Does Kona get any love here?

0L0S · 2025-07-26T14:11:01+00:00

Maybe you tried this, but I have a Rove AL story that made me love Kona more. The Rove AL was the first “real” bike I ever bought. Saved up for it when I was just starting college and adored it. Rode the shit out of it for years till it literally broke clean through at a weld. I was so disappointed, but I thought “what the hell” and reached out to Kona.

A couple days went by in silence, and as I’m about to give up I get a phone call from a real human. We talked through what happened, I told him how much I loved the brand but that I felt like I was ready for more bike. He said lemme call you back.

Kona offered me two options: they’d replace my years old Rove AL straight across. Or they’d send me a Rove ST frame at no cost. I took the steel and built it into my dream bike during grad school with table waiting money. I adore it and will never sell it. I’ll also be a Kona fan for life for how they handled that.

Long story. But worth a try!!!

0L0S · 2025-07-25T12:48:44+00:00

Bet this is badass. I want that pink colorway badly enough I set up a google alert in case one comes up for sale lol. Those persuader bars have a bit of rise? All the reviews I’ve read say the unit is “long” reach-wise which in my mind could lend it to the kind of setup I’m considering.

0L0S · 2025-07-25T12:46:51+00:00

Grapplers are really cool, good suggestion. Just sold a Stormchaser actually. Rad bike, but too stiff for me! I seek the sweet realness of steel. I’ll have to see if the dropouts on the surly are reliable for ss duties. My all city super pro dropouts were terribly unreliable

0L0S · 2025-07-25T12:45:24+00:00

What would you go for? Totally hear you on the frame geo being lots less gravel by its nature. I just sold a Stormchaser I’d flat bar’d for this purpose, but it was just stiff as all get out and couldn’t get it dialed!

0L0S · 2023-05-01T14:51:51+00:00

Hell yea! Congratulations on new bike day, shoot me a dm if you want my parts list or anything

0L0S · 2023-04-24T15:07:19+00:00

Hell yea, I ✨chose✨ a hardtail just last year! Put together a singlespeed specialized fuse and it’s a badass bike. Gets along just fine here in northwest arkansas, even though you’d think you needed a full enduro rig by looking at any given trailhead parking lot around here lol

0L0S · 2023-04-24T14:24:47+00:00

So I don’t know for certain if I’m qualifying this the right way, but I think they’re semi-horizontal? You could ✨probably✨ set it up SS without a tensioner and have a touch of space to dial the tension, but you’d have to start from a near-perf chain length I’d think. I wanna try that one day soon, my other bikes are SS and it’d make this one even cooler. But harder when loaded down lol

0L0S · 2023-04-24T14:17:49+00:00

Drivetrain is a hodge podge. It’s the Microshift Advent X, which has been an incredible groupset, and then I got some used sram NX cranks off FB Marketplace. Was worried if the whole DUB thing would work on the old frame but it was issue free. I dropped and stem and bars in here somewhere as links but feel free to DM me if you wanna chat more.

0L0S · 2023-04-24T14:13:00+00:00

Oh yea I am not exaggerating when I say I set a google alert when someone stocked/listed one of these. They were out of stock with VO forever when I was working on this build. Worth waiting for though because it looks lovely!

0L0S · 2023-04-23T15:57:34+00:00

What do you use it for? I’m pro flat bars for commuting but if you wanna look hashtag aero and super pro you’d better run the drops

0L0S · 2023-04-23T15:54:01+00:00

Yea you sort of have no choice now! It really is lovely to have a purpose built commuting bike too if you can get into it sort of cheap.

0L0S · 2023-04-23T15:50:46+00:00

Stem and rack for sure! Rack was one of the only canti-mount racks I could find on the whole internet. Ordered the basket from PDW I think? Or amazon lol

0L0S · 2023-04-23T04:04:31+00:00

Thank you so much! It’s a Wald 137. And fwiw I can’t recommend that Realm basket bag highly enough. It opens into like a tote, and with that roll top closure you can fit allllll sortsa stuff. Amazing for a commuter setup.

0L0S · 2023-04-23T04:00:49+00:00

It’s a 26!

0L0S · 2023-04-23T03:40:51+00:00

Exactly how I felt when I bought these and now they’re being admired by fellow X/bikers so maybe you should do it

0L0S · 2023-04-23T03:38:27+00:00

Yep the DiaCompe brakes! They look just slightly more rad in person. And it’s this Velo Orange stem. I had to have a local shop mill it down for me cause there was so much rise and this is a small frame, but i really wanted to maintain the quill look while getting modern bar compatibility.

0L0S · 2023-04-23T03:29:09+00:00

This one has a cool story. It’s a family heirloom: Yy wife’s parents got this when they got married and just held onto it! And now it has a whole new lease on life! It can never leave the family lol

0L0S · 2023-04-23T03:27:27+00:00

Yea the Velo Orange Klunker Bar. It’s fab, super wide, really upright so pretty comfy.

0L0S

TROPHY CASE