Kona Sutra Owners *LTD build*

Just checking to see if there are any Sutra owners here. I am strongly considering the new 2016 model as my next all around bike and have a few things to ask. 

Steel ride really better more comfy than aluminum? 
Bar end shifters? 
Any other general comments welcome.

The 2016 has some tweaked geometry that I like compared to my Rove Al which I love.
Thanks
Al

So due to the overwhelming positive responses here I decided to purchase the 2016 Kona Sutra LTD frame and build it up. 

The LTD is the Petty Blue model.

I am going to build it up with a budget in mind, I have to come in at under a grand minus wheels. I have a wheelset to use until I get the cash for some WTB's I23 With the wheelset I will still be about 3-4 hundred lower than buying a complete bike.


Parts I have

82016 Sutra LTD frame 
Salsa Cow Chipper bar
Kona 110 Stem from other bike extra one
Planet Bike bar wrap
Rear Der Alivio I have from leftover mtb parts
*Seat and post borrowing from my rove until I can get a brooks I need a seat post recommendation
WTB nano 40's or Conti cruise contact 50's 

NEED
Triple Deore 26,36,48  crankset
Front Der Deore
Shimano 9 speed bar end shifters
Brakes??? BB7's or something else. Help!
Cane creek traditional 40 series head set
Tektro or Cane creek brake levers
Pedals flats
Misc cables,chain bits and pieces???

Comments and advice welcome since this is my first build up.

My bike shop is eager to build it for me and will try to price match Jenson USA. No labor charge either but I am interested in building myself as a project. I will have them press the headset and install the cranks but the rest of the stuff is just bolt on?

OK so there you have it. Once completed I will have a nice steel touring do it all rig that can handle some offroad trails. Plus I will be able keep my aluminum Rove as a day bike maybe pimp it out.lol
 

That looks like a very nice bike - I really like the color as well as the BB drop, wheelbase and ability to fit some big tires.  I didn't check the price of the frameset but if you can build a bike for around $1k w/o wheels that is awesome.  Sorry I can't help w/the parts.

Hey thanks for the comment....
Unfortunately I just got a call from my bike shop telling me that the frame won't be available till 01/16 Bummer so this little project is scratched for now. I wish they would have told me that in the first place errrrr. Ok THat's all for now.

Yeah, same thing happened to me.  They announced the Salso Warbird Carbon in February with an expected availability in May.  But that's been pushed back to late August or early September.  I've got one on order but it's been a long wait.  I'm sure there are valid reason to announce new bikes early to allow the journalist to build excitement but 6 mo seems a bit excessive to me.  Thankfully, it's not too much longer for me.  And I am expecting it to be worth the wait.  At the same time there have been quite a few very attractive bikes announced since February so I'm sure there is a lot of missed opportunities by the manufacturers.  Anyway, good luck to you.

My wife and I rode the standard 2016 Kona Sutra at Kona's company store in Bellingham, WA, and loved it.  There's a nice gravel trail near the store.  We have ordered the LTD build because we wanted the SRAM 1X drive train and hydraulic disks.  The standard Sutra and LTD Sutra share the same frame, but the LTD has 1X and Rival 1.  The current projection is "mid-October" for availability.  We hope to be riding the LTD by November 1st.

We considered the Salsa Carbon Warbird, but Salsa keeps pushing out the date they will be available.  My LBS now says November for the 2016 carbon Warbird, and I think that date is dubious.

Interesting about the wait. My LBS told me they could get either bike when they launched, I suppose they sold out since then. Especially since that store is near KONA headquarters, distribution center. A month isn't to long though, unlike the Salsa delay which seems to be dog years long. Personally I will not buy a model until it is available to dealers.


I can score a steel 2016 Rove frame now but other options have occurred since my initial interest in a steel bike. My issue is whether I want a touring rig or a faster gravel style rig than can do light touring in steel. I am actually split down the middle. Most touring style rigs can handle some off road especially the Konas. However I also like a little speed  and have to ask you if the Sutra felt heavy or slow on your test ride?

The LTD  build is tempting but out of my budget, the 1X Sram is still expensive. I would build it with a 105 Double or maybe bar ends and a Deore triple.

How was the Company store? Was it a fun experience seeing all the models.

The word from my LBS is the Sutra LTD is sold out until the next "can" arrives in October sometime.  We have two on order, an XL and a M.  We've been trying to get our hands on one since our test ride on Labor Day, so it will be a couple of months of waiting.  

We test rode the standard Sutra, which has a Shimano Deore 3X drivetrain with bar end shifters.  We don't like the bar ends, but realize they were a budget decision to use them so Kona could hit a price point.  We prefer the SRAM Rival combo road shifter/brake levers on the LTD.

The standard Sutra has 700x40mm Clement X'Plor MSO tires vs the 700x47mm Schwalbe Mondails on the LTD.  The MSO's were nice on the gravel trail.  The Mondails are more of a road tire.  We found the Sutra light to ride, but we've been off road bikes for a while, riding relatively heavy European city bikes the past couple of years.  

The Kona Store in Bellingham was great, very busy and lots to see.  Well worth a trip if you are not too far away.  The gravel path nearby makes for a great opportunity to test ride bikes on gravel.

Does anyone know the weight on the Sutra LTD

I don't know the weight but the one review I read, mentioned it was heavier than expected. My guess is 25lbs mol 
I have been patiently waiting for a frame to build up my way however after talking to my dealer only about 7 are available in the next shipment and all are spoken for. 

As an update to my post above.  My LBS never bothered to get in touch with me again and October came and went.  I checked in with them in late October and got a curt message that basically said don't call us, we'll call you.  

