Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.LeeG
09-14-08, 06:43 PM
in response to the original poster I got a Ute a month ago. It has some compromises but overall it's a hell of a good utility bike and opens up a market that most folks got mtn. bikes for but really didn't get what they needed. I can't compare it to the surly or xtracycle kits. The aluminum frame is light and the rear rack/triangle is solid. The fork is kind of flexy but I'm new to disc brakes. I got a 18" frame that is a bit tight so I got regular mtn. bike bars and longer stem, the seat post is kind of high for a 30" bb-seat hight. It had a 170mm cranks that I changed to 175mm with a triple instead of the stock 26-36 double chainring. If you can find them the 20" frame would be a better fit for 5'10+riders.
The bags it came with are really marginal, yes they work and pack up flat but if they slide forward abit the corner hits the middle seat stay and on big bumps the bag will pop right off, which happened to me with a 20#bag of charcoal in it. Maybe I need to fiddle with it a bit more but the basic problem is that the bags can swing out too much.
Kona should be selling these like hotcakes as the average "hybrid" or suburban cyclist thinking of carrying any weight on the back of their mtn. bike will do better with the Ute.
The bags it came with are really marginal, yes they work and pack up flat but if they slide forward abit the corner hits the middle seat stay and on big bumps the bag will pop right off, which happened to me with a 20#bag of charcoal in it. Maybe I need to fiddle with it a bit more but the basic problem is that the bags can swing out too much.
Kona should be selling these like hotcakes as the average "hybrid" or suburban cyclist thinking of carrying any weight on the back of their mtn. bike will do better with the Ute.