Kona Sutra as all-round road bike

[druidh]

Still on a quest and like the look of this as an all rounder for
commuting / touring and longer road rides. Any user experiences?



druidh

 

[David Martin]

druidh wrote:
> Still on a quest and like the look of this as an all rounder for
> commuting / touring and longer road rides. Any user experiences?

Like the look of what, exactly?

...d

 

[druidh]

[Hint: It's in the thread title]

 

[Peter Clinch]

druidh wrote:
> Still on a quest and like the look of this as an all rounder for
> commuting / touring and longer road rides. Any user experiences?

If I was spending that much on a bike allegedly designed for touring I'd
be a bit miffed that I immediately had to spend a load more on a decent
rack and set of mudguards to make it remotely useful for the job.

And what's with the disc brakes? If you want serious braking beyond Vs,
dual pivots and cantis then you're probably better off going hydraulic
rather than particularly disc (the best discs are hydraulic, these look
like mechanicals to me), which will just add weight and cost for not
much particular benefit unless you usually have your rims caked in mud.

Or in other words it looks a bit more like it's got an image in its
designer's mind than actually going touring on it. Not that that means
it isn't a capable bike, but one where the design priorities maximise
usefulness speaks more to me in a "I want one of these" voice. I'd
sooner get the Dawes Audax myself (and I'd sooner get an HPVel
Speedmachine than that, for fast road use, albeit at a considerably
steeper price tag).

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Steve W]

It looks nice but I think I would rather spend the same money on the Thorn
Rohloff bike http://www.sjscycles.com/thornwebsite/raventour.html and its
nearly all British!!


"druidh" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Still on a quest and like the look of this as an all rounder for
> commuting / touring and longer road rides. Any user experiences?
>
>
>
> druidh

 

[sothach]

Steve W wrote:
> It looks nice but I think I would rather spend the same money on the Thorn
> Rohloff bike http://www.sjscycles.com/thornwebsite/raventour.html and its
> nearly all British!!

Totally biased opinion, but that is a fantastic commuter and makes a
decent tourer when called upon. 18months on, I still look forward to
the ride home on the Raven, come rain or snow. Pre-Raven, there was
always the thought that the gears would be out of adjustment just at
the first hill, the dynamo or battery would fail in the rain, or the
brakes wouldn't.

BTW, mines is pretty much an Anglo-German bike, except for the
Taiwanese frame builder (but not designer), French crank arms (Thorn
branded), US rhino wheels, Japanese clipless pedals, Dutch rack &
panniers. The rest is Thorn, Rohloff, SON, Magura, SKS, BuM, Brooks.

 

[Steve W]

Yeh but at least it's put together in UK and therefore supporting our
economy to some small degree!!


"sothach" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Steve W wrote:
> > It looks nice but I think I would rather spend the same money on the
Thorn
> > Rohloff bike http://www.sjscycles.com/thornwebsite/raventour.html and
its
> > nearly all British!!
>
> Totally biased opinion, but that is a fantastic commuter and makes a
> decent tourer when called upon. 18months on, I still look forward to
> the ride home on the Raven, come rain or snow. Pre-Raven, there was
> always the thought that the gears would be out of adjustment just at
> the first hill, the dynamo or battery would fail in the rain, or the
> brakes wouldn't.
>
> BTW, mines is pretty much an Anglo-German bike, except for the
> Taiwanese frame builder (but not designer), French crank arms (Thorn
> branded), US rhino wheels, Japanese clipless pedals, Dutch rack &
> panniers. The rest is Thorn, Rohloff, SON, Magura, SKS, BuM, Brooks.
>

 

[Ambrose Nankivell]

druidh wrote:
> [Hint: It's in the thread title]

Still, it's polite to provide a link, if you could be so kind as to when
asking 40 reasonably well qualified people for an opinion which would take
them a good 5 or 10 minutes to think up and write out.

--
Ambrose