I have ridden the race of truth and it has shown me to be a liar.
Riding a time trial, be it a real one in competition or one on your own will reveal more about your abilities and power on a bicycle than almost anything else. Riding in a peleton, you can hide, wheel suck, and not put out as much effort as those around you. The same is true in a break away. Bursts of power are shorter and more intense, with time to recover. Work is shared.
Not so with the time trial. It is called the race of truth for a reason.
I don't race. I do like to ride all the time and do like to go fast. But I don't race.
Most of my riding is solo, or with friends, some of who are stronger than me, some not so much. I find that solo efforts are harder mentally and, since I like to push myself, at least on the surface resemble time trials. It is harder when riding solo to push right up to the red zone and hold it there for a long period of time. Give me someone to chase though, and I go faster. I will bury myself trying to catch another cyclist on the horizon. Catching them does not matter, but the effort of burying myself does to me. Blowing up on a chase is just an excuse to recover and go again.
What I need to develop is that mental ability which allows almost red zone effort without the lure. I need to break free from the racing greyhound charging after a mechanical lure mentality.
It is time to stop being a liar in the race of truth.
Showing posts with label bike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bike. Show all posts
Monday, 9 June 2014
Monday, 7 April 2014
Review: 2014 Kona Sutra
Again the usual applies with my product reviews. I am not being paid by Kona to write this. I am not a professional reviewer. I am writing my own opinions, the good and the bad, about products that I purchase with my own money. It is worth noting at this point that I have taken a job at a local bike shop which sells Konas. It is also worth noting that I have been a Kona fan for a very long time. The goal here is not to write a piece of "fanfic" designed the sell Konas. Feel free to take it that way if you must, but if you are familiar with my reviews, you know that I mention what I do not like about something even if the something is a thing that I like.
The purpose for me buying a Kona Sutra, a touring bike, was two fold. Firstly, my wife and I are interested in doing some bicycle camping. She already owns an Optima Orca recumbent touring bicycle, and she loves to camp. I love to ride bikes. She does not mind cycling, and I will admit, under duress, that I don't mind camping as long as I get my not ugly sleep. So it only makes sense to put the two things together. Enter the Sutra. Also, we are moving house in about a month, and my ride to the bike shop will increase from five km each way to about 27 km each way. Therefore, a better long distance commuter bike is needed. As a nice bonus, I will be able to ride instead of drive to my other job with ease where we are moving to. Again, enter the Sutra.
Here is what Kona says about the bicycle on their webpage:
"Our classic touring bike receives a facelift for 2014. We’ve taken our massively successful Rove frame and blended it with the styling and class of our Sutra from years past. The bike features solid front and rear Blackburn racks, as well as bar end shifters for simplicity. The oversized 44mm headtube gives a more precise ride while the steel tubing keeps things plush and smooth. Our new drop bar, the Wet Bar, features flared drops and a short reach to keep things comfortable during long descents." Source URL
Looking around the shop, I can definitely say that yes, this is a Rove in touring dress. Basically, if you were to take the current Rove, strip it of all of its parts, and take last year's Sutra, and strip it of all of its parts and then install all of those parts onto the Rove frame, you would have the 2014 Sutra.
This is not a bad thing.
My "road" bicycles for the last decade or so have been Kona cyclocross bikes, and I like the way that they feel on pavement and gravel/sand. The current Sutra has a very planted feel that I have come to associate with Kona cyclocross bicycles. But there are some significant differences in the feel of the machines.
The cyclocross bikes, while they share a geometry similar to the Sutra, are definitely racier. My Jake the Snake is a much faster bike with a more aggressive layout. The Sutra feels very sedate. A tall stack of spacers lift the stem and help keep the riding position relaxed. The Sutra's handling could best be described as lazy in comparison to the Jake the Snake. This is a very good thing for touring where the goal is to ride all day in comfort with a loaded bicycle as opposed to riding for several hours quickly, in a more aggressive stance. Also, darty handling is not a good thing when there is a heavy load on the bicycle.
The Sutra is made of steel. It has been a very long time since I have owned a steel bicycle and after riding the Sutra, I am reminded why steel is a good material for bicycle building. The ride is very supple but the bike does not flex in a noticeable way. Steel advocates will tell you that steel is the only material to make a bicycle out of. Clearly, this is a load of what cows leave behind, but steel is very good when used for certain applications. For a ride it all day bicycle, one intended to be loaded down, steel works very well indeed. The frame is comfortable.
Protecting the steel from corrosion is a matte finish which is semi transparent and tinted a sort of sand brown colour. It is possible to see through it and see different colours on the steel itself. As well, where the welds and brazing was done, the colour of the brazing material shows through. This is an aesthetic affection which fairly screams "look at me, I am steel!", but it is one which I like. It does nothing to help with the bicycle's performance, but does look nice. Not everyone will agree with that, but I like it. Time will tell if the finish is durable or not. It looks nice though.
The frame is festooned with nice touches. Braze on mounts for three waterbottles are included. This is a good feature for a touring bike - two are for water, and the third for a sig bottle filled with fuel for a camp stove. If you use a small camping wood stove and have no need of stove fuel, a tool kit put into a waterbottle would fit quite nicely into the lower bottle cage. Cables are routed on the down tube through brazed on cable guides. The rear brake cable is fully encased in a housing, while the shifter cables are less fully covered - barrel adjusters for the shifters are on the cable guides near the head tube. Rack and fender mounts are part of the frame. Kona made a mistake here in my opinion. The fenders and rack share a mount. I prefer them not to. Fenders and racks are easier to set up and adjust when they have their own dedicated eyelets to bolt to. That said, what is there works, but I wish that Kona had tweaked the Rove frame a little more to add the extra mounting points. Also missing are brazeons for extra spokes (like those found on the Surly Long Haul Trucker). How much this matters is a personal thing since it is possible to affix extra spokes to other spots on the bike. The head tube on this bike is oversized but not tapered. This makes it nice and stiff, and allows for an internal headset. It looks a little odd mind you, but it works. The brakes are disks and the mounts, on both the forks and the rear triangle, were perfectly aligned and did not need to be refaced or shimmed in any way. Nice touch.
