OK, so here's something a little more closely resembling a review -- the good and the bad.
I've got the 2008 Jake. I was looking for a good road bike for commuting and was prepared to spend
around $1000. I was leaning toward a Jamis Aurora, but I wanted to shop around a bit to see what
else was available. A guy at my LBS showed me the Jake ($850). I test rode it a week later and didn't even bother taking the Aurora for a ride. The Jake was what I was looking for.
Accessory Mounting
The first thing I was looking for in a commuter was the ability to mount racks and fenders (on the
assumption that anything with a certain level of components will be decent, but I'm not willing to
deal with clamp-on mountings). The Jake handily met this criteria. It's got braze ons for a rack on
the seat stays, two threaded eyelets next to the rear dropuouts and threaded eyelets on the fork.
I've got some sort of Bontrager rack and Planet Bike Cascadia road fenders. I've also got a pair of
Cascadia hybrid fenders to go with the wider tires the bike came with, but I've never mounted them.
Although there are two sets of eyelets in the rear, I've got the rack and fenders mounted to the same
holes with no trouble. The LBS where I bought the bike mounted the rack very close to the fenders.
I've raised it an inch or so to give me room to work with the velcro on my trunk rack, but there's
still room for a trunk rack and seat bag to coexist. The Planet Bike fenders fit nicely and look
really clean. The black fenders match the gloss black paint very well. The front fender tends to
vibrate a bit, but not to the point of hitting the tire.
The Jake's handlebars have an oversized center, which is a bit of a nuisance. I've got a computer
and a light mounted right next to the stem and they tend to slide loose because the handlebars are
sloped at this point. The mounting works, but it's annoying.
Size/Fit
I'm a bit comprehensionally challenged when it comes to bike geometry. I've read all about bike fit,
but somehow it only sinks in by small increments. Consequently, I never have any idea what size I'll
need when I go to look at a bike. The guy at the LBS guessed I'd need a 52- or 54-cm frame (I'm
5'9") and had both sizes sent over from other locations. The 52-cm got there first and on test
riding it seemed pretty good, so I never rode the 54. He said the Jakes tend to "run a little big"
(that is, people often need a smaller size than they think). Make of that what you will.
I've ridden the 52cm Jake for about 6 months now and 1500 miles, and I think the size is right. This
is my first road bike since an old salvage job I had as a teenager, so I don't really have much to
compare it to as far as reach, agility, etc. It's been comfortable to ride. A couple of months ago
I raised the seat an inch or two from where I had it, which helped with pedalling, but now I get some
numbness in my right hand after 8 miles or so, so I suppose I'll have to fiddle with the stem at some
point.
Saddle
The saddle is probably my biggest complaint with the stock components of the Jake. It comes with a
WTB Rocket V saddle. My impression is that this saddle is specifically designed to create pressure
in the groin area. I replaced it with an E3 Form Gel and I'm much happier now. FWIW, I put the
Rocket V on a MTB and I actually like it there. It just seems not to be well suited to a road riding
position.
Wheeels/Tires
The Jake comes with a Deore hub-based front wheel and a Tiagra-hub based rear wheel. I don't know
anything about the make of the rims. I don't know much about wheeels in general, so I can't comment
much here. With the stock brake pads it seemed I was constantly having to clean brake grit off the
rims. I don't know if that was a function of the rims or the brake pads.
The wheels have kept their true pretty well. I ride mostly on pavement, but I don't baby my wheels.
I weigh 195, and when I roll off a curb the bike feels it. The only time I've had to true a wheel
was when I dodged a pothole and instead went into a sewer grate just wide enough for my tire.
The Jake comes with 700x35c Maxxis Locust CX tires. I had these switched out at the time of purchase since I didn't expect them to be good commuting tires, but I took them home for occasional recreational use. I've taken it out with the Locusts a few times. They seem to have pretty good traction. They feel about the way you'd expect knobby tires to feel. They give a kind of soft ride on pavement, but the rolling resistence is noticeably worse than with high-psi slicks. The Locusts take about 75 psi if I remember correctly.
Brakes
I said the saddle is probably my biggest complaint with the stock components. The brakes keep it from being a runaway. On my first test ride, it seemed to me that the brakes were very weak. I was used to the V-brakes on my old GT Timberline, which can stop on a dime. The Avid Shorty 4's on the Kona Jake do not stop on a dime. I read one person describe them as being more like speed attenuaters than actual brakes. This is the only center-pull canti brakeset I've used, so I have nothing to directly compare it with, but I feel like it should work better. I can't rule out the possibility that the wheels play a part in this.
I recently replaced the stock brake pads with a set of Kool Stop black MTB pads (the blackness of the Jake is too beautiful for me to change lightly to salmon pads). These were certainly better than the stock pads, but I'm still not thrilled with the braking.
Drivetrain
The Jake has Tiagra shifters and derailleurs. The crankset is FSA Gossamer MegaExo with 50-39-30 chainrings. The chain is KMC HG53.
Again, I have to preface with a disclaimer that this is my first experience with brifters. The shifting of the front derailleur takes a little getting used to. The Tiagra shifter working with the triple crankset has these "half-shifts" which are really useful but unintuitive. On the test ride, when I tried to shift up from the middle ring to the big ring, I thought the derailleur was out of adjustment because my shift attempt didn't get the job done. It turns out you have to push the front shifter much further than the rear shifter to get it to move. What you get in return is the ability to move the derailleur by small increments to use the middle chainring with a wider range of gears without rubbing the derailleur.
The rear derailleur and its shifter are a totally different story. The shifting is smooth, crisp and effortless. I just think about what gear I want and it changes. Well, maybe it takes a little more than that, but not much.
The Jake comes with a 12-25 Deore 9-speed cassette, which I really like for my daily commute. It strikes a very good balance of tight spacing vs. range of gears. It's not so great for serious climbing. I've recently put an 11-32 cassette on to get me over some hills on an upcoming century ride, but for the daily commute, I like the 12-25 much better.
Overall, I love my Jake. It's a great bike, and I think it compares very favorably to other bikes in the same price range.
Now how about another picture? Here's my Jake at work:
