Kona Sutra vs Marin Toscana vs ?

buy my singular peregrine + fit an alfine

:)

cant wait to get my new alfine wheel and 29er set up.............

buy my singular peregrine + fit an alfine

:)

Have they only just started to do small peregrines?
Dont remember seeing them on the site before.

Exactly what I'll be looking for in my next winter/utility bike. CycloX style frame, with disc brakes, Alfine hub, and midge bars*.

*brilliant bar choice for this sort of bike (IMHO).

As long as you understand how gears work and can adjust them better than the cretins working in halfrauds, the Boardman Team/Team Carbon Road is a lot of bike for the dorrah.

They also do a cross bike for £999 and a Pro hybrid for £799

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/road/road_team_carbon.html

I forget another decent bike - salsa casseroll

Genesis Croix De Fer- excellent utility bike, steel frame, disk brakes braze ons for rear rack.
I loved mine but unfortunately got written off by a head on with a van :-( getting the '10 version via insuranve. Bit on the weighty side but I had it for a year and no maintenace probs- kept me commuting through the snow with the 'cross tyres on just changed to more roadie tyres for the summer and change the saddle FFS!

I forget another decent bike - salsa casseroll

New for 2010. The Salsa Vaya. Looks like a Casseroll with mechanical discs to me. Yummy.

ED: Stock gearing is compact road double front 50/34, and a wide 11-32 cassette on the back. I like the look of this gearing set-up for light touring, although I'd prefer a 48/32up front.

load of unsubstantiated opinion in this thread it seems.

I have had a Kona Sutra. It's not a touring bike, it's an expedition bike. it is utterly bomb-proof. And I really really appreciated disc brakes fully loaded. I've got a fast audax bike now (a enigma etape), a totally different bike in many ways but I really miss the braking modulation that even cable disks give you.

and the kona has braze-ons for rim brakes too, so if you're really going across the world you can set it up with secondary (fail-over) brakes really easily. the only thing I'd change if I was taking it on a serious international tour would be to give it internal gears.

there isn't really a difference between a 'touring bike' and an 'expedition bike', i suppose some touring frames can be quite lightweight and perhaps not so good for heavy loaded touring [expedition] but essentially it's just a different name for the same thing. the sutra is very strong but it it also heavy and overpriced as are pretty much all off the peg touring bikes although the sutra does come with a front and rear rack but those components are pretty shit.

Buy my Kaffenback? Various spec choice

there isn't really a difference between a 'touring bike' and an 'expedition bike'.

The fact is, all touring bikes are somewhere on the Audax-to-expedition spectrum; though to say there are no differences between is utter tosh. It's equivalent to the difference between an XC bike and a DH bike..

From the bikes I've owned I can say the ones set up for expedition touring are designed for rough/no roads and with utterly bombproof kit. Owned a Thorn Raven for a while (and used it for audax rides). Riser bars, upright stance, Heavy as all hell, easy to fix in the middle of nowhere. Was a pig to ride without any sort of load on though - which if I'm honest is mostly what I used the bike for. Sold it and have no regrets.

Whereas had a roadrat set up for audax type rides (and took it on some expedition touring) opposite end of the spectrum. Flexy as buggery when loaded down. 700c Wheels ARE hard to find spares for in the middle of non europeanised countries. Was fast, but not what I needed.

I came across this thread googling reviews for the kona sutra, but I think it's atleast worth my two cents. I'm saving up to buy a kona sutra purely BECAUSE of the disc-brakes. It allows me to switch between two sets of wheels easily. a 26" pair for doing some more Expedition touring and a 700c pair for audax riding. The sutra compared to the LHT is a lot more racy aswell.

... and it comes in green

there isn't really a difference between a 'touring bike' and an 'expedition bike',

huh? WTF. if that's true then why do you say

caliper brakes which wont provide enough stopping power on a loaded touring bike. this is often the case with audax bikes great light tourers but not really up to trekking. two different bikes really.

and while I'm at it will you also please try to be a bit more consistent - how can you say that

it's generally advised to get components that can be easily replaced and repaired wherever in the world you are going to be.

and then go on to recommend an aluminium tourer

i have suggested this bike on another thread and i think its the best value off the peg audax, not at all classy though and its an aluminium frame

I'm calling alias - edscoble.

i was helping a mate put together a touring bike

and this is the sum total of your touring experience? it shows.

Fred - are you a detective?

Colonel mustard in the billiard room.

colnel grumpy in the office with the triple espresso

colnel grumpy in the office with the triple espresso

haha :-)

a detective? more like inspector clouseau than columbo.

fred, if you read what i wrote, i was suggesting audax bikes and touring bikes are different bikes not touring and trekking bicycles, an audax bike is unlikely to have the long chainstays, canti brake bosses, front carrier eyelets, relaxed geometry and long wheelbase desired for long haul touring. i was speaking of trekking as an activity, something you do on a bike, not as a distinct category of bicycle.

i don't recommend aluminium touring bikes, i never did, i recommended an aluminium audax/road bike and said it would be good for light touring and commuting, i didn't claim that the aluminium frame was an advantage for touring, i implied the opposite.

i have plenty of touring experience, and my familiarity of the kona is from working in a bike shop that sold the bike as as well as many other touring bikes, which i have ridden.

of course there is a difference between bikes that are used for crossing africa and riding around norfolk for the weekend but it's largely down to the set up of the bike. as glowbike says the term 'touring bicycle' could cover a whole range of activities from audax to expedition, including the kona sutra. the kona sutra is a touring bike in spite of your slightly pretentious claim that is has it's own distinct category, yes it's built to be versatile but there are compromises as a result.

i don't really understand why you jumped down my throat when i was just offering advice and if you are going to pick through my words to try to make me look an idiot, i'd rather you read and understood them properly first. presumably your 'substantiated' experience of claiming that the kona sutra is "utterly bomb-proof" is from actually having ridden over a bomb whilst riding it, please do it again.