The stock components are very good. Here is the list from the Kona website:
Source
Bolded print is added by me.
The bike is well kitted out with good solid reliable gear. That said, I made some changes right off the hop.
The first thing to go was the saddle. Stock is the Kona branded WTB Rocket V Comp saddle which is found on other Kona bikes. It is a very comfortable saddle which I have used before. However, it is not something that I feel like sitting on all day. So, out came my Brooks B17 Narrow saddle. I have the chocolate brown one and it looks absolutely gorgeous when mated to the colour of the Sutra. I find double clamp seatposts to be a bit of a pain to set up as small adjustments made mid ride are kind of annoying to do compared with a single bolt seatpost. That said, once it is dialed in, there is no problem. A future change will see Brooks leather bar tape replace the stock Kona tape the bike comes with. Of course, the Brooks tape will match the saddle. Previously, I have had leather wrapped bars and really like how well they wear and how nice they look.
Seeing as how the racks are Blackburn, I grabbed some Blackburn waterbottle cages and an old Blackburn pump I had and put them on. The tail light I installed is a Blackburn Mars 3.0 unit which comes with a mount designed specifically for a Blackburn rack. One might think this was a plan on their part to sell lights. Well, it worked. This light has five rear facing LEDs and two side facing ones and is pretty bright. It will go nicely with my Fly6 camera/light combination when it shows up in the mail sometime in June.
I have replaced the quick release skewers with ones which use allen keys. In fact, the ones I am using are pinned and need a special allen key to open. While this won't stop a determined thief, it will slow one down or prompt them to move on. I wish that Kona had used a more traditional seat post clamp as my pinned seat clamp bolt will not fit with the QR clamp that comes with the bike. It will need to be swapped out in order to fix this problem.
An oversized bar bell and a Garmin GPS mount complete the initial modifications. At some point I want to source a nice sprung brass gong for the bike. They look cool, and are really loud and are my personal choice for waking up iPod zombies.
Due to it being a bit of a heavy pig, it takes a bit to get going. However, once it is rolling, it moves along quite nicely.
The riding position is very upright. This is due to a combination of frame geometry, a huge stack of spacers under the stem, and an absolutely marvellous handlebar. The bar is very flat across the top, has a shallow drop, and is flared outwards. This makes it very comfortable to use. It reminds me a lot of the Salsa woodchipper handlebar that comes on my friend's old Surly Crosscheck. Those seeking a relaxed fit and ride should be happy about this. If you are seeking a more traditional bar, you may wish to swap this one out. The relative upright riding position mates well with the Brooks saddle I added. The bike is very comfortable to perch upon and ride, even in "street" clothing.
The riding position encourages me to take my time and focus more on what is going on around me. I find on a bike with a more aggressive stance, I tend to push a lot harder than I do when riding this one. While I do focus on my surroundings when pushing hard, a lot of my thought processes go into various mental exercises designed to help me increase my speed or maintain a steady high output. This bike encourages me to amble. Not a bad trait in a touring bike where speed is not of the essence but enjoying the more sedate pace of a wander, vs a race (real or imagined), is the goal. Interestingly, a quick glance at my gps unit indicates that while me speed is lower than it would be on my cyclocross bike, it is not as low as the relaxed feeling the bicycle imbues would suggest.
The geometry and widely spaced gearing make for a different approach to tackling hills. Often, when on a race based bicycle, I spin up the hills at a high cadence out of the saddle. It is a quick and energy intensive way to climb, but one I really enjoy. With the Sutra, I find I drop a few gears as I ride up hills and stay seated. It is a more "dum de dum" approach to climbing vs a "grrrr hill be eaten" approach, if you take my meaning.
Bumps are nicely sorted out by the smooth rolling quick and nimble Continental touring tires. Lately, I have become a big fan of German tire manufacturers. Both Schwalbe and Continental make superior bicycle tires and I have yet to go wrong with any tire I have had over the years from either brand. In my opinion, Kona made a good choice by sourcing these tires for this bike. The steel frame also aids in bump suppression.
The stock drive train is simple and competent. Bar end shifters are a great idea for a touring bicycle. The front derailleur is shifted by friction. This makes it endlessly featherable and there is zero drive train noise coming from the front of the bike. Shimano, be a dear and give us a brifter for front derailleurs which gives this level of flexibility. I miss it and love this hearkening back to the "old days". The rear shifter is indexed, works perfectly, and can be made into a friction shifter should the need arise (like a bent derailleur out in the middle of nowhere on a tour).
There is a learning curve with these shifters if all you have used is brifter style indexed road levers. I grew up using down tube friction shifters from Campagnolo, so it only took me about 30 seconds to get the front derailleur dialed in. What took a bit was reaching to the end of the bar for the shifter. It does not feel natural after using brifters for the last decade or so. Adapt or change them out I suppose. Some people will really dislike the bar end shifters. I have read in other reviews of this bicycle and similar bicycles some complaints about them. However, I would suggest considering the following: brifters can break if the bike falls over, especially if the bike is loaded down and heavy, and cost a lot to repair or replace; and including bar end shifters instead of brifters helps keep the cost of the bicycle.
The brakes work well. I like using disk brakes and have no issues with mechanical ones. The brakes on my truck like commuter bike are cheap Avid BB5 brakes which work very well despite all of the abuse I heap upon them. This bike has Hayes CX Expert brakes which seem to be doing fine so far. While mechanical disk brakes are not as nice to use as hydraulic ones, they do work better than rim brakes, particularly when it is wet outside. They are also easier to maintain in the field. Remember, it is important to run new disk brakes in properly or they will not work well. About ten stops from near 30kmph at the threshold of skidding will seat them. Do the fronts and rears separately. After doing this, you should feel a marked improvement in the brakes ability to haul the bicycle down from speed. During the initial break in period, the brakes kept performing better and better.
