looking for new work horse

[nimbin hippy]

Gday every one,ive been droping in regular for a while now. Iam now on the hunt for a new work horse/commuter and looking for some advise. My giant duel has died due too cracks in the frame and ive been riding a very old shogun mtb too work. Ive been looking at the kona sutra for $1500 and a fuji basic for a $1400. I ride on country roads in all seasons day and nights.Looking for pro and cons and alternatives. cheers

[Mulger bill]

G'Day Hippy, welcome outside

A big thumbs up for Konas workhorse line from me, I commute on a Dew Drop and after some tweaking ('cos I could ), mudguards and subbing the tyres for something more suited for pavement I couldn't be happier.

Cheers
Shaun

[Nobody]

I'd usually say go with the Kona, but since you're riding country roads which can be pretty rough and you previously cracked a frame, I'm not so sure. Maybe doing up your old MTB could be a good option. If not, then maybe consider a CrMo framed bike with a bit more flex in the frame and less likely to crack.

Out of your price range, but I built up a Surly Cross Check CrMo frame.

[nimbin hippy]

Thanks bill thats the way ive been thinking. Wow nobody thats a sweet looking ride mate,whats the damage on a build like that?

[Mulger bill]

Kona Sutra is butted cromo and seeing as they started out building strong as tomorrows chili farts MTBs I don't think there'd be problems.
The Surly is gorgeous tho'.

[Nobody]

Kona Sutra is butted cromo and seeing as they started out building strong as tomorrows chili farts MTBs I don't think there'd be problems.

Sorry MB.
Obviously I was thinking Al, which still should last a long time. Even so I prefer the CrMo ride.
http://www.konaworld.com/bike.cfm?content=sutra


Yeah, I should have got one of them. Would have been much cheaper.

The Surly is gorgeous tho'.

Thanks MB. It should look OK, since it was modeled off your bike.

...whats the damage on a build like that?

Thanks. Too much. About $2500. But I got exactly what I wanted and I learnt a thing or two along the way.

[nimbin hippy]

Thanks guys just love both bikes. Road bike or mtb chain ring? I live in an area with some big hills but i enjoy them. What brand of mudguards are they? Ive spotted the kona dew for about $1300 is that normal or could you suggest any were else too look? Cheers

[casual_cyclist]

try http://tbsm.com.au. They often have runouts on the kinds of bike you are looking at. For ex they have the Kona 2009 Honky Tonk for $1,124.95 but only in size 53cm

I was pretty impressed with the Fuji when I was looking for a commuter/touring bike last year. The only reason I didn't get one is I managed to pick up a Masi for < 1k. If you look on http://www.bikeexchange.com.au you will see they have Fuji Touring (2009) starting at $1,095.

[Mulger bill]

I do OK on the hills with a Tiagra 3x9, but thems my hills not yours. Don't see why you couldn't run a MTB cluster if you need a really low gear.

The mudguards on my lad are Zefal Paragons from wiggle.

[Mulger bill]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Nobody
Now if the Sutra came as a bare frameset....

[Nobody]

Thanks guys just love both bikes. Road bike or mtb chain ring? I live in an area with some big hills but i enjoy them.

Depends on how much you stand up on hills and how long they are steep for. But I wouldn't go to a MTB crankset as they are 22/32/44 and 22 is just too low for a road bike if your cassette is big enough. I'd go with either a triple as per MB or a compact as I have. 30 is the smallest chainring on the triple and 34 for the compact. Not much in it really. Many MTBers use 1 X 9 setups using anything from 30 to 36 chainrings. As MB said, if you get a MTB cassette and use that with a compact, that is 1:1 ratio, or ~2.1m, or ~26.8" gearing. Even lower for the triple.

What brand of mudguards are they?

Mine are Planet Bike Cascadia. I got them from AEBike.

[nimbin hippy]

Thanks guys with all the info ill let you know how i go! But ive got too stop looking at the picture of nobody's surly its beautiful.