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TECH NEWS
Just in: Kona Roadhouse, £1,699 Reynolds 853 disc-equipped bike arrives for testing
Brand new for 2016, and just arriving in the road.cc workshop, is the Roadhouse, Kona's brand new disc-equipped, steel-framed do-everything bike.
The Roadhouse is crafted from high-quality, and desirable, Reynolds 853 tubing, with details including a tapered head tube and, drawing on the company's mountain bike heritage and experience, a Maxle 142-12mm bolt-thru rear axle. The Maxle is a thru-axle system developed by suspension manufacturer RockShox and works very much like an ordinary quick release - flip open the lever and unwind to release. Oh, another nice detail is the chain pip on the rear stay. Immensely useful.
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The carbon fibre fork also features a 15mm Maxle thru-axle at the dropouts, making this one of the few disc road bikes with thru-axles at both ends. And in fact, I'm struggling to remember any other steel bikes with bolted axles at both ends. To attach the disc brakes to the frame and fork, Kona has used the latest Flat Mount standard, which gives the bike a cleaner appearance with a tidier caliper design.
We've got a 56cm in for a test, one of six sizes, and perhaps as you'd expect for this sort of bike, the geometry leans towards providing a stable ride with a comfortable position. The reach is 383mm and the stack is 596mm. Some other numbers for you; the head tube is a lofty 175mm, the wheelbase a stretched 1,015mm, and the bottom bracket drop is 74mm – gravel bike territory.
Of course, there is space for some quite large tyres. The bike comes fitted with Schwalbe's excellent new G-One 30mm gravel tyres (we're really liking this tyre at the moment), and there's no shortage of clearance at all. There are eyelets for fitting mudguards as well, and there's nothing to stop you fitting a rear rack, ideal if you want to do some light touring, an Audax or just for commuting to the office.
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The Roadhouse is only available in this single £1,699 model. Along with the tyres we've already mentioned, the bike is fitted with a mixed Shimano 105/Ultegra mechanical groupset, with an RS500 compact chainset and Shimano's brand spanking new RS505 hydraulic disc brakes with 140mm rotors. You get an 11-32t cassette which, along with the 50/34t compact chainset, should mean plenty of pulling power up the steepest hill.
The wheels are Novatec Road 30 Discs and the bike is finished with Kona branded aluminium handlebars, stem, saddle and bar tape. The Roadhouse is available in just this one colour, gloss red with cream and orange decals. It certainly got some admiring looks when it was pulled out of its box the other day. On the scales, the Roadhouse weighs 10.3kg (22.7lb). It's no featherweight, but in the right area for this sort of bike.
Based on an initial inspection, there's a lot to like about the Roadhouse. There is also a lot of competition if a steel endurance bike with disc brakes is high on your shopping list. Just of the top of my head, there's the Genesis Equilibrium, Mason Resolution, Charge Plug, and many other very similar bikes. The Roadhouse is being tested as you read this (well, not literally) so watch out for the full review soon.
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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19 comments
When can we expect the review? I'm dying to see it!! I check every day.
Full review now up here: http://road.cc/content/review/182237-kona-roadhouse
That color is real nice.
I'm amazed it comes in just one spec. I've got no issue at all with the RS500 cranks. It's a touch heavier than I'd like (~9 kg would be great), but otherwise it ticks all the right boxes. Kona might have a winner here.
A frameset only should be available as well - thats the version im looking at.
That's a cherry ride! Surprised more isn't made of the tubeless-ready nature of the wheels & tyres. Found a 10% code and seriously considering this, despite mongrel chainset. That Mason or Shand might just have to wait another few years.
I'm really looking forward to this review - i have my eyes on this frameset as a new platform instead of my 10 year old 1100g Merlin Works Titanium frame - My back wants want a longer stack, my adventure instinct wants discbrakes and room for wider tyres than 27mm Pave's.
stock specs on the conplete bike is kind of ok - but i wouldn't by the complete frame without a full Ultegra groupset (brifters, calipers and crankset).
Charge Plug no longer a direct competitor, 2016 Plugs are now alu or ti.
Categories are a bit misleading though, aren't they? The cynic in me thinks that they're all devised by shiny suited marketeers in an attempt to create reasons for us to buy a new bike for each day of the year.
The other half of me needs no _reason_ to buy more bikes so I'm just excited to see so many different bikes arriving which will suit me down to the ground.
I like the look of this bike, a lot. I'm not in the market for a 6kg aero bike, because I'd look like an elephant perched on a Ducati. But something steel, strong and disk braked yet still reasonably nippy.. now you're talking! Plus it'll definitely be quicker because it's red.
That'd be a Cagiva, then!
I've ridden this bike, and I don't think I'd look at the Croix de Fer as a point of comparison. If I had to choose a Genesis bike, the Equilibrium Disc is closer, though it probably doesn't have the same tire clearances.
I think you're right. Though, again, the Kona kills it on value, at least in teh wheel area and price.
The thing about all these bikes is that it's hard to make direct comparisons as they move into different categories so readily as the tyre clearances differ.
I'd have bought a Roadhouse rather than a Croix de Fer if it was available at the time, seems like a much better bike, despite the red colour scheme and hydro brakes. I've had a Jake the Snake and it was awesome, but long term the alu frame just wore out after 5 years of daily commuting 90 miles per week, so the Roadhouse' steel frame hopefully ensures longevity.
Ah, hydraulic disc brakes. Those pesky johnny-come-latelys, that have plagued mountainbiking for the last 20 years. So unreliable, weak, unpredictable under load and needing completely tearing apart and rebuilding every other week. I'm amazed anyone falls for the marketing hype.
Me? I'm waiting for rods to come back in. It's only a matter of time.
I'd have a better chance of being able to repair or replace a brake cable than a hydraulic hose, hence my position on hydraulic brakes on a bike that'd be used a long way from a bikeshop that could repair a failed hose. That simple.
In all my years riding I have never broken a brake hose or snapped a cable. although I did have an incident where a brake can le slid through the clamp leaving me without a back brake at an unfortunate moment.
I will take brakes that work on the 1000 wet days over brakes I may be able to repair on the trail once in 20 years.
There 1,159 other things much more likely to leave you stranded on the trailside than random hydraulic hose failure. In 20 years riding hydraulic-equipped MTB's - DH and XC, recreational, adventure racing and national-level competitive - and now road bikes, I have *never* seen a hydraulic hose failure that was not also accompanied by a broken frame, handlebar, stem, wheels or bones.
And even if you were most spectacularly unluck as to have one hose fail, you do have another brake.
Sorry, but that is an absolute zero as rationale goes for dissing hydro disk brakes.
OTOH, if you use cables - for calliper or disc brakes - and ride in sub-zero temperatures, you are *highly likely* to experience frozen cables at some stage or other, even on a perfectly-functional well-maintained system. I've had it happen using new Shimano SP-41 outer, new slick stainless steel inners, perfectly set up. Going to grab a handful and not being able to move the lever is a pant-filling experience, one that is about a bajillion times less likely to happen with hydro discs.
Really lookin forward to seeing this reviewed. On my short list for the next bike.
The Croix De Fer is a competitor, for sure. But the Kona kills it on spec.
Not sure about the Mason as a competitor, more race bike than adventure, which is what the Kona seems more like, and £1200 more.
Damn good spec from Kona this.