The rotors on the bicycle are 160mm ones. The larger 160mm rotors (vs 140mm ones used on some other Kona bicycles) will give more stopping power when the bicycle is loaded for touring. While heavier than cantilever brakes, the more precise and powerful stopping power they offer is worth the minor weight penalty, especially when roads are wet. As an added bonus, if the brakes are dragged a bit on a steep descent when the bike is loaded, heat build up will not cause a tube to potentially fail.
That is it for now.
I have been riding long enough to be certain that my initial impressions about the way the bicycle handles will remain consistent as I use the bicycle more. Should this not be true, I will do an update post and tack it to the bottom of the review.
Cheers and good riding!
The purpose for me buying a Kona Sutra, a touring bike, was two fold. Firstly, my wife and I are interested in doing some bicycle camping. She already owns an Optima Orca recumbent touring bicycle, and she loves to camp. I love to ride bikes. She does not mind cycling, and I will admit, under duress, that I don't mind camping as long as I get my not ugly sleep. So it only makes sense to put the two things together. Enter the Sutra. Also, we are moving house in about a month, and my ride to the bike shop will increase from five km each way to about 27 km each way. Therefore, a better long distance commuter bike is needed. As a nice bonus, I will be able to ride instead of drive to my other job with ease where we are moving to. Again, enter the Sutra.
With all that in mind, let's explore the bike.
Here is what Kona says about the bicycle on their webpage:
"Our classic touring bike receives a facelift for 2014. We’ve taken our massively successful Rove frame and blended it with the styling and class of our Sutra from years past. The bike features solid front and rear Blackburn racks, as well as bar end shifters for simplicity. The oversized 44mm headtube gives a more precise ride while the steel tubing keeps things plush and smooth. Our new drop bar, the Wet Bar, features flared drops and a short reach to keep things comfortable during long descents." Source URL
Looking around the shop, I can definitely say that yes, this is a Rove in touring dress. Basically, if you were to take the current Rove, strip it of all of its parts, and take last year's Sutra, and strip it of all of its parts and then install all of those parts onto the Rove frame, you would have the 2014 Sutra.
This is not a bad thing.
My "road" bicycles for the last decade or so have been Kona cyclocross bikes, and I like the way that they feel on pavement and gravel/sand. The current Sutra has a very planted feel that I have come to associate with Kona cyclocross bicycles. But there are some significant differences in the feel of the machines.
The cyclocross bikes, while they share a geometry similar to the Sutra, are definitely racier. My Jake the Snake is a much faster bike with a more aggressive layout. The Sutra feels very sedate. A tall stack of spacers lift the stem and help keep the riding position relaxed. The Sutra's handling could best be described as lazy in comparison to the Jake the Snake. This is a very good thing for touring where the goal is to ride all day in comfort with a loaded bicycle as opposed to riding for several hours quickly, in a more aggressive stance. Also, darty handling is not a good thing when there is a heavy load on the bicycle.
The Sutra is made of steel. It has been a very long time since I have owned a steel bicycle and after riding the Sutra, I am reminded why steel is a good material for bicycle building. The ride is very supple but the bike does not flex in a noticeable way. Steel advocates will tell you that steel is the only material to make a bicycle out of. Clearly, this is a load of what cows leave behind, but steel is very good when used for certain applications. For a ride it all day bicycle, one intended to be loaded down, steel works very well indeed. The frame is comfortable.
Protecting the steel from corrosion is a matte finish which is semi transparent and tinted a sort of sand brown colour. It is possible to see through it and see different colours on the steel itself. As well, where the welds and brazing was done, the colour of the brazing material shows through. This is an aesthetic affection which fairly screams "look at me, I am steel!", but it is one which I like. It does nothing to help with the bicycle's performance, but does look nice. Not everyone will agree with that, but I like it. Time will tell if the finish is durable or not. It looks nice though.
The frame is festooned with nice touches. Braze on mounts for three waterbottles are included. This is a good feature for a touring bike - two are for water, and the third for a sig bottle filled with fuel for a camp stove. If you use a small camping wood stove and have no need of stove fuel, a tool kit put into a waterbottle would fit quite nicely into the lower bottle cage. Cables are routed on the down tube through brazed on cable guides. The rear brake cable is fully encased in a housing, while the shifter cables are less fully covered - barrel adjusters for the shifters are on the cable guides near the head tube. Rack and fender mounts are part of the frame. Kona made a mistake here in my opinion. The fenders and rack share a mount. I prefer them not to. Fenders and racks are easier to set up and adjust when they have their own dedicated eyelets to bolt to. That said, what is there works, but I wish that Kona had tweaked the Rove frame a little more to add the extra mounting points. Also missing are brazeons for extra spokes (like those found on the Surly Long Haul Trucker). How much this matters is a personal thing since it is possible to affix extra spokes to other spots on the bike. The head tube on this bike is oversized but not tapered. This makes it nice and stiff, and allows for an internal headset. It looks a little odd mind you, but it works. The brakes are disks and the mounts, on both the forks and the rear triangle, were perfectly aligned and did not need to be refaced or shimmed in any way. Nice touch.
The stock components are very good. Here is the list from the Kona website:
| Frame Material | Kona Cromoly |
| Sizes | 47, 49, 53, 56, 59, 61cm (mine is the 56cm one) |
| Rear Shock | n/a |
| Fork | Kona Project Two Touring |
| Crankarms | Shimano Deore |
| Chainrings | 26/36/48t |
| B/B | Shimano BB51 |
| Pedals | n/a (I put some Shimano SPD pedals on mine) |
| Chain | KMC HG53 |
| Freewheel | Shimano Deore 11-32t 9 spd |
| Chainguide | n/a |
| F/D | Shimano Deore |
| R/D | Shimano LX Treking (Shimano SLX in Canada) |
| Shifters | Shimano BarCon |
| Brake Calipers | Hayes CX Expert (mechanical not hydraulic) |
| Front Brake Rotor | Hayes L Series 160mm |
| Rear Brake Rotor | Hayes L Series 160mm |
| Brake Levers | Tektro RL340 |
| Headset | TH 848 |
| Handlebar | Kona Deluxe Road Bar (actually the Kona Wet Bar - a flared thing which is quite nice) |
| Stem | Kona XC/Road |
| Seatpost | Kona Double Clamp w/Offset |
| Seat Clamp | Kona Clamp (wish it was a bolt and not a quick release) |
| Grips | Kona Cork Tape |
| Saddle | WTB Rocket V Comp |
| Front Hub | Shimano Deore (comes with an allen key clamp) |
| Rear Hub | Shimano Deore (comes with a traditional quick release) |
| Spokes | Sandvik Stainless 14g |
| Rims | Freedom Ryder 21 |
| Front Tire | Continental Contact 700x32C |
| Rear Tire | Continental Contact 700x32C |
| Paint Color | Matt Raw Steel w/Sand Tint |
| Extras | Pannier Racks, Fenders (The racks are Blackburn units and the fenders are full coverage units with mudflaps) |
Bolded print is added by me.
