Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - just picked up the closest thing i will have to a 'road bike'

http://www.silenzzzz.net/bike/dew_plus/side_main.jpg
http://www.silenzzzz.net/bike/dew_plus/kona_dew_plus.jpg
http://www.silenzzzz.net/bike/dew_plus/front.jpg
http://www.silenzzzz.net/bike/dew_plus/front_brake.jpg
http://www.silenzzzz.net/bike/dew_plus/rear_angle.jpg
http://www.silenzzzz.net/bike/dew_plus/rear_hub.jpg

and a closeup of the color

http://www.silenzzzz.net/bike/dew_plus/color.jpg

heading out a little later on today for its maiden voyage ... gonna be a different field... cars instead of tree's ... and potholes instead of sand traps ... but maybe i will live ... haha

cool! enjoy

thanks! i hope to get a buncha miles out of it eventually.

Love that color - congrats!!

you will get a real road bike soon enough...they always do ;)

Very nice looking ride!

Road bike in five years.

I love the color. Man that thing looks beefy!

I came really close to getting the Kona Dew myself, but ended up with the Specialized Globe. They are great bikes.

I predict 6 months to a year. ;)


Road bike in five years.

NICE ride! Kona makes a good build, I personally wish I would have gone with one of those (Dew) instead of my Trek FX. You'll get a ton of fun miles out of it.

Very nice ride. I've had my eye on this one.

http://www.konaworld.com/08_hoss_w.htm

Nice. Now stick some barends and clipless pedals on it and you're good to go.

Love that color - congrats!!

yeah i have always liked this odd color .. i blame my aunt .. and her 71 caprice for hooking me on metallic green!


Road bike in five years.

eh, maybe when i am under 200 ... though i am thinking about putting some drop bars on it already, and a little beefier tire ... and going monstercross ridin!

I love the color. Man that thing looks beefy!

it is! ... just put 10 miles on it, never once got out of breath ... topped out at a little over 30mph .. avg speed was about 16 ... 2 of the miles was on a local singletrack trail that is nothing but sand and hardpacked dirt ... and this bike handled better then my mountain bike on it hah!


NICE ride! Kona makes a good build, I personally wish I would have gone with one of those (Dew) instead of my Trek FX. You'll get a ton of fun miles out of it.

i was going between the trek FX (7.3) and this one .. went with this one instead mostly because of the disc brakes, and price ... but after riding it .. it feels better then the trek did to.



Nice. Now stick some barends and clipless pedals on it and you're good to go.

haha, thought about barends .. but debating now on that or a different bar in general ... as for the clipless ... i was thinking of some oldschool bmx beartraps .. and my 5.10 Impacts ... these little bitty pedals that are on it now ... feel like there is nothing holding my foot in place ...

I predict 6 months to a year. ;)

or 5 months.

Remember, N+1. Road bike is next....

Remember, N+1. Road bike is next....

doh i never was good with math ... i think mine is more along the lines of N+(3*5a)=Bikes

i already have a few frames at the house just waiting on me to buy up parts .. one will be a 29er SS ... and who knows what else for the others ...

Cool bike! I'd love to have one of those myself.

Just remember that all roads lead to road bikes....

Nice ride! I will chime in on the color also, very nice.

That is a pretty good bike, I have a 2 year old Dew Deluxe that is my fair weather commuter and it has about 8000 miles on it with relatively minimal issue.

The things to watch are:
- the brake adjustment. As the pads on those mechanical discs wear the lever on the caliper will have less and less effective travel and will eventually bump into the cable stop, which results in, you guessed it, no brakes. You need to adjust the inboard pad by loosening off the set screw and turning the adjustment in until there is just a tiny bit of room between the rotor and the inboard pad when the lever on the caliper starts to run out of effective range.

- the brake/shifter combo that is stock on your bike is pretty cheesy, they work but are not durable and have quite a bit of flex. There is nothing to really watch for, just don't be too surprised if some of the plastic starts to break off if your bike gets dropped. I put some XT level ones on mine after about 3 months.

- the rims on yours are similar to what came on mine, the rear cracked around the eyelets at about 500 miles, the front is still rolling along. I usually build my own wheels so no this was not due to low or high tension, simply not a real strong rim.

If you decide you want a rear rack and fenders you need to get something that will work with the discs, I use the Axiom Odyssee Disc and some Planet Bike fenders, the fenders required some creative bending of the braces but the rack worked with no problems.

Great looking bike. Enjoy it!!

That is a pretty good bike, I have a 2 year old Dew Deluxe that is my fair weather commuter and it has about 8000 miles on it with relatively minimal issue.

The things to watch are:
- the brake adjustment. As the pads on those mechanical discs wear the lever on the caliper will have less and less effective travel and will eventually bump into the cable stop, which results in, you guessed it, no brakes. You need to adjust the inboard pad by loosening off the set screw and turning the adjustment in until there is just a tiny bit of room between the rotor and the inboard pad when the lever on the caliper starts to run out of effective range.

