updating my kona jake 2012
- Thread starter BigD
- Start date
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The setup you have gives you a wide spread of gears, so, unless you have some severe hills around you, you should be able to find a comfortable cruising gear in your current setup. You could get a 12-30, or even 32, cassette if you need more help on the hills. It sounds like your are fairly new to road cycling, so it may be that you'll just need to build up your fitness a bit to get used to your current setup.
I'm not clear on why you would want 'smaller' tyres. I presume you mean 'narrower. A Tiagra groupset implies either a road bike or possibly a hybrid with 700c wheels. There's no gain from going smaller than 700x28 as long as you are riding at the appropriate pressure, and even wider hybrid rims should accommodate 28s safely.
Edit - Kona Jake should handle 28s easily - and a smoother road tyre will make life slightly easier.
I'm not clear on why you would want 'smaller' tyres. I presume you mean 'narrower. A Tiagra groupset implies either a road bike or possibly a hybrid with 700c wheels. There's no gain from going smaller than 700x28 as long as you are riding at the appropriate pressure, and even wider hybrid rims should accommodate 28s safely.
Edit - Kona Jake should handle 28s easily - and a smoother road tyre will make life slightly easier.
Jenkins
Legendary Member
- Location
- Felixstowe
I'm assuming you're talking about the black & orange Kona Jake CX which I also have.
The first thing is have you got rid of the original fitment knobbly tyres and replaced them with a decent 32mm or 28mm road tyre such as Conti Gatorskins (slick) or Bontrager H2s (lightly treaded)? These would reduce the rolling resistance which may make a change of gearing unnecessary, but as suggested above a wider ratio cassette is an easy option to make things easier. If necessary have a look at the Shimano R500/R501 wheels as a cheap upgrade as they are slightly lighter than the OEM items.
There is no way this bike could be described as lightweight so it will never be a speed machine, but these simple changes can make a big difference.
The first thing is have you got rid of the original fitment knobbly tyres and replaced them with a decent 32mm or 28mm road tyre such as Conti Gatorskins (slick) or Bontrager H2s (lightly treaded)? These would reduce the rolling resistance which may make a change of gearing unnecessary, but as suggested above a wider ratio cassette is an easy option to make things easier. If necessary have a look at the Shimano R500/R501 wheels as a cheap upgrade as they are slightly lighter than the OEM items.
There is no way this bike could be described as lightweight so it will never be a speed machine, but these simple changes can make a big difference.
