vvill’s N + 1 Pointless Prize
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N=13 vvill’s Kona Jake the Snake
3/2/2016
Will and I did another round of horse trading after last nights garage spin kickoff. As usual we switched bikes easily. His jake felt livelier than the other I had ridden. We chalked the difference up to the wheels — did I mention that Hans builds nice wheels?
One of the funny things about riding Will’s bikes is that the brake position is reversed. Silly ausie!
@hozn 136049 wrote:
I could be tempted if the price were low enough (I’m assuming it’s somewhere in the $500-700 range, but haven’t inquired).
Ha, thanks yeah – I could always be tempted especially with that nice spec titanium frame. Doesn’t mean it’s necessary though. I am trying to hold off anyway since I added two bikes last year, and one still has hardly been ridden. Maybe I could restrict myself to maybe just a new wheelset this year… or another power meter.
@KayakCyndi 136057 wrote:
N=13 vvill’s Kona Jake the Snake
Will and I did another round of horse trading after last nights garage spin kickoff. As usual we switched bikes easily. His jake felt livelier than the other I had ridden. We chalked the difference up to the wheels — did I mention that Hans builds nice wheels?
One of the funny things about riding Will’s bikes is that the brake position is reversed. Silly ausie!
Actually it’s just a regular “Jake”, Jake the Snake is the next level up – it’s usually same frame, but better components and paint scheme – although the year I got mine the Jake was the only Kona CX bike that had disc brakes, which is why I got it. The Major Jake (or Super Jake – although there’s none this year) is the carbon version and usually a more aggressive geo too.
That Jake started way off the regular spec though, as I had the shop ditch the stock triple, brifters, FD and brakes (and saddle) and put on a CX70 FD + cranks, 105 brifters and BB7s. Since then I’ve also changed the stem to a Ritchey and the seatpost is a Ritchey carbon. And rarely use the stock wheels.
Heh, yeah one of the funny things about buying bikes here is that the brake position is reversed. And no one likes it when I drive on the left!
In terms of practicality since I usually dismount NDS, I like having the less powerful rear brake on that left side for cyclocross barriers, steps, and such (if I need to scrub just a little speed). My fixed gear has the front (and only) brake on the left though as I think it makes more sense for resetting the pedal position after a stop (I start pedaling down on the drive side).@ShawnoftheDread 136067 wrote:
My next trick is going to be learning how to use road pedals on a fixie. Mine has egg beaters.
The great thing about road pedals is the platforms are wide enough to ride a flexible street shoe on without too much difficulty (although your Mallets are probably similar). I did switch to road pedals on the fixed some time ago but have considered switching back. I love the security of them but hate unclipping / clipping in on road shoes still.
@QuikAF77 136165 wrote:
N = 5, Dad’s GT Avalanche 3.0. It felt strange to be on a 26″ mountain bike, it was so little compared to my 650b Kona. Seems like an adequate bike for the mild off-roading my Dad does.
https://www.strava.com/activities/508530338That was my first mountain bike. It actually is an adequate bike for any mountain biking in the region
I enjoyed the GT so much that I decided I would try to find one of the new Zaskars — yes, in 29″, I do enjoy the big wheels. Finally a like-new frame came up on ebay this winter and now my mountain bike is once again a GT hardtail. Full circle.
No a plus submission, but Hans’ fork is mounted and looking great on my Indy Fab. Geometry closer to the orginal steel fork than the other Salsa disc fork I had.
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