# New to Me 2009 Kona Jake



## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

So I have been riding my 29er mtb as my commuter for a number of weeks now as the wife and I have been allowing our friend to borrow or Pathfinder. My commuter to work is 3 miles one way and really just couldn't see the need in using the Pathy all the time (plus I want a "toy" 1985 Toyota FJ60 Land Cruiser!!). Anyways, the friends car finally took its final stand and with her having a little one she needed something with more room and more reliable. Well she made us an offer we couldn't refuse on the Pathy. 

Anyways, that was a few weeks ago now and fast forward to yesterday. The wife and I were running up to Reno to meet up with a friend but were early so I decided to stop in at the shop where my brother frequents. Started talking to the owner about wanting a dedicated commuter/"FUN" bike and thinking about CX. So he shows me his wife's 2009 (I think, it is the red one) Kona Jake that he has been trying to sell. I kick the tires, take her for a spin around the parking lot and she is PERFECT!! Make some arrangements with the boss and I will be picking her up on Friday!!!!:thumbsup:

Anyways, looks like they did a couple upgrades as I believe I remember seeing 105 brifters on it and Continental GatorSkin tires. As this is a bike shop owners bike I know it was well taken care of, so my question to you guys is what, if anything, should I look at changing soonish?

- I will probably pick up a pair of Shimano M-520s as I have M-530s on my 29er and it would make for easy swapping of shoes. 

- Tires? The Gatorskins that were on there looked like they were getting towards the end of their life (actually not sure about that since I have never ridden a road bike before). As this will be a dedicated commuter with the occasional fireroad ride or dirt multi-use path, what would be a good set of tires? Winter seems to be finally showing up for us so I will probably pick up a set of fenders for commuting along with that so nothing super knobby is needed.

After having the bike for a while (read 8+ months and many miles) I will probably look at upgrading some of the components. Reading some of reviews the biggest gripes people seem to have are the brakes and the saddle. I will wait for a deal on a Charge Spoon Ti saddle and swap that over to my mtb and then take the regular Charge Spoon that is on there now and put that on the Jake. 

As this will be my first dropbar road bike is there anything I should be wary of? 
Thanks for any help you guys can provide and I will post up some pics as soon as I get it in my possession.


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

*Full day and 40 reads later....*

Well picked up a slightly used pair of M520s on ebay yesterday for a whopping $23 shipped!

So I need some education on CX/Road canti brakes (the Jake comes with Kore Sport brakes) and what would be a good upgrade in a few months? Been reading a lot of reviews and the main gripe people have is the brakes being lacking. I took a look at Sheldon Browns tuning guide and will give that a shot but upgradenitis has already hit and would love to see what some good/decent "Budget" (read mid-tier upgrades) would be for the bike as things go along.

I do have a friend of my brothers that used to be an engineer for Easton Sports and builds wheels for a number of locals (including my brother) that I am going to talk to about the wheels (Formula/Shimano Tiagra hubs with Alex rims on it currently) and see what he thinks about building me a set towards the end of the year with Circus Monkey HRW1 road hubs (he swears by them) and Velocity A23 hoops. This bike will be very much a multi-purpose bike in the sense that it will help with training while the weather is not the best (commuting and fluid trainer with Sufferfest videos). Somewhere in there I will throw either a E-HongFu/Nashbar/Trigon Carbon Cross fork on it and find other moving parts to upgrade as I get money.

Main thing I am looking for now is a good set of multi-use tires. I have read about the IRD CrossFire, Hutchinson Bulldog, Vittoria XG/XN Pro (currently have GEAX tires on my 29er and love them), and others but don't really see one that is a good All-Terrain tire with decent road manners?


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

Cantis - set them up right and change the brake pads to something quality (Koolstop or Swissstop). If that doesn't get you to where you want to go, swap them out for some mini-V brakes with quality pads.

Wheels - I just built 2 sets of A23s and have a set of Major Toms sitting waiting for spokes. I haven't ridden them much and haven't mounted CX tires on them yet, but I think they are a great pick for your use.

Fork - I'd be careful with upgrading the fork to a "budget" carbon. You may or may not be saving yourself any weight or gaining any performance. Do your homework in this regard.

Tires - I'd probably go with something low profile like the Vittoria XN or Ritchey SpeedMax as a decent all-around road/mixed tire. Just watch their wear. Much more aggressive and they aren't going to be alot of fun on the road. Heck, go for a road 28mm tire and call it a day unless you are really doing some more challenging trails with loose/slick surfaces. They should be sufficient in most dry/hardpack situations.


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## tipstall (Jan 14, 2012)

When you get a chance I'd like to see some pictures.


