The Bike

Home on the road is a 2006 Kona Sutra, with various upgrades made over the years as parts wore out (or were deemed not cool enough…).

The Sutra is a tank, weighing in at almost 30 pounds without panniers. Why put up with that? My original justifications were:

Steel is heavy but strong. The frame loves getting loaded (kinda like the rider) and easily handle my 200lb plus the 30-40 in the panniers.
Disk brakes to handle the extra weight; these (mechanical Avid BB7s) won’t shred like rubber cantilever brakes might on long descents, and also are unfazed by wet. Added bonus – as disk brakes don’t rely on a trued rim as the braking surface, damage to a wheel doesn’t mean you’ve lost your braking power. This actually came in handy for Scott a few years ago when an accident seriously bent up his front wheel. We were not able to true it up or find a replacement, but were able to make it though the final week or so of the trip because he had disks.
Overbuilt components handle mishandling by airlines, bouncing around train stations and the occasional mountain bike trail.

I’ve read a few reviews online about the Sutra over the years, mostly favourable with the same comment I made about its weight. All in all it’s been a great bike, useful as a commuter year-round. Would I buy it again? Maybe. Kona does seem to have been trimming it down a bit over time, so it probably isn’t quite as strong (or weighty) as mine, but that’s just a guess. Another alternative that I really like is the Marinoni Turismo Extreme, which is similar in makeup to the Sutra, but can be custom built to your dimensions for a reasonable price. I suspect the Kona has a few more years left in it though!

As parts have worn out, I’ve changed or upgraded many of the bikes components:

After rebuilding the old Shimano Deore hubs a couple times I rebuilt the wheels with Hope Pro2 EVO hubs; these use sealed bearings, run ridiculously smooth, and sound like a fly fishing rod when I freewheel! Added ‘bonus’; I rebuilt the wheels myself, right down to sourcing new spokes, lacing the wheels and ensuring the dish, tension, round etc was bang on. Now I feel pretty confident adjusting spokes in the field when things go loose (which hasn’t happened on these since I built ’em).
Shifter/brakes upgraded to Shimano 105. When these wear out I’m tempted to go to bar con shifting for better reliability, but I do like having the shifting and braking on the same lever…
Rear cassette upgraded from 9-speed to 10-speed. I didn’t really have a choice about this – my old shifters were discontinued, so when they failed the only 9-speed option was Tiagra. Going to the 105’s meant having to change to a ten speed cassette. The old Deore derailleur worrks fine with the new shifter and cassette though, so no big deal about that.
My latest upgrade is to a Brooks B17 saddle. After this change I can’t believe that I’ve been riding around on the Kona’s stock seat for 6 years. The Brooks’ apparently take 1000km or so to break in, but already it’s much more comfortable than the old one. I’m looking forward to how it is by the end of this trip!

Other stuff on the bike specifically for touring:

Topeak disk brake-friendly rear rack. We basically visa-camp (tent but no cooking gear, opting instead for restaurants), so there isn’t really a need for front panniers. Hence the rear rack does get loaded up a bit. This rack has no adjustments, and is redonkulously strong. My buddy Marty now has the same rack after his last adjustable one exploded during our tour a couple years ago – his failed with at the adjustments screws which were bearing the weight of everything on the rack…
Frame bag – Something like $20 from MEC; this replaced the handlebar bag I used to use. I use it to hold my camera, wallet, lip goo tube and mebbe a snack. It’s easy enough to grab the camera out of it that I can snap pics without having to stop along the way (hint – pick a camera that you can completely operate one-handed!)
Ortlieb panniers. These are essentially dry-bags with an awesome rack clip system. Instead of bungy cords and clips, these have an adjustable tab that slides behind the bottom part of the rack, and spring clips that lock the pannier to the top bar of the rack. You basically drop it on the rack and it locks into place. Simply lifting the release strap lifts the pannier off the rack. It would be nice if the bags had say an extra outer pocket for bike tools (Scott and Marty use the MEC’s Acqua-Not, which does have this feature and are great bags, too. If only it used the Ortlieb clip system!)
Simms backpack. I keep this on the rack between the panniers – it’s waterproof and holds all the critical stuff (electronics, visa…) that I can grab off the bike when we lock them up to grab lunch or head into whatever town we are in from camp. I usually toss a rain shield around it when on the bike, but that is more to just keep the straps tucked away so they don’t end up catching a spoke…