- the brake/shifter combo that is stock on your bike is pretty cheesy, they work but are not durable and have quite a bit of flex. There is nothing to really watch for, just don't be too surprised if some of the plastic starts to break off if your bike gets dropped. I put some XT level ones on mine after about 3 months.

- the rims on yours are similar to what came on mine, the rear cracked around the eyelets at about 500 miles, the front is still rolling along. I usually build my own wheels so no this was not due to low or high tension, simply not a real strong rim.

If you decide you want a rear rack and fenders you need to get something that will work with the discs, I use the Axiom Odyssee Disc and some Planet Bike fenders, the fenders required some creative bending of the braces but the rack worked with no problems.

thanks for the heads up on the brakes ... i have already been looking at them and debating on eventually putting my BB5's i have laying around on in place of the calipers .. mostly for a little more adjustability ...

as for the lever / shifter combo peice ... the regular XT shifters will work in their place? .. thats good to know as well, in case i change out brakes later and want a better lever ...

with my weight (235) will be keeping an eye on the wheels for sure anyways ...

i say, i will never put a rack or fenders on it .. but who knows ... if i do, will likely make a post or do some searches for others that have tried it on this bike ...

BB5's may or may not be a better brake than what is on there, I have no experience with them. The brakes are not bad, and you may find they serve you well depending on the conditions you ride in and distance travelled. I commute about 35 miles a day with a couple long fairly steep downhill runs and often in the rain so I go through pads quickly.
I am 230, so we are in the same range, and I carry a full pack with a laptop in it, I do not consider this to be heavy enough to be very concerned with my wheels and I rarely have issues.
The standard XT shifters will NOT work as they are 9 speed and you have an 8 speed drive train. I picked up a NOS 8 speed set.

ok, but as long as it is shimano and 8 speed it should work if i understand right ...

so far these brakes feel fine ... so i might not change them out. based my origional thoughts on reviews online .. which can always be skewed ...

That is correct 8sp Shimano shifters pull the same amount of cable regardless of the group they are from.

ok, but as long as it is shimano and 8 speed it should work if i understand right ...

so far these brakes feel fine ... so i might not change them out. based my origional thoughts on reviews online .. which can always be skewed ...

I remember before I got my bike, reading some reviews, and guys were complaining because they took a $350 mountain bike with an 80mm travel fork, went off a 20' drop and wondered why the fork buckled, and the plastic pedals snapped, when they landed, You kinda wonder if maybe, just maybe that's a little bit beyond the design limits of that particular bicycle :innocent:

I often wonder why bicycle manufacturers don't go with a disc on the front, and rim on the back, like cars often have disc on the front, and drum brakes on the rear, since most of the stopping power is on the front anyway, would also solve the problem of rear disc callipers getting in the way of fender and rack mounting points.

I remember before I got my bike, reading some reviews, and guys were complaining because they took a $350 mountain bike with an 80mm travel fork, went off a 20' drop and wondered why the fork buckled, and the plastic pedals snapped, when they landed, You kinda wonder if maybe, just maybe that's a little bit beyond the design limits of that particular bicycle :innocent:

I often wonder why bicycle manufacturers don't go with a disc on the front, and rim on the back, like cars often have disc on the front, and drum brakes on the rear, since most of the stopping power is on the front anyway, would also solve the problem of rear disc callipers getting in the way of fender and rack mounting points.


yeah i still have to keep reminding myself that over half of the reviews are from people that were trying to use a cheap peice of equipment for something that requires something more ...

i have seen a few bikes that have disc in front and rim in back ... my only guess as to why they dont make them like that .. is parts uniformity ... /shrugs ...

well i have over 40 miles on the bike now ... not much by some standards .. but not to bad for me considering i just got it less then a week ago ...

last ride was 14 miles non-stop ... only reason i ended that ride ... is i have just about broken the pedals on it .. i need some made out of all metal .. (yes i know, i am going to get at least one post saying go clipless) ... so now i am searching for a good, decent all metal platform pedal .. that i can get good grip on ...

the brakes are holding up good ... the shifters are eh, so-so .. rear does great .. front has the 'double click' to get it from smallest to middle ring ...

the seat has got to go as well .. so going to start looking around for another one .. may end up getting the same seat i put on my MTB ... but may try something else as well (WTB Pure V is what i have on the mtb)

my avg speed tho i got to work on ... it is now a little over 10mph ... but that is factoring in a 10 min stop to adjust the seat, and a couple of stops to figure out what was going on with the pedals.

since i have gotten it, i have also gone down 3lbs ... heh and increased the amt of calories i am eating ...

this road riding might be addictive ... but not ready to let go of my straight bars just yet.