bikerboyd

My '02 trek 4500 has seen better days and my riding style is much more aggressive than it used to be. I prefer fr to xc, but I still like the occasional four or five hour ride on the trails, and there's a ton of uphill where I live. Now I'm looking into a new bike (frame). For a while, I was trying to decide between a stumpjumper fsr and the dawg; I seem to be leaning more towards the dawg lately. Now, I have a few questions:

1) Kona doesn't have the dawg listed as a frame you can buy from their website, and I haven't been able to find it anywhere else online. Are there retailers or distributors in the u.s. that sell the dawg frame alone, or do you have to buy the whole bike?

2) I like speed and downhill and I usually beat the crap out of my 4500 every time I ride it. I also like jumping and drops every once and a while. How well will dawg hold up over time? Do you think I will be better off going with an even stouter frame?

3) I will be taking some components from my old frame onto the new frame - xt derailleur, candy's, lx shifters, handlebar, seat/post, but I'll also be replacing a lot - wheels (i want to get mavic ex721 and hope xc hubs), cassette, front derailleur, crankset, fork. Will I really be better off building the bike or should I just go ahead and get the whole bike?

If you have any other suggestions for bikes that you think might fit my needs, please go ahead and share them, though keep in mind I don't want to go crazy - I'm a college student on a budget.. maybe a generous budget. I am open to all ideas and opinions. Thanks for your time and effort!

Maelstrom 

1 - its tough to find, have you contacted kona for a local dealer. They should be able to order it for you. Keep in mind from kona, it is RARELY worth buying the frame from them. Stinky is 2100cdn and the frame is 1500...food for thought.
2 - It will be fine. Design is essentially the kona stinky 6 early in the fr world
3 - That depends on pricing, taking into consideration my comment on number 1. Keep in mind, bb/seatpost and even fork may not be transferrable.

Biggest suggestion is to test ride a few different bikes. Fit is most important.

never

Here is the link to the replacement frames....but all they have on the site are the 2005 bikes and the only Dawg frame is the Dawg Primo which actually has the shock you'd likely want (RP3).

https://www.konaworld.com/shopping_ca...categoryid=250

iamlucky13

I forget the exact price, but I inquired about the price of the Dawg frame at the LBS about 2 weeks ago and was quoted right around $1000.

Re #3: It's pretty tough to find components for the equivalent price of what Kona gets them for. Since you have a lot of parts and it looks like quite a few of them are upgrades to the stock 4500, the price will probably be close. Your call. I was in almost exactly the same situation as you last week. I went ahead and kept my 4500 and bought a Dawg Primo this week (yay!), so now I have two bikes to choose between depending on my mood.