Kona Rove Ti 59 -> Kona Vulcano adventure

chrisvanderkaap

Dear Guys,

Can't hide my excitement. About 16 years too early (24) but just ordered some Tennessee Ti.
The project is as following: I'm a Kona dealer (I have a shop in Antwerp, Belgium) and after telling them I wanted to go to Kona Hawaii to try to climb that most insane vulcano on the main island they gave me their (distinctive) thumbs up. After much debate over which bike (It had to be a Kona of course) we ended up with a custom build Rove Ti (size 59) with Kona project 2 full carbon disc fork.

While maybe not as ideal as say a Salsa Fargo but I believe it'll do. Leg strength perseveres!
With some 50-622 tires, salsa cowbell 2 drop bars and ZTR iron cross laced to sram x9 and a sram rival/x9 low gearing, it's gonna be quite a sober yet reasonably light and hardwearing build.

I'd like to keep you updated about this childhood dream come true. I hope you guys can help me trough out the build with some suggestions that'll help me mount 'Massive Maunaloa'.




Frame: Kona Rove Ti 59 (Manufactured by Lynskey, Tennessee USA) 1890gr
Fork: Kona Project 2 full carbon tapered fork 1 1/8" 1/5" disc 500gr
Expander: alloy sleeve (with fork) 1 1/8" 20 gr
Headset: Cane Creek 40 zs44/ec44 80gr

Seatmast: Thomson Elite SB 16mm 27.2 410mm 220gr
Stem: Thomson x2 100mm 142gr
Bars: Salsa Cowbell 2 42cm 235gr
Seat: Bontrager Affinity ti 220gr
Brakes: TRP Spyre slc disc front/rear 280gr
discs: Avid HSX 160 100 gr/ TRP 140 75gr

Shifters: Sram Rival 320gr
Crankset: Shimano cx-70 36/46 175mm 725gr
Bottom Bracket: Shimano Ultegra 6800 85gr
Front derailleur: Sram Force 10sp 34.9 85gr
Rear Derailleur: Sram x9 medium cage 204gr
Cassette: Shimano 105 12/27 (36 adventure) 250gr
Chain: Kmc 10el silver 215gr

Rims: Stan ZTR Iron Cross 32h x2 385gr
Spokes: DT competition silver 64= 310gr
Hubs: Hope Pro II evo qr 100 185gr/ Hope Pro II Evo qr 135 gunsmoke 285gr
Tires: Challenge Strada Bianca 622-30 335gr
Tubes: Schwalbe sv18 105gr x2
Skewers: Tune qr 100/135mm 47gr

Bottle Cages: Salsa Nickless Cage stainless 50gr
Bartape: Brooks Leather 50gr
Cables & Ferrules: Jagwire Road pro XL 200gr
Parts Screws and grease: 25gr
Rear Rack: Tubus luna stainless 430gr (adventure)
Pedals: Shimano XT pd-770 325gr

±6%

8.9KG road with pedals
9.9KG adventure

upperoilcan

Great story,I'm looking forward to seeing the Kona built as we don't see many on here.

ugo.santalucia

Any particular reason for going tubeless on this?

Just thinking of the practicality of flying tubeless tyres

Paul 8v

Sounds very interesting, lovely frame.

I've ridden a mountain bike around Kauai, it really is the most beautiful place, you won't want to leave! Good luck!

chrisvanderkaap

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Any particular reason for going tubeless on this?

Just thinking of the practicality of flying tubeless tyres

Haven't really settled on the 'ultimate' tire yet.
The raven seemed to have nice tread and good protection even though they're a bit pricey.
it'll be a little bit of a search till then.

Since i'm speaking to the 'wheelman' I also haven't quite settled on the right value/money hub.
Even though it's the bike with most unicorn potential in my stable i'm not quite sure how much to dish out on them.
I love reliability and quality to match the overall build but also don't like to spend more than needed. I have access to Hope pro II evo, WI MI6 but also Sram x9 seems viable to me. Out of those which one would you recommend for the application? The rims are Stan Notubes Iron cross 32h. Spokes probably Sapim Laser / Race [on rear DS?], unless you can convince me otherwise .

ugo.santalucia

Hope are fine, I have used them for many builds.
I think your ideas are good, just not sure if tubeless and shipping the tyres on a plane not inflated is a viable plan... I am curious

chrisvanderkaap

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Hope are fine, I have used them for many builds.
I think your ideas are good, just not sure if tubeless and shipping the tyres on a plane not inflated is a viable plan... I am curious

Thanks for the flattery! Then Hope it is.

Im a sucker for tubeless tires on my mtb and feel this adventure might be a right place for them. Their sublime traction is ones best friend on those 30% inclines! Even if I have to take them and make the switch on the island!

One more question about the spokes. What logic do you hold for lightweight i.e. db(laser) vs. (stock) Race spokes on 32h disc wheels. Would you recommend:

1 full Race
2 Laser in the front, Race in the back or
3 Laser front, laser/race[Ds] back?