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

Much appreciated krisdrum! I will start looking at the A23 and Circus Monkey HRW 2 hubs and calculating what I will need and reading wheelbuilding tutorials. Once I get around to building those I will probably keep those as the play wheels with true CX tires on them and when I know that I will be doing mostly commuting I will stick with the stock ones. 

Can't go wrong with the Circus Monkeys only being $150 for the set and from what I have read they are great hubs for the cost.

Tipstall - soon as I have it I will take some pics. But for reference this is what it looks like. (this is not mine)

Happy 'Cross Bike! by Andrew183, on Flickr


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## CAADam9 (Feb 27, 2011)

Don't rule out a hybrid type of tire. I bought a pair of Schwable Hurricanes in the 700C x 40C size to run on my Jake the Snake and love them. They have a nice smooth fast rolling centre with decent tread on the sides for my off road adventures. The 40C size fits fine but if you want to run fenders stick to 35C. 

I save the Cross tires for Cross racing.

Also, when you get sick and tired of Canti's go get a set of Tektro RX-5's and enjoy.

Adam


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

Thanks CAADam9 - I will have a look at what Vittoria has in the way of hybrid tires. I have been really lucky with my GEAX tires (same company) and figured I would give Vittoria a try. Seeing as they are releasing a TNT version of the Cross XG Pro this year (just got an email back from them and they said they will be hitting our shores in April for about $62/ea) I figured I would run them tubeless to save myself some headaches. 

Anyways, and I am not really that worried about the rolling resistance seeing as right now I am running a 2.25" Spec Purgatory Control 2Bliss in front and WTB MotoRaptor (ghetto tubeless) as my winter riding tires. Figure just about anything will have better rolling resistance than that boat anchor of a combo!!


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## Randal_S (Aug 28, 2010)

I have a 2010 Jake that I bought on closeout and love it. I'd like to eventually add a carbon fork, but don't want to dump too much money into the bike (recreational commuter, not a racer).

Anyway, mine is mostly stock (Tiagra 9-speed STI, etc), but I did small upgrades along the way...

1. Kenda SmallBlock 8s (35mm)... nice rolling on dry, but maybe a bit sketchy on wet.

2. Kool Stop Cross pads... these are part salmon, part black. A good cheap upgrade on the stock Kore brakes for maybe $15,00 a set.

3. Ritchey post and a Serfas Cosmos saddle (just because). 

Since picking the Jake up, I barely touch my 29ers.


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

This will be the saddle that I will change it too... 
Charge Bikes-SpoonSaddle
I currently have this on my 29er and absolutely love the saddle, was thinking of trying the Charge Knife but not sure it all depends on if I can find one on sale. I just find the Spoon just about anywhere for $26 and really I liked it better than some of the $80+ WTB/Spec/Sella Italia saddles that I tried out.

First upgrade that it will be getting is a set of Blackburn 700x45mm fenders from my bike shop along with a small saddle bag with extra tubes and a bottle cage mountable mini-pump, at least until I go tubeless.

Randal - sounds like yours is pretty much what I will be using mine for except I will plan to take her on the trails more. I have singletrack 2 miles from my house (my normal trails) and have already been looking at my pictures for the ones that will fit the CX style of the bike the best. Once the snow stops and the ground gets better then I will take her up there for a spin. Thinking that I might try to have/build the other wheels sooner than later and leave a set of tires on each; one more road friendly, the other more dirt friendly.


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

CAADam9 - So I looked at those brake and wondering if they would work well with 700x45mm fenders? This will be my commuter 90% of the time so during rainy and winter days (like today were we got a good couple inches of slush) I will need fenders to get to and from work (to being the biggest concern). I thought I read somewhere that cantis play better with a larger variety of fenders than linear pull brakes, is this correct?

Also, looking/talking/researching I have found what looks to be a pretty good and cheap combo for another wheelset: Velocity A23s, BikeHubStore Taiwanese Superlight Hubs, laced with Sapim Laser/Race double-butted. Figuring that the build will come in right under $250 which is pretty nice if I can do a decent build myself. But alas that will have to wait a few months, until the TO THE RESEARCH CASE!!


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

I'd stay away from the Lasers for your first build. They tend to twist when you tension them, and getting that twist out can be a pain. Heck, my well respected LBS f-ed it up on my set. I'd stick to regular DB spokes, I am for the other sets I am building, as I refuse to bring my stuff to this LBS again. The weight penalty is minimal.


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## CAADam9 (Feb 27, 2011)

Your right, the Canti's will work better with the fenders than the Mini V-brakes. The cross wire is low enough to interfere with the larger fenders. Good Catch

That bike looks really sharp.

