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2008 Kona Dew micro-review, now with ouchy biff!
$400 bike, made over there, just like everything else, but a few
things of interest. Frame and fork are fully disk compatible, in case you want to modify your bike for the local crackheads. They've gone so far as to eliminate cable stops (idiots) and just run housing in the hose guides, so you might want to put a teflon cable on the rear brake. Otherwise the bike has a really nice bunch of braze-ons. Front fork has eyelets on both the inside and outside of the fork, and rack mounts. Rear drops are tapped two times for fenders and a rack. If anybody from Kona is reading this: disc brakes are pointless for your Dew series, except to move them from the sales floor. The braze ons are ugly, and eliminating cable stops, as a customer might downgrade to discs is absurd. The cheap Tektro brakes on your cheapest Dew are more than effective enough, even for a fully loaded bike and if discs are really so good for a road going bike, why aren't they on your far more expensive Phd? Things to pay attention to: the wheels are garbage, but salvageable. The hubs are so poorly adjusted as to barely turn, so service them first thing. The rims are tightly but wildly tensioned, seat those spoke heads, retension, true, and bring them up a 1/4 turn. A half hour of TLC will really pay off here. Mounting the rear fender is a bit challenging, due to the bottom pull derailleur. I just drilled the metal tab that usually hooks over the little chainstay crossbar, and used a 4mm bolt as it's tapped, which has the fender barely touching the front mech. Rack mounting was straight forward. No room for a Greenfield if you're that kind of macho, unless you put a "cop-style" stand on the back. For your own sanity, replace the bizarre front QR first thing, and put some pedals on it that don't wanna make you cry. All that done, front and rear racks, fenders, MKS pedals, and a Deore in rear replacing the Altus, dialed in--you can't want for more fetching ability. The geometry's nice, and the combo of cheap as dirt EZ-Fire shifters and Deore rear mech shifts embarrassingly crisply (palpably better than the OK Altus). Even the stock Velo saddle should be fine for most folks. I enjoyed the bike so much that as I was dialing in the drivetrain last night, circling the block, I hit some gravel, and unused to the leverage of flat bars, oversteered and biffed my face pretty bad! Glasses and teeth are OK. Lip is grotesquely huge. Bike repels blood great. Thank goodness for beer, or it would have hurt more. ;-) Recommended? Meh, I bought it because that's what the LBS sells. If yours sells Marins or Jamis bikes--I doubt the quality is much different. At this price point, it's just a commodity. Dialed in, it's pretty dang nice, as any $400 bike could be with some TLC. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1371/...eb2ba681_o.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1020/...61898541_o.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1109/...023278fe_o.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1172/...43d9f642_o.jpg Those are swing over Knog bags, btw, and for the person that asked: it's one compartment, and it fits a big laptop just fine. The top flap has some stiffening foam, so they keep your groceries nice and chill on the way home. |
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#2
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2008 Kona Dew micro-review, now with ouchy biff!
"landotter" wrote in message ups.com... $400 bike, made over there, just like everything else, but a few things of interest. Frame and fork are fully disk compatible, in case you want to modify your bike for the local crackheads. They've gone so far as to eliminate cable stops (idiots) and just run housing in the hose guides, so you might want to put a teflon cable on the rear brake. Otherwise the bike has a really nice bunch of braze-ons. Front fork has eyelets on both the inside and outside of the fork, and rack mounts. Rear drops are tapped two times for fenders and a rack. If anybody from Kona is reading this: disc brakes are pointless for your Dew series, except to move them from the sales floor. The braze ons are ugly, and eliminating cable stops, as a customer might downgrade to discs is absurd. The cheap Tektro brakes on your cheapest Dew are more than effective enough, even for a fully loaded bike and if discs are really so good for a road going bike, why aren't they on your far more expensive Phd? Things to pay attention to: the wheels are garbage, but salvageable. The hubs are so poorly adjusted as to barely turn, so service them first thing. The rims are tightly but wildly tensioned, seat those spoke heads, retension, true, and bring them up a 1/4 turn. A half hour of TLC will really pay off here. Mounting the rear fender is a bit challenging, due to the bottom pull derailleur. I just drilled the metal tab that usually hooks over the little chainstay crossbar, and used a 4mm bolt as it's tapped, which has the fender barely touching the front mech. Rack mounting was straight forward. No room for a Greenfield if you're that kind of macho, unless you put a "cop-style" stand on the back. For your own sanity, replace the bizarre front QR first thing, and put some pedals on it that don't wanna make you cry. All that done, front and rear racks, fenders, MKS pedals, and a Deore in rear replacing the Altus, dialed in--you can't want for more fetching ability. The geometry's nice, and the combo of cheap as dirt EZ-Fire shifters and Deore rear mech shifts embarrassingly crisply (palpably better than the OK Altus). Even the stock Velo saddle should be fine for most folks. I enjoyed the bike so much that as I was dialing in the drivetrain last night, circling the block, I hit some gravel, and unused to the leverage of flat bars, oversteered and biffed my face pretty bad! Glasses and teeth are OK. Lip is grotesquely huge. Bike repels blood great. Thank goodness for beer, or it would have hurt more. ;-) Recommended? Meh, I bought it because that's what the LBS sells. If yours sells Marins or Jamis bikes--I doubt the quality is much different. At this price point, it's just a commodity. Dialed in, it's pretty dang nice, as any $400 bike could be with some TLC. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1371/...eb2ba681_o.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1020/...61898541_o.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1109/...023278fe_o.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1172/...43d9f642_o.jpg Those are swing over Knog bags, btw, and for the person that asked: it's one compartment, and it fits a big laptop just fine. The top flap has some stiffening foam, so they keep your groceries nice and chill on the way home. I didn't realize it came with a riser bar. I find them just too damn wide for most commuting and city streets. Otherwise the bike's set up sweet! |
#3
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2008 Kona Dew micro-review, now with ouchy biff!
On Sep 20, 10:13 am, landotter wrote:
snipped for brevity/clarity All that done, front and rear racks, fenders, MKS pedals, and a Deore in rear replacing the Altus, snip Deore rear mech shifts embarrassingly crisply (palpably better than the OK Altus). I find that a bit strange, can't see why the Deore would shift better than the Altus Perhaps you properly sized and finished the shift cable housing as part of the replacement process? Or did something else (chain sizing, etc.?) One really nice thing about that el-cheapo Deore (~$15 at Nashbar) is that it will shift a 34t cog, so it's a good choice for a touring set- up. |
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