artists. I love the geometric forms, attention to detail, and use of paint in Dr Curtis Bullock’s work, but it’s not my style. I am a big fan of the DIY nature and more loose and Freeform style that Squid Bikes use for their frames. I took that inspiration and added my color palette, and love of splatter (an effect I’ve used on my last two personal bikes), and gave myself time to experiment. I had originally planned to only paint the rocker link and decals, masking the majority of the frame, but after seeing the effect on the rocker I carried the technique over to the main triangle too.

Once the main body of color was laid down it was time to figure out decals. I approached the guys at Mount Green Distributors (Kona’s new home in the UK) and they were in the process of sourcing me the current decal set when I thought back to my favorite Kona bikes over the years. Almost all my favorite bikes came from the 1996-1999 era so thought, why not do an homage to those older-style decals? I found some reference decals online for the head tube, top tube, and down tube, then set to work modifying and refining them so they worked better as a single-color decal. I then used individual letters from older Kona models to lay out the process decal and drew the 153 numbers using the 1998 Kona catalog as a reference point.

I already had a specification in mind for the wheels after picking up a bargain set of Generation 3 Chris King hubs. I used a local frame builder and engineer to custom make me a boost converter for the 142 hubs to suit the boost spacing of the frame, sourced a 6mm spacer to go behind the disc rotor, and corrected the rotor spacing and everything else was a straight forward wheel build. I chose the 142 hub and race face arcHD rims to give perfect triangulation and even tension for the rear wheel, it’s a vastly underappreciated part of a rear wheel build.

The rest of the build features parts I know and trust, based on durability, performance, and serviceability. I want my bike to work like a fine-tuned machine, be able to strip, service, and repair any parts that require it, and choose wisely in order to achieve those goals. My favorite part about speccing a custom build is the contact points. Tires, saddle, bars, and pedals are the fundamental controls that put you in charge of the bike and then apply force to the ground. Next most important to me are the brakes so had to choose my tried and trusted favourites, Hope technology’s Tech 4 is damn near impossible to beat in my experience, power, and control plus built to last. Rockshox provides suspension duties front and rear, easy to set up, and service, and high performance, an easy decision. The rest of the build fell into place, I wanted simple, effective gears, a reliable dropper post, and a space to fit a pump, tools, and water bottle.

With my bike completed I turned my attention to my son’s balance bike…a strider that was recently passed on to us from a friend whose son had outgrown it. It was looking like it had seen its fair share of miles. A quick strip, sanding back, and a fresh layer of paint means it looks as good as new. Once my son has moved on up to pedals we can pass it on to the next family looking pretty special.

What a rig! I’m thrilled with how the build has turned out and have to thank Graham and Scott from mount green distribution for getting me the bike in the first place. Massive thanks to Ben from HDDN media for his concept and the final build photos, the results are better than I could ever have imagined.