The bike is well kitted out with good solid reliable gear. That said, I made some changes right off the hop.
The first thing to go was the saddle. Stock is the Kona branded WTB Rocket V Comp saddle which is found on other Kona bikes. It is a very comfortable saddle which I have used before. However, it is not something that I feel like sitting on all day. So, out came my Brooks B17 Narrow saddle. I have the chocolate brown one and it looks absolutely gorgeous when mated to the colour of the Sutra. I find double clamp seatposts to be a bit of a pain to set up as small adjustments made mid ride are kind of annoying to do compared with a single bolt seatpost. That said, once it is dialed in, there is no problem. A future change will see Brooks leather bar tape replace the stock Kona tape the bike comes with. Of course, the Brooks tape will match the saddle. Previously, I have had leather wrapped bars and really like how well they wear and how nice they look.
Seeing as how the racks are Blackburn, I grabbed some Blackburn waterbottle cages and an old Blackburn pump I had and put them on. The tail light I installed is a Blackburn Mars 3.0 unit which comes with a mount designed specifically for a Blackburn rack. One might think this was a plan on their part to sell lights. Well, it worked. This light has five rear facing LEDs and two side facing ones and is pretty bright. It will go nicely with my Fly6 camera/light combination when it shows up in the mail sometime in June.
I have replaced the quick release skewers with ones which use allen keys. In fact, the ones I am using are pinned and need a special allen key to open. While this won't stop a determined thief, it will slow one down or prompt them to move on. I wish that Kona had used a more traditional seat post clamp as my pinned seat clamp bolt will not fit with the QR clamp that comes with the bike. It will need to be swapped out in order to fix this problem.
An oversized bar bell and a Garmin GPS mount complete the initial modifications. At some point I want to source a nice sprung brass gong for the bike. They look cool, and are really loud and are my personal choice for waking up iPod zombies.
That about covers it for how it is kitted out, so how does it ride?
Due to it being a bit of a heavy pig, it takes a bit to get going. However, once it is rolling, it moves along quite nicely.
The riding position is very upright. This is due to a combination of frame geometry, a huge stack of spacers under the stem, and an absolutely marvellous handlebar. The bar is very flat across the top, has a shallow drop, and is flared outwards. This makes it very comfortable to use. It reminds me a lot of the Salsa woodchipper handlebar that comes on my friend's old Surly Crosscheck. Those seeking a relaxed fit and ride should be happy about this. If you are seeking a more traditional bar, you may wish to swap this one out. The relative upright riding position mates well with the Brooks saddle I added. The bike is very comfortable to perch upon and ride, even in "street" clothing.
The riding position encourages me to take my time and focus more on what is going on around me. I find on a bike with a more aggressive stance, I tend to push a lot harder than I do when riding this one. While I do focus on my surroundings when pushing hard, a lot of my thought processes go into various mental exercises designed to help me increase my speed or maintain a steady high output. This bike encourages me to amble. Not a bad trait in a touring bike where speed is not of the essence but enjoying the more sedate pace of a wander, vs a race (real or imagined), is the goal. Interestingly, a quick glance at my gps unit indicates that while me speed is lower than it would be on my cyclocross bike, it is not as low as the relaxed feeling the bicycle imbues would suggest.
The geometry and widely spaced gearing make for a different approach to tackling hills. Often, when on a race based bicycle, I spin up the hills at a high cadence out of the saddle. It is a quick and energy intensive way to climb, but one I really enjoy. With the Sutra, I find I drop a few gears as I ride up hills and stay seated. It is a more "dum de dum" approach to climbing vs a "grrrr hill be eaten" approach, if you take my meaning.
Bumps are nicely sorted out by the smooth rolling quick and nimble Continental touring tires. Lately, I have become a big fan of German tire manufacturers. Both Schwalbe and Continental make superior bicycle tires and I have yet to go wrong with any tire I have had over the years from either brand. In my opinion, Kona made a good choice by sourcing these tires for this bike. The steel frame also aids in bump suppression.
The stock drive train is simple and competent. Bar end shifters are a great idea for a touring bicycle. The front derailleur is shifted by friction. This makes it endlessly featherable and there is zero drive train noise coming from the front of the bike. Shimano, be a dear and give us a brifter for front derailleurs which gives this level of flexibility. I miss it and love this hearkening back to the "old days". The rear shifter is indexed, works perfectly, and can be made into a friction shifter should the need arise (like a bent derailleur out in the middle of nowhere on a tour).
There is a learning curve with these shifters if all you have used is brifter style indexed road levers. I grew up using down tube friction shifters from Campagnolo, so it only took me about 30 seconds to get the front derailleur dialed in. What took a bit was reaching to the end of the bar for the shifter. It does not feel natural after using brifters for the last decade or so. Adapt or change them out I suppose. Some people will really dislike the bar end shifters. I have read in other reviews of this bicycle and similar bicycles some complaints about them. However, I would suggest considering the following: brifters can break if the bike falls over, especially if the bike is loaded down and heavy, and cost a lot to repair or replace; and including bar end shifters instead of brifters helps keep the cost of the bicycle.
