Fairly New To Riding, How's The 2015 Kona Dew For Someone Like Me?

[Catsyo]

I got rid of my car a few months ago because I realized most of my destinations are within a few miles from where I live. I currently have an old Murray cruiser bike that was given to me but I'm looking to upgrade. My area of town is kind of hilly and the cruiser is killing my knees because it is a little too short. I need a bike that is fairly easy to ride around town. I'd rather have gears and breaks so a fixed gear is out of the question. While I'd love to drop $1000+ on a nice road bike, my finances won't allow that until at least the fall.

I went to my local bike shop and noticed they had a few 2015 Kona Dew models tall enough for me. While I really enjoyed taking one out on a test ride, I still feel like I'm too new at riding to adequately judge whether the Dew is a good bike or not. I want to say the price was around $500 which is within my budget but I don't want to spend several hundred on a lemon. I've read a couple reviews online but I really would like to hear from a real person who has experience with their bikes. Are these good bikes and how do they compare to others in the same price range?

Secondly, are these bikes easily upgradeable? When I do get my finances settled in the fall, it might make more sense to upgrade the parts on the bike I have rather than buy a completely new one.

 

[ABNPFDR]

Kona makes good bikes and the Dew works as either a road fitness "hybrid" or a light commuter bike. It is on par with bikes like the Specialized Sirrus or Trek FX 7.2.. They all have similar components and price points. It's a solid enough bike and you should be happy with it.

As far as upgrading goes. Yes and no. The bikes are easily upgrade able but the cost of components AND labor to install them are probably more than if you sold your old bike and bought a new bike with the components you want on them.

 

[Catsyo]

Thanks for the info.

A hybrid is really all I need at this point. I don't think I'll be riding more than a few miles at a time and like I said in my first post, I really like how the Kona rode. The shop I went to didn't have the Sirrus or Trek but there's a couple others around here so maybe I'll shop around a bit to see how those other two stack up. I'm glad it's a good bike for its price point though.

Regarding upgrading, I know someone that would be willing to do the labor at a discounted rate (like for a few beers or dinner) so I'd really only have to be buying parts. I'm not necessarily interested in upgrading but I'd like to know that option is there if I want it.

 

[BobCochran]

So you have a trained mechanic willing to install parts for free, and this person also has all the right tools so you won't need to buy tools in addition to parts?

Bob

 

[Catsyo]

I'm friends with a dude who owns a bike shop, so yeah. It wouldn't be free per se, but he'd charge me way less than he would for someone who'd normally come into the shop. Like I said above, upgrading individual parts might not even happen. I just wanted to keep all my options open. He's been busy recently so I didn't have the chance to talk to him about a bike.