Every great story seems to begin with a snake.
Gina’s been keen to hit some light gravel trails, and as much as I’m all for N+1 I’ve been trying my best to avoid the idea of buying another gravel bike as I sadly only recently sold my Canyon Grizl. I’m actually still sad about it as I loved the blueberry milkshake colourway so much, and the bike fit me so well too.
That said, the trails are calling. Even if I have to ride them alone. I have zero doubt I’ll get back out there.
For the past month I’ve been looking at gravel bikes, but more specifically toying with the idea of a mountain bike with drop bars. I’ve looked at everything from e-bikes to dual suspension trail and XC bikes as well as hardtails (both new and vintage retro 1980’s).
I still think gravel bikes are a trend. I’m just not that into them and I find it hilarious that with fat MTB tyres and suspension they’re slowly but surely becoming mountain bikes. I was narrowing in on a simple MTB hardtail for Gina vs. a gravel bike, but for myself I was close to pulling the trigger on a Chinese carbon hardtail frame, then an 80’s Panasonic Mountain Cat with ridiculous graphics popped up for $200. I was all set to buy it buy the seller couldn’t meet me that day, then the next day this thing popped up on FB Marketplace, and welp… it’s now mine.
It’s a New Old Stock 2007 Kona Jake the Snake in size 52 that’s come straight out of the box (has never been ridden). The shop owner Mark at Vanilla Cycles had the frameset and whacked a mish mash of low-spec parts on it; Microshift Advent X, Tektro brakes, all stuff for the parts bin, but what’s interesting is that he’s got a rigid Kona disc brake front fork on it.
I tried to negotiate just the frameset as the first gen models used Easton Ultralite Race tubing (Made in USA), but in the end I got the price down a little and bought it as is.
Weight came in at a hefty 9.86kg! Of-course I’ve raided my bottomless parts bin and have the bike now sitting at a much more respectable 8.95kg’s now.
Here’s a list of parts on the bike atm, and also parts that have come off.
SPECS:
Kona Jake the Snake Size 52
Easton Ultralite Race tubing (Made in USA)
NOS – Never used
Fork: Kona Project Two AL Disc
Groupset: Microshift Advent X
Front Brake: Tektro MD-M280
Rotor: Galfer 160mm (95g)
Lockring: Chaser (g)
Rear Brake: Tektro Oryx cantilever
Handlebars: Alloy 42cm/50cm
Stem: FSA SL-K 100mm
Top Cap: Extralite + Extralite bolt (2g/1g)
Spacers: God & Famous (10g)
Seatpost: FSA SL-K
Seatpost Clamp: Ultralight
Saddle: Specialized S-Works Power 143mm (161g)
Crankset: TruVativ XX 170mm
Chainring: Wolf Tooth 120 BCD 36T
Pedals: ZTTO (182g)
Front Wheel: Hollowgram HG SL 35mm (660g)
Rear Wheel: Wheelsfar Feder 45mm Extralite/Sapim CX-Super (680g)
Tube: RideNow TPU (36g/36g)
QR Skewers: Ti/Extralite (21g/)
Cassette: Shimano 10-Speed 11-36T (365g)
Cassette Lockring: Chaser (3g)
Tyres: Schwalbe Rapid Rob 700 x 35C (550g/550g)
Bottle Cage: Elite Leggero (18g/18g)
Bottle Cage Bolts: Kogel Ti (5g)
WEIGHT: 8.95kg
Parts that have come off the bike:
Rear Wheel: Shimano RS100 24mm (1092g)
Pedals: (280g)
Top Cap: (16g)
Headset Spacers: (18g)
Bottle Cage Bolts: (16g)
Saddle: Bontrager Evoke 2 (273g)
Rotor: Shimano 160mm (139g)
Tubes: Schwalbe Butyl (160g/160g)
Cassette Lockring: Shimano (13g)
QR Skewer: Shimano (60g)