The brakes work well. I like using disk brakes and have no issues with mechanical ones. The brakes on my truck like commuter bike are cheap Avid BB5 brakes which work very well despite all of the abuse I heap upon them. This bike has Hayes CX Expert brakes which seem to be doing fine so far. While mechanical disk brakes are not as nice to use as hydraulic ones, they do work better than rim brakes, particularly when it is wet outside. They are also easier to maintain in the field. Remember, it is important to run new disk brakes in properly or they will not work well. About ten stops from near 30kmph at the threshold of skidding will seat them. Do the fronts and rears separately. After doing this, you should feel a marked improvement in the brakes ability to haul the bicycle down from speed. During the initial break in period, the brakes kept performing better and better.
The rotors on the bicycle are 160mm ones. The larger 160mm rotors (vs 140mm ones used on some other Kona bicycles) will give more stopping power when the bicycle is loaded for touring. While heavier than cantilever brakes, the more precise and powerful stopping power they offer is worth the minor weight penalty, especially when roads are wet. As an added bonus, if the brakes are dragged a bit on a steep descent when the bike is loaded, heat build up will not cause a tube to potentially fail.
Some pictures and a few things worthy of note follow.
 |
| Detail of the front brake rotor, calliper, and rack mount. With a little bending, the included fenders fit fine. One of my gripes about the frame is clearly shown here - the rack and fenders share a mount. I would prefer them not to. Looking at how crowded things are here, it is easy to see why Kona chose to use an allen key bolt for a quick release instead of a typical qr skewer. Look carefully at the one I changed the bike over to - this one is pinned making a conventional allen key useless for wheel removal. One of the things I like about the brakes is how solid the callipers are compared to others I have used. |
 |
| Detail of the rear brake and rack mount. Again with the shared mounts. Kudos though to Kona for putting the calliper on the inside of the rear triangle vs the outside. This increases the options for racks and reduces cost for fenders. Look through to the seat stay in the background. Kona included a pin for hanging the chain on when the rear wheel is removed - a nice touch which will help keep the drivetrain clean should the need arise to perform maintenance road side. |
 |
| Being a steel bicycle, the bottom bracket is not massive and oversized. The encased cable is for the rear brake, while the other two are for the derailleurs. I added some spacers on the underside water bottle bolts so a bottle cage installed there in the future will clear the cables. They are on the bicycle now so I don't lose them :) The dirt splash gives a good idea how much the fenders cover. Your feet might get a little damp, but not too likely. Top of the line SKS fenders with mudflaps will drop significantly lower and help prevent dirt from hitting you or the drive train. |
 |
| Of note here is the space around the fender mount. There is a lot of clearance for the 700x32c tires, and a gap still remains between the fender and the underside of the fork. Much larger tires will fit should the need arise with fenders, and even larger without. The headset is internal. Note the brass from the brazeons showing through the tinted finish which is, I think, a lovely lovely colour. I put some tire patches between the cable housing and the head tube to prevent wear to the frame's finish. |
 |
| Shimano SLX derailleur. The cassette has a wide range of gears which should make climbing steep hills under load fairly easy. There is a fairly long 10% grade on my new commuter route I will be travelling with the bicycle loaded down once we move in May which I will report back on after I ride it a bit. |
 |
| This year's Shimano Deore crank is a pretty thing. Very beefy and strong. |
 |
| Shimano Deore hubs - 36 hole - are at the core of the heavily built wheels. My friend at work is a terrific wheel builder and he tensioned it up for me nicely. I suggest having new wheels be looked at before the bicycle is ridden by someone who knows what they are doing to ensure they are true and tensioned correctly. |
 |
| The rear. Nice and compact. The rack has multiple mounting points for various things. I am not 100% sure what the slotted mount is sticking out the back of the rack, but I think it is for running a strap through to further secure panniers or perhaps something stacked on top of the rack and panniers. |
 |
| Nice and simple. This is the rear shifter. It can be switched from indexed to friction shift by twisting the switch on the inside of the shifter. |
 |
| How the cockpit is laid out at this time. GPS on the stem, and bell on the bar. Future updates will include hardware to mount a handlebar bag and a light (removable). Note the huge stack of spacers underneath the stem. My Jake the Snake stem pretty much sits on the top of the headset. |
 |
| The brake levers. These Tektro levers are quite comfortable actually. I was pleased to see that they bulked them up a bit compared to the way that they used to be. It is possible to see the flare of the handlebar I was talking about above in this picture. I would like you to use your imagination and pretend that the tape is a rich chocolate brown leather. That is what will be swapped in sometime this summer. |
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| This is how I prefer to carry my pump. At some point, I would like to replace this one with a slick brass plated one and redo the bottle cages in a brass colour. It would look great on the bike with it the colour it is. |
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| The Blackburn Mars 3.0 tail light. It is a seriously bright unit which fits perfectly on the rack. |
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| My Chocolate Brown Brooks B17 Narrow saddle. I love this one on this bicycle. It is a perfect match. |
I have been riding long enough to be certain that my initial impressions about the way the bicycle handles will remain consistent as I use the bicycle more. Should this not be true, I will do an update post and tack it to the bottom of the review.
Cheers and good riding!
Saturday, 11 January 2014
50 shades of happiness
Get your mind out of the gutter!
I was messing around in the workshop, hunting through boxes of spare parts.
A discovery was made.
One of benefit to me.
50 kinds of benefit.
One less pair of pedals to buy for my pedal system swap.
They are loose, sloppy, but still grab cleats OK. I just need a decent pair of walk about cycling shoes to go with the round town single speed.
Perhaps these shoes from Giro would do the trick. I have seen them, or similar ones, before and really like the way they look. My proper cycling shoes are made by Giro, and I love them.
I was messing around in the workshop, hunting through boxes of spare parts.
A discovery was made.
One of benefit to me.
50 kinds of benefit.
One less pair of pedals to buy for my pedal system swap.
They are loose, sloppy, but still grab cleats OK. I just need a decent pair of walk about cycling shoes to go with the round town single speed.
