It's alive! I completed the 2010 Jake The Snake Build on Friday and took it out for a 100 mile shake down ride yesterday. Overall, I LOVE the bike and think it will make an outstanding fast commuter/ Cyclocross pit race bike.

I actually already own its big brother the Major Jake but I never felt right about leaving a scandium framed bike chained up outside year in/out. Also, the Major Jake does not have a drilled fork so mounting fenders was always a pain and took so much time that they tended to stay on longer than I wanted them to.

I have attached a picture of the bike and myself on our shakeout century (during which we got snowed on, despite the sunny picture at the top of the dam).

The Build:
Frame/Fork: 2010 Kona Jake The Snake
Bars: FSA wing pro compact
Shifters: Ultegra 6600
Front Der: Tiagra
Rear Der: Ultegra 6600 (although I was running an ancient Alivio yesterday)
Wheels: Ritchey Protocol WCS
Crankset: Ritchey WCS compact (its getting harder and harder to find ultegra octalink BBs these days)
Brakes: Tektro Oryx with a fork mounted housing stop up front (work better than my MJ)
Tires: Conti Ultra Race 25mm
Pedals: Crappy Specialized SPDs I had laying around
Step: Ritchey Pro 110 (May need to go 120 with the compat bars)
Saddle: Bontrager Affinity R
Seat Post: Thompson Elite

The Ride Evaluation: Overall, it feels just a bit smoother than my Major Jake but that may have to do with the 25c tires whereas I have been running 23s on the MJ. It is still plenty responsive, especially after I slammed the stem as low as it will go. I think this will be a fast bike for both commuting and racing while still affording me a lot of comfort if I were to put on bigger tires.

Both frames are 54cm. I actually cannot really tell much difference between the two other than weight and that has more to do with the fork, wheels and saddle than it does the frame. The scandium is lighter but not that much. Performance wise, both bikes really get up and go when I stomp on the pedals. They are both very responsive to rider input but not as much as my Tarmac or my TCR. The JTS has slightly more relaxed geometry (1/2 of 1 degree on both the ST and HT) but I could not really feel it on my shake down ride. The Major Jake seems to have slightly shorter (couple of millimeters) chainstays (based on my highly accurate "jam-your-fist-in-the-space" measuring method but That said, I have been off of the Major Jake for about 2 weeks ever since I sucked the rear der into the spokes on my commute...so I may just not be as clear on how the MJ felt. That said, I have many thousand miles on the MJ and I should be able to physically remember the feel, if that makes any sense.

In general, I am feeling today like there is minimal performance difference between the two frames other than weight.

I will put the new der. on the Major Jake and take them out for some testing and write up a side by side comparison.