Just over a week in, here's my 88-mile review of the 2013 Kona Jake. (More pictures
here.)
Numbers
Size: 53cm
Weight (stock): 24.4 pounds
Weight (as pictured): 23.0 pounds
Rear OLD spacing: 135mm
Seatpost size: 31.6mm
Headset: 44mm ID
Rim depth: 24mm
Rim width (exterior): 21.2mm
Frame
I really like this frame. The stack and height were nearly identical on the 53cm Jake to my 54cm 2008 Major Jake, so I knew the fit would be great for me. The geometry is very similar and has always worked well for me both for commuting and CX racing.
You can tell that a lot of thought went into the tube shapes. I tried to capture this in the pictures, but I don't know how well you can see it. The down tube is hexagonal and bi-axial (wider than it is tall at the bottom bracket and taller than it is wide at the head tube). The seat stays are flattened and wide. The top tube flattens out near the seat tube. Most of these features are the kind of thing that makes a frame "Laterally Stiff But Vertically Compliant(TM)." I'm not sensitive enough to feel that kind of thing, but I'm sure they wouldn't make this much effort for no reason. I can tell you that the flat top tube is nice when you put the bike on your shoulder. My 2008 Major Jake has a somewhat flat top tube, but the 2013 Jake feels much better on my shoulder than the MJ.
The internally routed shift cables are nice. I don't know how much of a hassle that will be when it comes time to change the cables, but this is going to be my rain bike so the less exposed cable the better. The brakes use full-length housing and the cable guides on the down tube are actually bolted onto the frame (though in other places standard c-clips are used). The rear brake being inside the rear triangle seems better than the traditional placement.
I like the look of the internal headset, Kona says it makes the frame stiffer. I guess I'll take their word for it. I'm hoping it helps with keeping the bearings clean.
I do have a couple of minor complaints. First, the lower water bottle cage bolt on the seat tube is very close to the front derailleur. I probably won't use a second bottle cage on this bike very often, and I have a cage that will work, but the proximity definitely limits my options. Second, and probably more seriously, there is only one pair of rear eyelets for rack and fenders and it is located beneath a protrusion at the bottom of the seat stay so that I'll need to use a stack of spacers to mount a rack. This adds about 10mm to the needed space on each side, bringing the total width of the rack stays to just over 170mm. I was able to stretch my Planet Bike EcoRack wide enough to fit, but it had me nervous (and I still don't know how it will stand up to actual use). I'm hoping for the best there.
Drivetrain
In the past I've had bikes with 4500-series Tiagra, 5600-series 105 and 6600-series Ultegra drivetrains. This was my first experience with the new 4600-series Tiagra (apart from a cassette). So far, I'm very impressed. The shifting has been great. I did need to tweak it a little after about 65 miles, but that's fairly normal with new cables. My 53cm Jake came with the brake reach shims installed, and I like the minor difference they make.
These levers have nice ergonomics (IMO). The shifting quality is better than with 4500 Tiagra, though I always thought that was good. At this point, I think it's at least as good as 5600 105.
Brakes
I had low expectations of the brakes. I had a pair of road BB7's brakes, one on the shelf and one on my old Jake, ready to go on this bike even before I bought it. I almost didn't even give the Lyras a try because I had heard bad things about them. However, after 88 miles I'm in no hurry to change them. I was the first person to ride this bike, so I had to do the bedding in on my test ride. At first the brakes felt weak, but they got better quickly and continued to improve over about the first 35 miles of riding. At this point, I think they are comparable in power to the setup on my 2008 Jake with a 160mm Avid BB7 in front and an Avid Shorty 4 cantilever in the rear. Front and rear rotors are 140mm on the 2013 Jake. The front brake alone stops me well with a reasonable amount of hand pressure (for reference, I weigh about 205 pounds).
The downside of the brakes seems to be the rotors. As you can see, they're fairly insubstantial. As such, they tend to scrape the pads just a bit from time to time. The mechanic at the LBS spent five minutes or more trying to true one of the rotors. The scrape usually goes away within a mile or so, but it always comes back. I think it's just like that with these brakes. Other reviews have mentioned it. The brakes also tend to "gobble" under hard braking. I read a review which associated this with fork shudder. I haven't had that problem by I definitely hear and feel it (mostly hear).
I read a review that said the pads have to be set up too close to the rotors to be practical and feel stiff. I think the 4600 Tiagra levers pull more cable than SRAM or older Shimano levers did, so maybe that makes the Lyras work better on this bike.
Tires
The stock tires (700x32 Freedom Ryder) seem very grippy. I even have trouble pulling them across the carpet in my van. They roll pretty well on pavement, and seem to have great traction there (at least when it's dry). I tried them a bit on dirt, grass and loose gravel and they seemed pretty good. The sidewall recommends a range of 45-80 psi. The LBS had them pumped up to 90 psi, which felt harsh. I dropped them down to about 60 psi with no noticeable drop in rolling speed. If anything they felt faster.
If I had a mixed surface commute, I'd consider using them, but having 100% good pavement I swapped in the 700x28 GP 4 Seasons from my old Jake. This change along with a saddle swap dropped 1.4 pounds from the bike. I saw a claimed weight of 545 grams for these tires. That sounds about right.
Wheels
Kona says the stock wheels are Alex Black Dragon rims with Formula hubs. The spokes (32 front and rear, 3-cross) are straight gauge stainless steel, 1.8mm front and 2.0mm rear. There's no doubting the rim identification, as it's very loudly proclaimed with graphics on the side. The hubs, on the other hand, have no markings whatsoever.
The rims are semi-deep and so I'd expect them to be strong and semi-heavy. The graphics, which were a bit too flashy for my tastes, are just stickers on the rim and came off with a bit of effort using a hair dryer and Goo Gone. There was one spot under a sticker where the black anodization had been scraped through, but I touched that up with a marker and I think they look nice. I had to use tubes with 48mm valve stems when changing the tires because the 36mm valve stems didn't protrude from the rims enough for my floor pump to latch on.
The hubs seem very orinary. I haven't opened them up to see what kind of bearings they have. They don't spin quite as freely as most of my other wheels (as measured by putting the bike in a workstand and seeing if the front wheel will seek out and oscillate around a center of gravity), but I don't really feel that on the road. They might just need a minor adjustment.
The wheels were definitely machine-built. When I took it out of the LBS for a test ride, the spokes were pinging the way a wheel does when it hasn't been properly stress relieved. The spoke tension generally seems good. I found a couple that were out of balance, but overall it wasn't bad.
Headset
Kona says the headset is an FSA No. 10. The FSA web site lists no such animal. However, there is a TH No. 10 that matches the specs, so I assume we're looking at that headset re-branded. A Kona tech representative confirmed that it uses caged bearings (5/32" x 20).
Handlebar
The handlebar is fairly compact. I measure the reach at 80mm and the drop at 120mm. Mine were 42cm wide, which is just what I wanted and what I'd expect at this size. The bar tape is cork and feels good. The end caps have fallen out a couple of times, but they're gaudy anyway (shiny plastic chrome).
Saddle
I've never been a fan of WTB saddles and this one isn't changing that opinion. I measure it at right around 130mm wide, which is way too narrow for my hips. That was the third thing I replaced (after the pedals and tires).
Stem and Seatpost
I like both the stem and the seatpost. The stem is a fairly basic 90mm 4-bolt model with an +/- 8 degree rise, which is almost exactly what I would have picked if I were choosing each part myself. The seatpost is 350mm long and has numbered markings along it's length to record position. It's longer than I'd need, but the two-bolt clamp makes it very easy to level the saddle so I don't see any reason to replace it.