Perhaps these shoes from Giro would do the trick. I have seen them, or similar ones, before and really like the way they look. My proper cycling shoes are made by Giro, and I love them.
Thursday, 2 January 2014
12 (11) of '13
Blog
About bicycles (check)
About cameras (check)
Do both at once (check)
About bicycles (check)
About cameras (check)
Do both at once (check)
I present to you 12 (11) of '13
 |
| January |
 |
| February |
 |
| March |
 |
| April |
 |
| May |
 |
| June |
 |
| July |
 |
| August |
 |
| September |
 |
| October |
 |
| November |
December sucked...
Friday, 20 December 2013
there are times...
There are times when being a cyclist with a budget can be tiring.
It starts with me looking at VeloNews to see what is up in the world of bike racing (something that I am still interested in despite all of the scandal to rock the sport of late). From there, I see adverts for nice bikes, read a review on the site about some pro's this or that, look at a pile of very well taken pictures of the top pros (men and women) doing their thing on their nice machines, and then, I end up in a vortex of online window shopping and wishful thinking.
I end up at the online stores of some of the high end Canadian bicycle retailers like La Bicicletta to drool over some bicycle componentry. I want a new seat post. The "Kona" brand one on my cross bike needs to go. Don't ask why. Just assume it needs to go. I want to lower the center of gravity on the bike and that is the best way to do it based on how the bike is now. I already have a hollow ti railed Specialized saddle on it, so that is already done. It is light and fits me like it was made for me. Cool beans. Carbon would be good for the seat post, but Zipp makes a nice aluminum one that is not too heavy. Looks cool too. Is more adjustable than what is on the bike right now. A lower center of gravity makes the bicycle more lively and handle better.
I also want a new wheel set. The Shimano RS10s on the bike now are ok. I get a nifty wiggle (I can see it flex side to side) when I fly over bumps mid turn. They don't come out of true. But that is disconcerting. They are also heavy. And rumour has it prone to spoke breaking not that I have had an issue with that yet. Knock mass out of the wheels, and the bike goes faster. It also climbs better. It is a very good place to reduce mass. Less rotation mass is a good thing.
And that leads to looking at different wheel sets. I would like to get a good set but don't want to go crazy on it because that gets kind of spendy. It would be easy to blow over $4000 on a set of wheels. Very easy.
Not. Going. To. Happen.
However, getting a nice but not crazy nice new wheel set in the next year actually makes sense. In about five years, I want to get a Cervelo R3 or the equivalent. Supposing Cervelo does then what they do now, the frame will be top notch, the components good, and the wheels kind of blah. So having good wheels already (something Cervelo supposes that people buying the R3 actually already have) makes sense. To me. Kind of. So Reynolds, Ambrosio, Mavic etc all get a visit from me. So does Zipp, but that is mostly so I can laugh. Spendy. Ouch.
Besides, nicer wheels will make the next few years both more fun and therefore more better... or something. And they would put off the urge to replace the bike further into the future since the bike would feel better to ride which is good to. Right? Guess not if you are Cervelo, but guess so if you are me and actually having to pay for it. I do like my Kona Jake the Snake 'cross bike, but it does lack in a few things (how they keep the cost down dontcha know).
Looking at this stuff leads me to look at stems, bars, and other Kona brand things on the bike which leads to more day dreaming and more mouse clicking and then a serious problem: Good bike stores stock good bicycles. And I like good bicycles. A lot. Italian stuff is what I really want. Names like Pinarello, Campagnolo, Gipiemme, Modolo and the like give me goosebumps. For real. In my heart of hearts, I want a Pinarello with Campagnolo record components. I really do.
Oop.
Remember that budget?
Le Sigh.
Thankfully, if I spin my desk chair in the living room around and away from my computer, there behind me is my bicycle. Stuck on a trainer. Sitting there looking at me.
And I like it. And it likes me.
And that is a good thing. It provides a nice reality cheque...
It starts with me looking at VeloNews to see what is up in the world of bike racing (something that I am still interested in despite all of the scandal to rock the sport of late). From there, I see adverts for nice bikes, read a review on the site about some pro's this or that, look at a pile of very well taken pictures of the top pros (men and women) doing their thing on their nice machines, and then, I end up in a vortex of online window shopping and wishful thinking.
I end up at the online stores of some of the high end Canadian bicycle retailers like La Bicicletta to drool over some bicycle componentry. I want a new seat post. The "Kona" brand one on my cross bike needs to go. Don't ask why. Just assume it needs to go. I want to lower the center of gravity on the bike and that is the best way to do it based on how the bike is now. I already have a hollow ti railed Specialized saddle on it, so that is already done. It is light and fits me like it was made for me. Cool beans. Carbon would be good for the seat post, but Zipp makes a nice aluminum one that is not too heavy. Looks cool too. Is more adjustable than what is on the bike right now. A lower center of gravity makes the bicycle more lively and handle better.
I also want a new wheel set. The Shimano RS10s on the bike now are ok. I get a nifty wiggle (I can see it flex side to side) when I fly over bumps mid turn. They don't come out of true. But that is disconcerting. They are also heavy. And rumour has it prone to spoke breaking not that I have had an issue with that yet. Knock mass out of the wheels, and the bike goes faster. It also climbs better. It is a very good place to reduce mass. Less rotation mass is a good thing.
And that leads to looking at different wheel sets. I would like to get a good set but don't want to go crazy on it because that gets kind of spendy. It would be easy to blow over $4000 on a set of wheels. Very easy.
Not. Going. To. Happen.
However, getting a nice but not crazy nice new wheel set in the next year actually makes sense. In about five years, I want to get a Cervelo R3 or the equivalent. Supposing Cervelo does then what they do now, the frame will be top notch, the components good, and the wheels kind of blah. So having good wheels already (something Cervelo supposes that people buying the R3 actually already have) makes sense. To me. Kind of. So Reynolds, Ambrosio, Mavic etc all get a visit from me. So does Zipp, but that is mostly so I can laugh. Spendy. Ouch.
