Why the Kona Sutra is the best choice for me and maybe you

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What bike to ride on an adventure like like Stelvio 2019? A good question that you already know the answer to based on the heading of this post. But how and why did I come to the conclusion to go the Kona Sutra way... Lets find out!

• Jump directly to unboxing and assembling of my Kona Sutra
• or directly to my review of the bike

A little bit of my bike history

It all started with a BMX in the late 80's. The hours spent on that bike and the dirt-holes visited and jumped... Brings back memories...
In 1997 I bought a Cycle Pro Zyclone MTB that I used for pretty much everything, daily commute to school and training on the single-tracks in the woods. Over the years I upgraded it a little with Shimano LX V-Brakes and such.. This bike followed me for 10 years until I finished my university studies and got a job.

With the job came less time to do stuff. 3-4 hour commute per day and working 16 hour days and extra at the pub in the weekends...
The dark ages of my cycling life continued for 6 years, with work work work, alcohol and cigarettes.

Until 2013... On new years day I stopped smoking and 3 months later I bought a Scott Speedster S30
The thousands of kilometers spent on that bike during the years has changed my life, I enjoy training again and have a lot of friends thanks to cycling.. After 7000 km I upgraded it from Shimano Tiagra to 105 and I still ride it every week.

In 2015 I bought a Focus Black Forest MTB. Revisited my love for singletrack, modified the bike to a single chainring and rode some more until I got blood-clots in my lungs in 2017. I decided to sell my mountain bike when the doctors said that I should not hit my head because of the blood thinner medication.. A quick glance backwards in time and the only reason I hit my head into anything during the past years has been the MTB. Hence it had to go.

So I have ridden some different bikes over the years for an OK total distance, the longest ride being 180 km with the Scott Speedster and around 100 km with the Black Forest on single-tracks.

I've never done a multi-day event, and always had the chance to quit. Deciding on what bike to select for a tour through Europe I had some ideas in my head.

Key feature choices

26 or 28 inch wheels

Knowing myself, I will be riding in the developed parts of the world... So 28 inch wheels is the way to go here mainly because a larger wheel will roll easier over small holes etc and thus give us a little more speed. And I am 190 cm, hence I need a bigger bike and big bikes with 26 inch wheels just look silly. And for me that is a good enough reason to make a choice.

Drop, straight or butterfly handlebars

Definitely not a straight handlebar as I like to move my hands to different positions to get numbness away. Butterfly gives a lot of options, but I think that I like drop-bars most. So drop-bars.

Caliper or Disc brakes

One word.... Alps...
I weigh in on around 100 kg, a steel bike is around 13 kg and 10-30 kg extra stuff depending on future planning.. But say that max weigh is 143 kg, including water and food.... Down switchbacks in the Alps..... I will go for the disc option as I'm not suicidal...

Mechanical or hydraulic disc brakes

Mechanical. I don't have any experience with maintenance work on hydraulic ones and I think that the key here is to buy something that I can be comfortable with on the road. 

Carbon, Aluminium or Steel

Definitely not carbon... damn, not got that kind of budget for this trip...
Aluminium is what my road bike is made of, I can feel every grain of sand in the road...
I've read that steel is the way to go for a touring bike as it should be able to absorb the roughness of the road. So steel it is...

Saddle

Brooks B17... Not even going to look at other stuff.. want to try this legendary saddle. I will still be riding in padded bibs but damn, I really want to try the Brooks B17

1, 2 or 3 chain rings

Preferably just 1... Loved that on my mountain bike, never having to think about the front derailleur and thus one less mechanical part that can malfunction.
But then again, the Alps... Going to need really small gearing for that to be able to climb with the extra weight on the bike. Also, need something to pedal the flats through Sweden and Germany to get to the Alps. Hmm, I guess there are the 12 speed cassettes, but do they actually hold that kind of punishment? And looking at the prices they seem to be out of my budget range at the moment.
Traditional touring bikes seem to go with 3 chain rings and 9 speed cassette, should be able to have a really small granny wheel for the climbs and bigger gears for the flats.

Geometry

So what frame geometry should I choose?
I decided to put up a table with my Scott S30 and Focus Black Forest and compare to some of the alternatives that I had on my shortlist. If you have a bike you like, I recommend you to do the same. Just visit the manufacturers website to find the geometry of you bike and put in your numbers, that way you can relate to the numbers while browsing and ordering a bike online. Best is of course to get to a dealer and try the bike but reality is that touring bikes are not really sold everywhere..

	Scott Speedster S30	Focus Black Forest Ltd 1.0	Kona Sutra 58	Specialized Awol XL	Trek 520 63cm
C: ST C-T	580	520	580	550	605
D: TT Length	575	624	603	625	603
F: BB Drop	67	69	72	70	70
G: Chainstays	415	440	445	455	450
B: Seat Angle	73	73.5	72	72	72.8
A: Head Angle	73.3	70	71	72	72.3
H: Wheelbase	1008	1124	1083	1104	1086
E: HT Length	205	125	191	235	230

H Wheelbase

We can see here that the Focus Black Forest has the largest wheelbase of them all and it pretty much sums up my feel of it as well, it felt large and a bit non-responsive... In other words a bit clumsy. So a bit shorter should give a bit more agile bike. Of the three bike on the shortlist, the Kona Sutra has the shortest wheelbase.

G Chainstays

As I understand it the chainstays on a touring bike should be a bit longer so that you have room for panniers without your heels hitting them each time. Longer seems to be a bit relative when looking at the numbers, at least they are all longer then my road bike.

