> 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