Besides, nicer wheels will make the next few years both more fun and therefore more better... or something. And they would put off the urge to replace the bike further into the future since the bike would feel better to ride which is good to. Right? Guess not if you are Cervelo, but guess so if you are me and actually having to pay for it. I do like my Kona Jake the Snake 'cross bike, but it does lack in a few things (how they keep the cost down dontcha know).
Looking at this stuff leads me to look at stems, bars, and other Kona brand things on the bike which leads to more day dreaming and more mouse clicking and then a serious problem: Good bike stores stock good bicycles. And I like good bicycles. A lot. Italian stuff is what I really want. Names like Pinarello, Campagnolo, Gipiemme, Modolo and the like give me goosebumps. For real. In my heart of hearts, I want a Pinarello with Campagnolo record components. I really do.
Oop.
Remember that budget?
Le Sigh.
Thankfully, if I spin my desk chair in the living room around and away from my computer, there behind me is my bicycle. Stuck on a trainer. Sitting there looking at me.
And I like it. And it likes me.
And that is a good thing. It provides a nice reality cheque...
Friday, 27 September 2013
now I went and did it and and now what?
It is pretty easy to make fun of individual groups of people, particularly those which seemingly go out of their way to make it easy. It is mean though...
In this case, I am thinking of hipsters.
You know the type.
Riding around on their fixed geared bikes, dressed in casual yet chunky clothing, using artisanal everything, bushy beards, chunky glasses, oozing irony from every pore...
But then...
Can you say oops?
This is the ass end of my 2005 Kona Jake the Snake cyclocross bike.
Oh dear.
I am on the road to hipsterdom. Now what?
Do I have to let my legs get all hairy?? (can you say ewww when mixed with my usual bike garb consisting of lycra bibs?!? - never mind cleaning road rash or massage...)
Do I have to let my face get all hairy?!? I do hope not!
Thankfully, I am too old to be a hipster.
Jokes aside, I do have several somethings serious to thank the hipster movement for:
And really, if you know what that picture above really shows, I cannot do a fixed gear bike either. Single speed yes, fixed gear no. Also, all the other bikes are retaining their gears :)
In this case, I am thinking of hipsters.
You know the type.
Riding around on their fixed geared bikes, dressed in casual yet chunky clothing, using artisanal everything, bushy beards, chunky glasses, oozing irony from every pore...
But then...
Can you say oops?
This is the ass end of my 2005 Kona Jake the Snake cyclocross bike.
Oh dear.
I am on the road to hipsterdom. Now what?
Do I have to let my legs get all hairy?? (can you say ewww when mixed with my usual bike garb consisting of lycra bibs?!? - never mind cleaning road rash or massage...)
Do I have to let my face get all hairy?!? I do hope not!
Thankfully, I am too old to be a hipster.
Jokes aside, I do have several somethings serious to thank the hipster movement for:
- The increase in urban cycling and urban cyclists - big time on the rise in most urban centers. Around here, it seems to be driven by the hipster demographic. Thank you. Now if our cities would get with it and build some decent infrastructure... More and better parking for bicycles would be a huge boon, as would (for both car drivers and cyclists alike) reducing the main drag to one lane with better parking and bike facilities.
- A vast increase in the number of very good coffee shops, small bakeries, and decent reasonably priced eateries in the urban core which hipsters flock to by the hundreds. I like the "one offness" of these places, even if they do, in their drive to be different, end up oddly all looking the same... But it is a same that I like.
- The arrival of companies such as betabrand who make actual real clothing that can be worn on a bike and in the workplace and actually be comfortable and not leave your groinal regions feeling like a rotten cabbage. Yay.
- I cannot stress point three enough. It bears repeating. Yay.
- More people to race on the MUPS (er....)
And really, if you know what that picture above really shows, I cannot do a fixed gear bike either. Single speed yes, fixed gear no. Also, all the other bikes are retaining their gears :)
Thursday, 31 January 2013
there are a lot of angry people out there so let's not join them
Via various wanderings around the Internet while home sick today, I came up with the following observation:
There are a lot of angry people out there.
Now this is not news to anyone who has had a social interaction in the past decade or so, but it is worth the mention I think.
Much is being said in the media about the "war on cars" etc being led by the pro bicycle movement. Every time there is any mention of creating more bicycle infrastructure, a suggestion that motorists need to share the road with cyclists ,etc, the vitriol in the comments sections of whatever news media outlet publishes such stories reads like a litany of death threats towards cyclists by irate motorists, and Social Darwinism, taking the form of "if you swim with the sharks you will get eaten" type of comments, at its worst. Makes me feel great knowing I am sharing a road with sociopaths. Weeeeeee...
Cyclists don't help themselves though as they knife through traffic, cut people off, and often times act like asses themselves, pissing off the people in cars through irresponsible behaviours seemingly designed to "prove" the negative stereotype of the urban cyclist right, and giving "justification" to the screw loose crowd to risk some innocent person's life in a dangerous game of tit for tat. To them I say thanks for nothing.
Which leads me back to my original observation. There are a lot of angry people out there.
This past year, I have had several motorists deliberately take runs at me in their cars in order to "teach me a lesson" and get me out of their way (in all cases, I was not in their way - I am very careful not to be that ass I mentioned above) for having the nerve to take the lane in order to make a left, avoid a car door, or whatever. All of which, by the way, I am allowed to do - no, supposed to do - according to the Highway Traffic Act of Ontario.
This has prompted me to want to get one of the nice new GoPro cameras. The one with the adjustable focal length so that I can mimic the field of view the naked eye has so that it will be easy to prove how close a person in a car got to cancelling my stamp. So when (notice I said when not if) a person does this again, I will have video for the police.
I have not done so though, as I do not wish to become angry. I am working hard at not being angry, at avoiding situations where this might happen, and why go hunting for reasons to become so? I don't want to litter this blog with videos that show what we all know to be true: There are a lot of angry people out there.
I don't want to be one of them.
That said, as I was watching someone on YouTube have an angry bike ride through downtown Toronto this morning, yelling at other road users who broke the law, who got too close - legitimately too close I might add - that a lot of what I was seeing was actually good. Many people were giving this cyclist a lot of room. They were not cutting him/her off. They were doing what they should be doing. So too were most - as in almost all including the one making the video - of the cyclists that were visible.
