Ronen’s got a problem.
We do a lot of very technical riding on some sick trails. Due to his height and fit, he’s been relegated to a 140mm seat dropper while I’ve been able to use a 170mm dropper (w/frame mod or custom bike). This has been a huge advantage for me. Adding to that is that he likes to do more trials based stunts, where more room is better. He wanted to get on the right stick. It’s pretty much silly trying to ride mountain bikes these days without using at least a 150mm dropper so this was important stuff.
He put a lot of time into measuring what was out there for the right fit and the ability to use the 170mm seatpost. According to his numbers, a medium 2017 Kona Process 134 would just do it. It’s a pretty cool bike and I’ve been in awe of the current rear end design since our Kona ProBro and CES killer Ryan Gardner started busting his bikes out on our rides.
When he got the bike and we swapped all of his parts, we saved the post install for last knowing that that would be money. When we got there and started looking at it, we saw how close we really were. I honestly thought that we were screwed. It was going to be a miracle if this happened. Looking at the setup and what he needed, 690-695mm saddle height with 170mm cranks, it was impossible in stock form to get a 170mm dropper in place. In fact, it looked like all he would be able to use would be a 125mm dropper which is more for cyclocross than mountain biking.
We dug in. Pulled the bearings. Mapped our route. There might be a way.
We’d go through the pivot.
This is a serious modification and I do not recommend a novice attempt it and without good purpose. Some expensive tools are needed and skilled hands. I use a nice Foredom flexible shaft and long carbide burrs for surgery like this.
Even with the work we did, the SRAM Connectamajig™ had to be removed for full clearance. These things take up so much room that very often they get removed when setting up bikes.
It looks like we got it to work. We kept it looking good. We used every single millimeter we had.
Every millimeter.
Due to an emergency with my dog Annie, I wasn’t able to get a better bearing spacer fabricated before we put this together. Next time we have it appart, it will be installed.
