Looks like Grant has infiltrated Kona!

[landotter]

http://www.konaworld.com/08_kapu.htm

Lugs, eyelets, reg reach brakes, room for mudguards, and it's ORANGE.
OMG, and a threadless stem to put a finger in the eye of the shellac
crowd.

The $2K price, considering the spec, seems to be right on. I'll have
one for Yule, please. No wrapping necessary.

 

[Mike Jacoubowsky]

> Lugs, eyelets, reg reach brakes, room for mudguards, and it's ORANGE.
> OMG, and a threadless stem to put a finger in the eye of the shellac
> crowd.
>
> The $2K price, considering the spec, seems to be right on. I'll have
> one for Yule, please. No wrapping necessary.

Nice easy-going head tube angles, but what's with the short chainstays? Why
can't anyone get it right? At 41cm it's not long enough to get that
magic-carpet ride that a little bit longer chainstay delivers. Guess they're
worried that someone's going to parking-lot test-ride it and have it lose
out to something that feels "faster."

As for long-reach brakes, implying the possibility of larger tires, make
sure there's enough clearance at the seat tube.

Short chainstays on "utility" bikes are just plain dumb, in my opinion. For
what it's worth, I fight this battle with Trek each time there's a redesign
of the road platform. Presently we're sitting at 41cm for our
performance-oriented road bikes, and I do *not* want to see it get any
shorter. That's longer than most everybody else, and the benefits (better
descending, smoother ride, better shifting) are quite real. Sure, it doesn't
look as "racy" as a bike where debris is scraped off the tire by the seat
tube, but I care a lot more about how it feels on a 60 mile ride than a lap
around the parking lot.

The Kona does look the part of a cool old-school retro bike though. Nicely
done for color & graphics, but I think I'd come up with something other than
a panel decal for the downtube. Not too 70s-looking.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

 

[landotter]

On Aug 30, 12:09 pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > Lugs, eyelets, reg reach brakes, room for mudguards, and it's ORANGE.
> > OMG, and a threadless stem to put a finger in the eye of the shellac
> > crowd.
>
> > The $2K price, considering the spec, seems to be right on. I'll have
> > one for Yule, please. No wrapping necessary.
>
> Nice easy-going head tube angles, but what's with the short chainstays? Why
> can't anyone get it right? At 41cm it's not long enough to get that
> magic-carpet ride that a little bit longer chainstay delivers. Guess they're
> worried that someone's going to parking-lot test-ride it and have it lose
> out to something that feels "faster."
>
> As for long-reach brakes, implying the possibility of larger tires, make
> sure there's enough clearance at the seat tube.

Yeah, I just noticed that obscenely small bit of space between the
tire and the seat tube. No more drooling from this end. My brain was
thinkin "eh, just slide it back in the drops to make room" as I just
sold a bike with semi horizontal drops. The bike I sold could have fit
32mm tires and fenders, no problemo! If the Kona could do even 25s and
guards for that British winter training look, I'da been writing to
Santa.

I love the lugs--and I'm not usually a lug guy, I'd rather a Gunnar
Sport than a Waterford (price difference doesn't hurt) but with the
70s orange, hubba hubba!

 

[Smokey]

On Aug 30, 10:12 am, landotter <[email protected]> wrote:
> http://www.konaworld.com/08_kapu.htm
>
> Lugs, eyelets, reg reach brakes, room for mudguards, and it's ORANGE.
> OMG, and a threadless stem to put a finger in the eye of the shellac
> crowd.
>
> The $2K price, considering the spec, seems to be right on. I'll have
> one for Yule, please. No wrapping necessary.

Nice bike, but I'd also like to see clearance for bigger tires. Some
of us are Clydesdales who live on rough roads. I've tried 700X23s on
my rough gravel road and it's a recipe for snakebite flats. The other
thing that I'd like to see changed is lower gearing than a 39X53 and
25 tooth low sprocket. A compact or a triple setup would make more
sense for the average rider. I do like the steel frame and lugs,
though. Gears can be changed, tire clearances are a little more
problematic.

Smokey

 

[landotter]

On Aug 30, 3:47 pm, Smokey <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Aug 30, 10:12 am, landotter <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >http://www.konaworld.com/08_kapu.htm
>
> > Lugs, eyelets, reg reach brakes, room for mudguards, and it's ORANGE.
> > OMG, and a threadless stem to put a finger in the eye of the shellac
> > crowd.
>
> > The $2K price, considering the spec, seems to be right on. I'll have
> > one for Yule, please. No wrapping necessary.
>
> Nice bike, but I'd also like to see clearance for bigger tires. Some
> of us are Clydesdales who live on rough roads. I've tried 700X23s on
> my rough gravel road and it's a recipe for snakebite flats.