Adam


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

Just got her home... about to go gorge myself on some crap so no rides tonight..
Gonna have to put my spd m520s on tomorrow


2009 Kona Jake by renofizz, on Flickr


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

*New brakes question!!!!*

Ok guys I need some advice/help..
So I went to my LBS and got some new pads last night as yesterday I went on my first road ride with my mtb buddy (she is awesome for this kind of stuff) and the stopping is lacking. So went and talked to my guys and they hooked me up with some Serfas V-Brakes for these cantis and gave me some advice on tuning.

So last night I spent 4 HOURS trying to tune just the front brake!!!:mad2::mad2:
For the life of me I cannot get the yoke to center and keep everything else from dragging. No matter the amount of cable adjustment, barrel adjustment, re-adjusting the yoke cable, will get these the brake line/yoke to center over the tire. I finally got the brakes to somewhat stop dragging by pulling the yoke way over to the right but it still slips every once in a while.

What the hell am I doing wrong here?! At this point I am ready to just drop some coin on something that will be easier to adjust than these. With that regard I did find that brakes like the TRP 8.4 will work with 45mm fenders, so the question becomes; with my Tiagra STI shifters will those work or do I need mini-v brakes?


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

FYI - the TRP 8.4 ARE mini-v's.

Cantis can be a pain to adjust properly, they take some skill, experience, and patience. Experience that is quickly becoming a lost art as everyone turns to easier to set-up systems.


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

krisdrum said:


> FYI - the TRP 8.4 ARE mini-v's.
> 
> Cantis can be a pain to adjust properly, they take some skill, experience, and patience. Experience that is quickly becoming a lost art as everyone turns to easier to set-up systems.


So are you saying that the 8.4s will not work?
I definitely don't mind learning but holy crap these are ridiculous and I think I am going to have to get new straddle/yoke cables.


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

gregnash said:


> So are you saying that the 8.4s will not work?
> I definitely don't mind learning but holy crap these are ridiculous and I think I am going to have to get new straddle/yoke cables.


If mini v's work with short pull (road) levers and TRP 8.4s are mini v's, then... yes they will work. They are just one of several options from the fine folks at Tektro/Tektro Racing Products (TRP). 

In the picture you posted it looks like everything is set-up fine. Can you post a picture of what you are dealing with?


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

Ok here is what I am talking about...

Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr

Left side is just about touching rim....

Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr

Right side you can see rim almost all the way down the length of the pad.

Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr

Seriously frustrated with this. Unfortunately, I cannot leave them alone for more than a day because this is my commuter bike and I have not car (guess I could switch back to the mtb if needed) but this is ridiculous how touchy these are. It seems like one spring is higher tension than the other as if I pull the straddle cable tight enough that the pads touch the rim and then use the barrel adjuster to back them off only the right side (DS) really loosens/moves.


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

gregnash said:


> Ok here is what I am talking about...
> 
> Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr
> 
> ...


Maybe a stupid question, but have you evened out the spring tension on both sides? Hard to tell from the pictures, but are the spring tension adjusters equal? Are the springs mounted in the same holes in the canti boss on both sides? What happens when you center the straddle yoke (move it towards the NDS from its placement in the picture)?

From the pictures, it looks like everything is set-up right. The straddle wire looks maybe a bit on the long side, but not anything crazy, which will give you more pad clearance and lower braking power.

So my humble suggestions:
1) Ensure springs are mounted in the same hole on the canti boss (start in the middle hole)

2) Ensure the spring tension on either side is equalized

3) Once you know everything is on a level playing field, adjust in small increments


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

On second look at the pics, looks like your DS spring tensioner is all the way in and your NDS spring tensioner is probably close to all the way out. Try it with both all the way in. This will return the pad from the rim as quickly as possible. I'd then adjust them (assuming everything else is propa) alittle at a time to keep the pads centered around the rim.


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

So the springs are mounted in the same hole (middle) and I had the minute adjustment screws all the way out on both side. Tried like that and still go the same thing.
Here is what it looks like with the yoke centered

No-Drive Side

Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr

Drive-Side

Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr

Centered

Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

If memory serves, taking the tension off the spring tension bolt, makes them sit as close to the rim as possible. I could be mistaken. So as I recommended, I'd try it with the bolt all the way in. But I'm more of a visual person, so don't quote me as I don't have a pair of brakes in front of me.


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

Well guess it is not the big of a worry now. Just got the email that a seller excepted my offer on a new SET of TRP CX8.4 Red brakes for $110. So should be seeing those soon.


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

gregnash said:


> Tipstall - soon as I have it I will take some pics. But for reference this is what it looks like. (this is not mine)
> 
> <pic of my bike snipped out>


I often make fun of posters putting up pics of bikes that aren't theirs. :wink5: Guess it had to happen to one of mine sooner or later.