D Top-tube length

Basically this defines how long you have to reach for the handlebar while seated (plus headset length). I like the length on my Scott Speedster and the shortest one of the touring bikes is the Kona Sutra.

The Specialized Awol

This is the bike that made me interested in touring/bikepacking. After watching the We are going AWOL documentary I put it on my Stelvio on my bucket list and here we are!
So why not the Awol? Pretty much comes to cost, Specialized is a lot of design and feeling but for a price that gives a lot better components on any other brand. Also, seems to be impossible to get hold of in Sweden..

This leaves me with 2 options

Trek 520 2019 components vs Kona Sutra 2019 components

Comparison of the Trek 520 (Diablo Red, semi transparent) and the Kona Sutra (Gloss Seaform), here we can see the geometry differences visually. The top tube is a little bit higher up on the Trek, the chainstays are pretty much the same length and the reach seems to be a bit longer on the Trek. Also the front rack that is inlcuded on the Trek is shown.

Component	Kona Sutra 2019	Trek 520 2019
Color	Gloss Seafoam w/ Cream & Charcoal Decals	Anthracite (Grey) or Diablo Red (Red)
Frame	Kona Cromoly Butted	Trek butted chromoly disc touring, rack & fender mounts
Fork	Kona Project Two Cromoly Disc Touring	Alloy disc touring fork w/lowrider mounts and Thru-skew captured skewer system
Front hub	Formula 100x12mm	Shimano M475
Rear hub	Formula 142x12mm	Shimano M475
Rims	WTB ST i19 TCS	Bontrager Affinity, TLR, 36H
Tyres	Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 700x40c	Bontrager H1 Hard-Case Ultimate, 700x38c, reflective sides
Shifters	Shimano BarCon	Shimano Sora, 9-speed, STI
Breaklevers	Tektro RRL-A	Shimano Sora, 9-speed, STI
Front derailleur	Shimano Alivio	Shimano Sora, 34,9 mm
Rear derailleur	Shimano Deore SGS	Shimano Alivio 9-speed Shadow Design
Crankset	Shimano Deore 48/36/26	Shimano Alivio 48/36/26T, w/chain guard
Cassette	Shimano Alivio 11-34t 9 speed	Shimano HG200 11 - 36, 9-speed
Chain	KMC X9	KMC X9
Pedals	n/a	Wellgo nylon body w/alloy cage, toe-clip/strap
Saddle	Brooks B17 Leather	Bontrager Evoke 1.5
Seatpost	Kona Deluxe Thumb w/Offset 27.2mm	Bontrager SSR, 2-bolt head, 27.2mm, 12mm offset
Handlebar	Kona Road	Bontrager Comp VR-C, 31.8mm
Grips	Kona Cork Tape	Bontrager tape
Stem	Kona Road	Bontrager Elite, 31.8mm, 7 degree, w/computer & light mounts
Headset	FSA TH848 1-1/8"	1-1/8" threadless, sealed cartridge bearings
Breakset	TRP Spyre C	TRP Spyre C 2.0 mechanical disc
Weight	13-13.5 kg according to my local bike shop	13.2 kg
Weight limit	unable to find	This bike has a maximum total weight limit (combined weight of bicycle, rider, and cargo) of 125 kg
Extras	Fenders w/ Mudflaps, Pannier Rack	front and rear racks

So a slightly better component list on the Kona Sutra 2019 compared to the Trek 520 2019, and the price tag hint the same as the Kona is around 200€ more in price.

The Trek 520 2019

The old school tourer, introduced in 1983. Liked the 2019 specs.. Would have bought but the 125 kg weight limit is a no go for me. I weigh in at 103 kg, the bike is 13 kg... So 116, giving 9 kg of cargo.... Tent 2 - 3 kg, some bottles of water and we are at the limit.. If I would like to go for a even longer trip in the future with 30 kg of gear, well I would need another bike as I will not loose 25 kg of weight.
After a little bit of research I found that its the Bontrager wheels that have the 125kg limit, but as Trek put the limit on the whole bike and not just the wheels I guess that warranty would be void if I pack it over that limit. Not something I want to explore if the bike breaks down on the road during a longer tour.
Triple chain-ring seems to be standard on the real touring cycles that I've been looking at so no surprise there.

The Kona Sutra 2019

Yep. This is the one.
Brooks saddle out of the box, steel frame and fork, disc brakes, fenders included and rear rack.
With the 26 granny wheel in front this will get me over the alps, still not overly comfortable with the 3 chain-rings in front option but I guess a man has to adapt.
The reach being shorter on the Kona is also something that I like, would give me a little more comfortable sitting position.
Would have liked STI shifters, but oh well I can always upgrade in the future and probably will. But for the Stelvio 2019 trip, this is the bike to go with. pretty much out of the box as the budget is limited. No weight limit will give me options on future trips as well. I understand that there probably is a limit, but as it is not specified like in the Trek case.

Build my own with Kona frameset
Just as an experiment I decided to plot how much it would cost to build my own bike starting from a Kona Sutra frame, with similar components to the factory build (but with STI levers). I came to the retail price and still missed wheels.. So more expensive then I'd like to pay for at the moment, not to mention the job of putting it all together. I've upgraded my Scott Speedster to a 105 groupset and the part that got me was when I ordered wrong type of gear that did not fit the frame and had to buy doubles to get a working bike in the end. I don't want to go that path this winter, I want to buy a bike that I can start using directly as commuter out of the box.

Conclusions

I placed the order on a Kona Sutra 2019 today, expected to arrive around January 2019. I will be posting more about it when it arrives including the actual weight etc..

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