Heck, after discovering the joy of 30mm+ tires on my fixie, I sold my
road bike last week. I love being at the local wetlands loop able to
jump onto a dirt road as desired. Too much fun. Can't see running
skinnier than 28s on something that's mainly for road use. I got used
to cush. That said, I didn't notice that, how do put this lightly,
F'IN IDIOTIC chain stay length, till Mike pointed it out. My eyes
were drawn to the normal reach brakes. Somebody's got a screw loose at
Kona--why bother with a long reach brake with such ridiculous
chainstays. [bangs head against keyboard]

>The other
> thing that I'd like to see changed is lower gearing than a 39X53 and
> 25 tooth low sprocket. A compact or a triple setup would make more
> sense for the average rider. I do like the steel frame and lugs,
> though. Gears can be changed, tire clearances are a little more
> problematic.

39x25 gets you up the steepest hills at our Warner park, and they're
alpine grade. That's assuming you're BMI is low, you've been training,
and you've just eaten a banana. I think it's good gearing for most
folks that don't live in really hilly areas. Except for two hills
around here, which I never actually ride--I'd be happy with a 50/39
and a corncob in the back. If you got two big ones, I think you'll
probably find the fee to switch to compact or get a new cassette to be
a mosquito bite to the wallet.

 

[SMS]

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
>> Lugs, eyelets, reg reach brakes, room for mudguards, and it's ORANGE.
>> OMG, and a threadless stem to put a finger in the eye of the shellac
>> crowd.
>>
>> The $2K price, considering the spec, seems to be right on. I'll have
>> one for Yule, please. No wrapping necessary.
>
> Nice easy-going head tube angles, but what's with the short chainstays? Why
> can't anyone get it right? At 41cm it's not long enough to get that
> magic-carpet ride that a little bit longer chainstay delivers.

I agree. The chain stay length on the Surly LHT and CCC is more appropriate.

And are they leaving the steer tube uncut?

 

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article <[email protected]>,
landotter <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Aug 30, 12:09 pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > Lugs, eyelets, reg reach brakes, room for mudguards, and it's ORANGE.
> > > OMG, and a threadless stem to put a finger in the eye of the shellac
> > > crowd.
> >
> > > The $2K price, considering the spec, seems to be right on. I'll have
> > > one for Yule, please. No wrapping necessary.
> >
> > Nice easy-going head tube angles, but what's with the short chainstays? Why
> > can't anyone get it right? At 41cm it's not long enough to get that
> > magic-carpet ride that a little bit longer chainstay delivers. Guess they're
> > worried that someone's going to parking-lot test-ride it and have it lose
> > out to something that feels "faster."
> >
> > As for long-reach brakes, implying the possibility of larger tires, make
> > sure there's enough clearance at the seat tube.
>
> Yeah, I just noticed that obscenely small bit of space between the
> tire and the seat tube. No more drooling from this end. My brain was
> thinkin "eh, just slide it back in the drops to make room" as I just
> sold a bike with semi horizontal drops. The bike I sold could have fit
> 32mm tires and fenders, no problemo! If the Kona could do even 25s and
> guards for that British winter training look, I'da been writing to
> Santa.

Kona makes quite a few other bikes that are utilitarian and have
fat-tire clearance ranging from cyclocross to ludicrous (the Jakes, the
extremely eccentric Sutra, and much more).

The basic Jake is the most obvious answer to the question, since,
frankly, I think cantis (or discs) are the right answer to
fender-plus-fatty clearances.

The Kapu is an aesthetic answer for the credit-card tourers, Sunday
riders, and centurions. Nothing wrong with it. drop-bar utilitarians
should choose the Jake or the Sutra.

Though really, you long-chainstay nerds should check out the Kona UTE:
if you are not satisfied, then you'll need to start looking at recumbent
tandems.

> I love the lugs--and I'm not usually a lug guy, I'd rather a Gunnar
> Sport than a Waterford (price difference doesn't hurt) but with the
> 70s orange, hubba hubba!

The aesthetic details on the Kapu (not surprisingly) are sweet. I'm
quite taken with the subtle curves on their King Zing (top carbon bike)
as well.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email protected] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

 

[Luke]

In article <[email protected]>, Ryan
Cousineau <[email protected]> wrote:

> > I love the lugs--and I'm not usually a lug guy, I'd rather a Gunnar
> > Sport than a Waterford (price difference doesn't hurt) but with the
> > 70s orange, hubba hubba!
>
> The aesthetic details on the Kapu (not surprisingly) are sweet. I'm
> quite taken with the subtle curves on their King Zing (top carbon bike)
> as well.

Esthetically, there's one detail on the Kapu that rankles - nitpicker
that I am. It's the seattube/toptube junction. There the seatstays stop
short of meeting the seattube and toptube at the lug. I assume the
stays are welded to the seattube, betraying the lug's superfluousness.

Sure they have a decorative appeal, but largely reducing the lugs to
ornaments smacks of too much artifice. I'm curious if the Kapu has a BB
lug. Can anyone access the 'Additional Images' feature?