# Kona Sutra - Review and impressions



## Scott B (Dec 1, 2004)

The Build:

Frame: Kona Sutra 2007 - with sliding dropouts
Fork: Kona P2 Disc

Drivetrain:
Shifters: Dura Ace bar end
Crank: Tiagra triple 26:39:50 with an external BB
Cassette: Sram 970 12-32
Chain: Sram 970
Front Derailleur: Ultegra Triple Braze-on
Rear Derailleur: XTR 

Wheels:
Rear: XT, Mavic A 317 disc, 38 spoke
Front: Schmidt SON 28, WTB dual duty

Brakes:
Brakes: Avid BB7 Road Disc
Levers: Cane Creek road

Misc:
Chris King headset, various Salsa and other parts, Fizik Vitesse saddle, Schwalbe Marathon 700x32 tires, 2 E6 headlights, XT pedals, jandd rear rack, front rack.

The purpose:

A long distance touring bike and a general heavy duty utility bike. Something good for loading up with as much gear as needed. Also, a bike to tow my trailer for in town utility duty. It is primarily for road, but needs to be able to handle dirt roads and the occasional fireroad. I'll be riding the Northern Tier on it from Washington to Minnesota is about a month.

Review:

I've been riding the bike for about a month and have been pushing it pretty hard and it is great. I feel like it is the pickup truck of bicycles. It isn't peppy or sporty, but it moves well enough and it's made to carry a hefty load. I certainly can tell that it is heavier or slower then my road or cross bike.

I've done a couple of full loaded rides with ~35-50lbs of gear and it has been fantastic. It is stable under load and feels fine at speed. I did a twisty descent on it topping out at 38 mph and it felt rock solid. It is also stable enough to climb really steep stuff in our out of the saddle.

On the downside it is heavy. Not sure how heavy, but heavy. Between the double racks, the Schmidt and disc brakes it makes sense, but it is not a light bike. Then again, that isn't it's purpose.

The other downside is the look, I ride a 52cm and the frame is almost crazy sloping. This has made doing the rear rack stays a little tougher. The geometry also doesn't allow for a 3rd waterbottle on the downtube underside even though there are braze-ons.

The build cost me about $1400-1500 including the racks, lights and schmidt. Without the Schmidt it would have been about $1100-1200. It wasn't cheap, but I think it's a better bike then stock rigs at that price point.

If you want a touring bike with discs this is a great option. This version of the frame also allows it to be single-speeded or run with an internal hub. The tube set is nicer then on current stock models. For the price it's a winner. I'll have more to say after riding it half way across the country.


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## blakcloud (Apr 13, 2006)

Sound like a great bike, post a photo.


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## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

Why no pix?


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## Scott B (Dec 1, 2004)

*photo to come!*



tarwheel2 said:


> Why no pix?


I'll post one later today or tomorrow once I load my camera onto my computer.


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