Its vanity demands that I upload a current shot.


Kona 'cross Feb '12 003 by Andrew183, on Flickr


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

She is looking great Andrew! I have a set of the Red CX8.4s coming and should have my set of Vittoria Cross XG Pros here tomorrow. Guess I am done spending money for a while (I hope)!!!

Found a good article that reviewed them from last year. However, I LOVE the guys use of the NOKON cables instead of the noodle!!! Might have to see if I can do this with some of the Alligator cables!:thumbsup:
TRP CX8.4 Cyclocross Linear-Pull Brakes - Bike Hugger


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

Well got a little surprise when I got home. The Vittoria's were dropped off so threw the bike on the stand and swapped them out. In the speed direction they move pretty well on the road. Going to have to give them a bit better a run down this weekend if I can. Dont know that I will have that much time with family coming into town and my wife having her first paddleboard race this weekend. Maybe after work on monday?!


Kona Jake with proper CX shoes by renofizz, on Flickr


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

So I took her on a ride this morning (road only) to my gym which is on the other side of town. With the Vittoria Cross XG Pros pumped up to about 60psi and aligned in the speed direction I have to say these things felt as fast as the Gatorskins that I had on her. I was thinking that I would try these for a day or two and then switch back to the gators but damn I was impressed. Leaned over in a couple fast turns and they seemed to grip real well. True test is going to be getting on some gravel or fireroad to see how they grip. But so far, color me sold on GEAX and Vittoria!!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Oh and looks like the TRP CX8.4s should be here mid-week. Hoping that I will have time one night to switch them over.:thumbsup:

And just for a little contrast here is what the wifey and I will be doing tomorrow. Her first race, only 2 miles, but she is super stoked and ready to kick some butt!!


Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

HOLY CRAP I CAN STOP!!!
Just go the new TRP CX8.4s an threw them on. Guy sent them with new brake cables which was awesome as I did end up needing new cables after-all. They were pretty easy to setup, front took the longest just because I was learning how to tune it and everything, but the rear went on quickly and I actually had them on and tuned within about 30 minutes.

Took the bike out for a quick spin around the block and holy crap I can actually lock up the rear if I want to!!! I have the front set a little tighter than the rear just to help myself learn to use it more but DAMN I am impressed with these.. Not bad looking either!

Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr 

Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr

Color is a little funky but doesn't look to bad with the red bike. They will get their first real test tomorrow on my way home but I can tell you just from the ride around the block these are TONS easier to adjust, modulation is great, and setup was super simple!!:thumbsup:


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

OK, now I really need to replace my brakes.

Glad you're happy.


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

Yeah I couldn't be happier with these!!!
Went on an 8.5 mile ride on my lunch hour with my normal riding buddy. Was raining a bit while we were riding and there was some wind. Pushed us a few times, she is training for the Seattle to Portland ride in July, and attacked a couple hills and they did a great job stopping me. The old Kore's, even with the new pads, would take a ways to stop me, like put down your foot as your slowing down and do the double-hop to come to a complete stop. These on the other hand stop me quick and good, might tighten the rear up a bit as it seems to be loosening up but I will do that over the weekend as we are supposed to have some nasty, rainy weather this weekend. 

All-in-all I am very impressed with these brakes with the Shimano STI levers. And I have found that the Tektro RX5 are practically the same brake, albeit made from different material making them heavier, and SUPER cheap (can be found on Amazon for $17 a set). And another good thing is they are the Shimano style cartridge insert pads, so you can easily replace the pads with Kool Stop Pads. 

I am thinking after taxes are taken care of I might upgrade the bars, tape and housing to:
- Alligator iLink housing
- On-One Midge bars
- Good padded tape

But seriously for right now I am really enjoying this bike!


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

I was never happy with the stock bars either. Bending them was a great excuse to put on something I like better.  I don't think they're quite as important as a saddle, but somewhat similar in that people have their own particular preferences and you need to figure out what "your" handlebar is.


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## gregnash (Jun 30, 2011)

yeah I have to say that these have been great so far. Got a little squealing out of the rear today but that was more due to the fact that it was raining while I was riding. They still stopped great, actually helped avoid me getting hit by a car today as some meth addict decided to pull out of one parking lot, across traffic and into another one as I was riding in the bike lane. Full on looked straight at me when he pulled out of the first parking lot then proceeded to merge all the way across and thru the bike lane. Had the old Kore brakes been on stil I would have smacked the side of the van or fallen over as he pushed me into the curb. 

After that, I am not officially sold!

Oh and a couple more pics

Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr


Untitled by renofizz, on Flickr


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