So if most of the interactions are good, most of the road users no matter what the mode of transport are behaving themselves and managing to get along, why live in paranoid angry fear?
I don't see the point myself.
Yes, a cyclist has to be cautious. Yes, there are risks. I know all the arguments. But that does not mean that it is worth living in fear.
So I do want the GoPro camera with the adjustable focal length. Littering the blog with good news stories of interactions between road users, high speed "bombs" down single track, and the such would I hope help, for my two readers anyways (heh), inject a little optimism into what I am trying to do here.
And should someone be an ass, I would still have the video for the police.
I just would not fixate on it. I would not waste my time and yours with more pointless negativity designed to give justification for more sociopathic behaviour on the part of motorists and cyclists alike.
Because in a civil society, or in one that pretends to be civil like the one we live in now, we simply don't need any more of that negative crap. We need instead a realization that the other is simply a person. They are not a label.
And the sooner we collectively get that message, the sooner we will live in a civilization that is actually civil.
There are a lot of angry people out there.
Now this is not news to anyone who has had a social interaction in the past decade or so, but it is worth the mention I think.
Much is being said in the media about the "war on cars" etc being led by the pro bicycle movement. Every time there is any mention of creating more bicycle infrastructure, a suggestion that motorists need to share the road with cyclists ,etc, the vitriol in the comments sections of whatever news media outlet publishes such stories reads like a litany of death threats towards cyclists by irate motorists, and Social Darwinism, taking the form of "if you swim with the sharks you will get eaten" type of comments, at its worst. Makes me feel great knowing I am sharing a road with sociopaths. Weeeeeee...
Cyclists don't help themselves though as they knife through traffic, cut people off, and often times act like asses themselves, pissing off the people in cars through irresponsible behaviours seemingly designed to "prove" the negative stereotype of the urban cyclist right, and giving "justification" to the screw loose crowd to risk some innocent person's life in a dangerous game of tit for tat. To them I say thanks for nothing.
Which leads me back to my original observation. There are a lot of angry people out there.
This past year, I have had several motorists deliberately take runs at me in their cars in order to "teach me a lesson" and get me out of their way (in all cases, I was not in their way - I am very careful not to be that ass I mentioned above) for having the nerve to take the lane in order to make a left, avoid a car door, or whatever. All of which, by the way, I am allowed to do - no, supposed to do - according to the Highway Traffic Act of Ontario.
This has prompted me to want to get one of the nice new GoPro cameras. The one with the adjustable focal length so that I can mimic the field of view the naked eye has so that it will be easy to prove how close a person in a car got to cancelling my stamp. So when (notice I said when not if) a person does this again, I will have video for the police.
I have not done so though, as I do not wish to become angry. I am working hard at not being angry, at avoiding situations where this might happen, and why go hunting for reasons to become so? I don't want to litter this blog with videos that show what we all know to be true: There are a lot of angry people out there.
I don't want to be one of them.
That said, as I was watching someone on YouTube have an angry bike ride through downtown Toronto this morning, yelling at other road users who broke the law, who got too close - legitimately too close I might add - that a lot of what I was seeing was actually good. Many people were giving this cyclist a lot of room. They were not cutting him/her off. They were doing what they should be doing. So too were most - as in almost all including the one making the video - of the cyclists that were visible.
So if most of the interactions are good, most of the road users no matter what the mode of transport are behaving themselves and managing to get along, why live in paranoid angry fear?
I don't see the point myself.
Yes, a cyclist has to be cautious. Yes, there are risks. I know all the arguments. But that does not mean that it is worth living in fear.
So I do want the GoPro camera with the adjustable focal length. Littering the blog with good news stories of interactions between road users, high speed "bombs" down single track, and the such would I hope help, for my two readers anyways (heh), inject a little optimism into what I am trying to do here.
And should someone be an ass, I would still have the video for the police.
I just would not fixate on it. I would not waste my time and yours with more pointless negativity designed to give justification for more sociopathic behaviour on the part of motorists and cyclists alike.
Because in a civil society, or in one that pretends to be civil like the one we live in now, we simply don't need any more of that negative crap. We need instead a realization that the other is simply a person. They are not a label.
And the sooner we collectively get that message, the sooner we will live in a civilization that is actually civil.
Wednesday, 30 January 2013
one rainy evening, imagination soared
One rainy evening...
Rain is my kryptonite. I do not enjoy riding in it. The cold and damp seem to seep through more than the coldest winter day (coldest here defined as -25 Celcius). Rain in the winter is the worst since temperatures fluxuate so much and so rapidly that hypothermia is a real danger if the weather catches you out.
The rainy evening in question starts with a rainy afternoon.
I met with a good friend of mine for a coffee before wandering off to the LBS to pick up my commuter bike which was in for a repair. My friend, a fellow cyclist, does not like using his trainer and since I do not own one, agreed to lend me his for the duration of the winter.
One rainy evening, I set up the cross bike in front of the computer and rode a piece of the 2011 Paris Roubaix spring classic. For forty-five minutes, I rode with the best.
One rainy evening, imagination soared, and my legs woke up from their commuter induced slumber.
Rain is my kryptonite. I do not enjoy riding in it. The cold and damp seem to seep through more than the coldest winter day (coldest here defined as -25 Celcius). Rain in the winter is the worst since temperatures fluxuate so much and so rapidly that hypothermia is a real danger if the weather catches you out.
The rainy evening in question starts with a rainy afternoon.
I met with a good friend of mine for a coffee before wandering off to the LBS to pick up my commuter bike which was in for a repair. My friend, a fellow cyclist, does not like using his trainer and since I do not own one, agreed to lend me his for the duration of the winter.
One rainy evening, I set up the cross bike in front of the computer and rode a piece of the 2011 Paris Roubaix spring classic. For forty-five minutes, I rode with the best.
One rainy evening, imagination soared, and my legs woke up from their commuter induced slumber.
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