I'm a strong but lightweight rider. Not particularly abusive.

ugo.santalucia

I always go for option 2... but if you build your own wheels you can use laser at the rear. I don't do it for others, as they are more likely to become loose and snap. If you replace 16 race spokes with laser you save 30 grams or so... it's very little

RideOnTime

Kona kool...

chrisvanderkaap

Can anyone help with with suggesting some tires?
I'm looking for a sweet set of 28-32/622 tires with file tread for paved/gravel roads.

I've been looking at the 30/622 Challenge Strada Biacha, but can't seem to get them via my suppliers.
Ideally i'd like something as supple, yet puncture resistant.

ugo.santalucia

Vittoria XN PRO?

chrisvanderkaap

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Vittoria XN PRO?

Yup!

chrisvanderkaap

waxing lyrical
(crappy pics for now)

chrisvanderkaap

Wheels done!
Thanks Ugo for the intel on hubs and spokes.





only waiting for the bearings (headset & BB) to arrive before final assembly.

Can't wait!

shipley

Oh my.....nice wheel hangars....what are they ?

TakeTurns

Shipley wrote:

Oh my.....nice wheel hangars....what are they ?

I think they're bike hangers... :P

chrisvanderkaap

TakeTurns wrote:

Shipley wrote:

Oh my.....nice wheel hangars....what are they ?

I think they're bike hangers... :P

yep, they're used to hang bikes (up to 15kg) usually but took them off for the picture.
They are made by Cycloc and sell for €60 a piece, a little expensive if you ask me !

FransJacques

nice adventure, are you going up the road or up the rock? if you're going up the lava flow you should have a 29er crankset with a 28 or 26 small ring.

When I take my CX bike offroad the 38x27 I have is easily too much for steep ups.

chrisvanderkaap

FransJacques wrote:

nice adventure, are you going up the road or up the rock? if you're going up the lava flow you should have a 29er crankset with a 28 or 26 small ring.

When I take my CX bike offroad the 38x27 I have is easily too much for steep ups.

yes you are right!

i'm planning to give it a try on the rock!

The reason why i went with sram (and x9 rear derailleur) is because I can truly (easily) turn it into a monster cross rig. A x9 36-22 crankset with 11-34 gearing and some fat 2 inch tires is all I'll ever need (hopefully ). If all fails, the entire bike should be light enough to shoulder it. That's the plan at least.

I'll be posting both variation when I get the time to prop it up.

chrisvanderkaap

oh yea. Headset arrived today!!
Had to borrow an oversized (1.5") 'fork crown ring basher' (aka as Park Tool CRS-15) from another shop since I didn't want to risk a bodge job.

Finally will be able to build it up for a test fit!

Pictures tomorrow 8)

chrisvanderkaap

Bashed it together.

-Forkcrown ring was a really tight fit!! (poor carbon fibres ! :shock: )
-Managed to get a fit I liked with a 110 mm stem and 30 mm of spacers.
did a testfit of the gear clabes and decided to criss-cross them in order to avoid cable rub on the head-tube. (better pics later)
-cut the steerer with some to spare for later :arrow: :arrow: :arrow:
-had a first weigh in at 8.3 kilo as it stands.
-still lacking brakes, rotors and bar tape. (should add another +-500 gr in total).

First picture on the phone. proper ones will follow

ugo.santalucia

Nice!

What pressure do you use for the Strada Bianca? Are they big enough for 4-4.5 Bar? I ride the Randonneur at 4 Bar and they are 32, but in practice they are 29 mm...

shipley

chrisvanderkaap wrote:

TakeTurns wrote:

Shipley wrote:

Oh my.....nice wheel hangars....what are they ?

I think they're bike hangers... :P

yep, they're used to hang bikes (up to 15kg) usually but took them off for the picture.
They are made by Cycloc and sell for €60 a piece, a little expensive if you ask me !

Great,thanks for the info...I shall take a look !!

chrisvanderkaap

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Nice!

What pressure do you use for the Strada Bianca? Are they big enough for 4-4.5 Bar? I ride the Randonneur at 4 Bar and they are 32, but in practice they are 29 mm...

on the iron cross rims the 30mm tires size up to 32mm with 4 bar. which is what i'd like to run them on ideally.

I can't do a testride yet to verify if that is adequate. The brakes just came in the warehouse, so next friday will be the wrapup

chrisvanderkaap

http://www.bikerumor.com/2014/02/21/wtb ... more-73440

Think I just found my off-road tire match :°)

chrisvanderkaap

That's it! Waiting to be finished coming week.
next set of pictures will be on the dirt!











stay tuned!!

ugo.santalucia

What happened to the iron cross?

Paul 8v

This is looking great

chrisvanderkaap

ugo.santalucia wrote:

What happened to the iron cross?

Ugo, It's still the iron cross's (minus the stickers ).

chrisvanderkaap

Paul 8v wrote:

This is looking great

Thanks. Bikes just don't look good indoors imo.
i'm really curious about my first ride experience on this space age metal.

chrisvanderkaap