Kona Bicycle Co. 1999 Jake The Snake

Price Paid:  $1000.00 at Bennetts

Favorite Ride:
Any and All

Bike Setup:
Winwood Carbon fork, Avid shorty 8 brakes, Avocet Saddle, Mavic Pro elite rims, Ritchey road logic pedals

Summary:
What a fun, do everything bike. Other reviewers have already covered commuting, century rides, and trail riding. I got bit by the triathlon bug last summer and ponied up for some good racing wheels and tires, and aerobars. This bike can fly! Now that I have the light carbon fork I have no trouble keeping up with most everyone including some on triathlon/time trial specific bikes! Unless all you do is road race or mtb race, I would highly recommend this Bike!

Strengths:
Great all around bike. Very versatile

Weaknesses:
Can get to be a bit rough on a long ride as is.

Similar Products Used:
None

Favorite Ride:
On this bike bear creek

Bike Setup:
Kinesis fork, thompson post, race face cross crank, deda bar&stem, Ksyrium wheels, srp brakes, daytona drivetrain.

Summary:
weigh 200pounds, race the bike everyweekend during cross and love the way the bike handles in fast single track. the geometry is more of a mountain bikes and the kinesis fork raises the front end. i sold my colnago and bought the new master jake and am now seting that up to race on and am going to train on the other.it is the most fun bike i have and around Aug the jake starts calling.

Strengths:
Strong frame. Great price.plenty of clearance around the tires.

Weaknesses:
Downtube cable routing. during icy races it starts to freeze up.

Similar Products Used:
Colnago cross frame and red line(sucks)

Price Paid:  $500.00 at Evans, London (used)

Favorite Ride:
Any ride is a good ride

Bike Setup:
Campag racing triple all round, Specialised Racing Pro saddle, aero T bars, trick carbon-fibre bar stem, Kona micro-adjust seat post.

Summary:
Does the work of 3 bikes in one. Very fast on the road, change of tyres, very fast off the road, with a good ground clearance as most MTBs. Will tour if you want it to. Stops as fast as it goes. Frame is stiff, but that can only be a good thing if you are 220lbs as I am - two layers of cork and a decent saddle and problem overcome. Suspension seat post with road suspension forks would finish the whole deal off, and prob beat any MTB over anything but downhill racing, esp with straight bars. Very light as stock, with very good Mich tyres ideal for winter roads or all year round off road. Put on slicks and it really flies. If you have a ton of cash you want to lose - but an on-road and an-off road bike. If not, get one of these....

Strengths:
Bombproof, off-road geo'ty, very rare in UK.

Weaknesses:
None due to set up.

Similar Products Used:
only road and MTBs.

Price Paid:  $325.00 at e-bay

Favorite Ride:
Riding in general

Bike Setup:
Dura-ace 9-speed shifters, XT cranks with XTR 34 and 46 rings, XT 11-27 cassette, Avid shorties, Nuke proof/Mavic open pro wheels and Ritchey speedmax tires.

Summary:
The bike serves my purposes well. I think the frame is stiff and would therefor be a little uncomfortable on really long rides but I've never been on it more than a couple of hours at a time. Its fun to ride on easy trails but frustrating on technical ones(pinch flat city). I have done a couple of cross races on it and its been a blast to ride through grass and smooth singletrack and the weight is nice when you have to shoulder it. The only thing I think would improve the feel of the frame is if it were light weight steel but I didn't want to spend that kind of money so I guess I am happy with what I got for my money.

I know some of the other reviews I have read suggest getting rid of the mountain and road bikes because this does it all, I would have to disagree. I think you would be hard pressed to ride a lot of singletrack with this and a good road bike will be more comfortable on long road rides.

Strengths:
Price. I was looking for a cheap cyclocross frame to build up for winter rides in a local park by my house. Lots of easy singletrack, open fields and double track. I picked the frame and fork up on e-bay with a King headset and Bontrager seatpost and threw on new and used parts I had around. Its pretty light when you have to carry it, climbs well and can really fly down smoother trails.

Weaknesses:
Really tough to ride on more technical trails, especially those with a lot of rocks. 700x30 tires just don't take the hits like 26x2.1's, I don't care how you adjust the pressure. I put a set of Panaracer smoke 700x45's and they seemed to take some hits much better but I would hate to race on them.

Similar Products Used:
None. Always ridden road and mountain-specific bikes.

Price Paid:  $800.00 at used

Favorite Ride:
Galbraith Mtn.

Bike Setup:
XT 11-30 9spd cassete, ritchey speedmax 38 tires, 535 spd

Summary:
This bike is essentially perfect. It can do more than most non-crossers imagine. The terrain around here is similar to North Shore (big drops, log crossings, ramps, etc.) and I can ride just about everything except very high wheely drops. The frame is tough and the fork, though heavy, is great. It tracks great but still absorbs some of the rough stuff. The only terrain its not great at is fast, very rocky downhill fireroads

Strengths:
Versatility, Skill Development, Enjoyment

Weaknesses:
LX pads, 11-25 gearing. Shorter top tube. I ride a 55cm road bike and I went with the 56cm to get the length.

Similar Products Used:
Trek XO-1