Therefore, my wife and I ended up purchasing two 2015 Salsa Fargo 2's.  We spent over $5,000 at another shop.  The Fargo 2 comes with a carbon fork and the Cane Creek Thudbuster ST suspension seat post.  We are very happy with these bikes.  We were interested in the Sutra LTD because of the 1X SRAM gearing with drop bars and road shifter/brakes.  The SRAM 1X provides the opportunity for lower gearing than what is offered on other bikes with Shimano road drive train with drop bars and combo road style shifter/brakes.

The Fargo's have SRAM Apex road shifter/brakes and SRAM X9 2X gearing.  This works great. Lots of gear range (21.5 to 105.5 gear inches), including low gears for long, steep hills.  We love the DoubleTap shifting of the SRAM products a lot better than Shimano's system.  The Cane Creek seat post is fantastic.  Really nice to be able to stay seated and keep pedaling over broken pavement and potholes.

Interestingly, my LBS also never got back to me about the Rove or Roadhouse that I told them I was hoping to buy asap. Sounds like a serious delivery issue with Kona all around.

I read all the time about how competitive the retail bike shop industry is these days.  It baffles me how they would let sales like that slip through their fingers. But we have some shops like that around here too.  I was also very disappointed in Salsa in that every time I called I got a different answer (excuse) for the delay. Even now they don't know when the next shipment is due.  I think I'll get over it though as they make some very nice bikes, see below.  That said, I reluctantly gave up on my hopes for a Warbird.  I ended up buying a Ridley X-Trail through Performance Bikes as the price, and the bike, was too good to pass on.  Generally, I don't much care for Peformance but there service has been very good.  And they are replacing a couple of components that were different from the published spec w/no questions asked.

And, a friend of mine just bought a GT Carbon from them yesterday.  It was an amazing deal - $2,000 w/Force22 and $200 (10%) in points to use on future purchases.  I bought mine when they were offering 20% points which would be worth $400 on the GT bringing the cost down to about $1,600.  The bike looks really nice.  The only down side I could find is the maximum tire size at 35c and maybe a little larger.  So a bit more of a road orientation similar to the Diverge.  Even the Ridley may not fit the 40c Nanos I have mounted so I may end up with a 38c in back and the Nano in front.

So now, speaking of Salsa, I'm looking at the Cutthroat since, after I convert the Ridley to Di2 and put it on a diet, I'll have enough parts left over for another bike

As for someone who works at a local bike shop, I can assure you that the problem isn't with Kona.  Release dates are always washy.  Kona has the same problem as many other brands that are having frames built overseas;  shipping and customs on the West coast is a nightmare.  Kona is probably the most responsive and best company we've ever worked with.  Hence, my ever-growing fleet of Konas filling my apartment (n +1).  The sales reps there are just as frustrated with the delay at the docks as you are.  They like money and yes the LTD does live up to the hype.  I just put my money down on one too.  Cheers!

I called my lbs today to check on the LTD frame set to see if any came over and their are zero in stock and zero on the way including full build bikes. No dock strike issues. They (my lbs) says kona just didn't bring any over. Make what you will out of it but I have been trying to get one for awhile now without any luck. Jausch if your shop can get me an LTD frame set in 58cm pm me.

I'm not keen on the complete bike build 1500 in parts on a 550 frame. I want to build it up myself. The Sutra is an option too, same frame, use and abuse then build it up again.
Kona HQ is out of office till 1/4/16 Regional rep Joe contacted by  dealer.

 

^ Sweet. Nice colour.

I still like the sutras, the head tubes look wildly different in size in the photo. Are these large and small frames? I kind of settled on a touring rig for my next purchase and the sutra is at the top of the list. Maybe year end. Pretty sure the frames are the same. I gave up on building one up. \n \nHey dr. spoke did you get a chance to check out the cutthroat?

Building bikes yourself is not easy, finding the right components that work well together, fitting stuff that does not work or intervien with the cabbles its all i bit of a problem, i'v treid 4 different kickstands bevore i found the right ones, iv treid both 10 speed and 9 speed set up, treid old wheels bevore buying new ones, treid different handlebars and i'm still not happy with the ones i have now, treid a couple of different solution for our handlebar bags, had problems with the headset, treid different saddles and the bottlecage bolts on the down tube are to high so i had to finf a solution for that asswell. Some parts come from older bikes but most parts are new, and to make everything work a hade to go to a bikeshop to finnish the drivetrain settings, and even they could not figure it out, and the end together we did, and the bike now works great. All together it coust me about 2500 Euro for each bike and mounts to build. Mine is Size L my girlfriends bike is S. Buying a standard Sutra is much easyer but our set up is much better.

Sutra LTD frame+long uncut fork+diatec headset
Sora shifters+Sora FD+XT RD+KMC chain+Spa Cranck+Zycral rings+Stronglight square BB
Deore Rear hub+SP dynamo hub+Sapim spokes+Excal rims+TRP Spyre brakes+B+M Lights with USB port
Brooks B17 Saddle+Alu seatpost, stem and handlebar
Tubus carriers+Topeack and Lenzyne pump=bottle cages

Thanks for sharing the ups and downs of building your own frame. I had a Kona Rove awhile back and I put Salsa Cowchipper bars on it and they were great. With the Sutras frame they might even work better. Check them out http://salsacycles.com/components/category/road_handlebars/cowchipper 

I have a Sora 2x on my current gravel bike Raleigh Willard and I have been pleasantly surprised by it's performance, certainly not race quality but everything else it just keeps on ticking after 2500 miles with only a couple minor cable adjustments along the way. I might turn it into a light weight touring rig someday. Throw a deore triple on it, rack etc...