It’s hard for Kona Roadhouses not to catch your attention. The bright red Reynolds 853 frames are definitely easy on the eye. When we caught word that Jeff from District Bicycle Company in Kamloops, BC was building one, we just knew we had to check it out. Thanks to local photographer Sean Jenkins (@seanj_photo) we all get to check it out in glorious detail.
“My goal for this spring was to get a 100km ride under my belt and this bike definitely made it easier. That thought was behind the goal of building up this bike, the idea was to keep the budget low but use good quality parts. I’m not much of a road guy but this frame called to be built by a mountain biker!” Jeff Blanken
The bars are from Spank and feature their Vibracore technology and are a whopping 420mm wide with 25º of flare. SRAM’s Rival shifters and some red bar tape help match the carpet to the drapes. A Zipp 100mm stem and Zipp seat post are some of the only new parts not repurposed from other builds.
The drivetrain is a mix and match affair with XT cranks up front, a 36 tooth Shimano Saint chainring is mated to a SRAM Apex rear derailleur and SRAM 1191 cassette. The wheels are no-name TakeOff rims which are shod with Pirelli 700×35 Cinturato tires
I didn’t even know Wolftooth made a headset. Well, now I do, and so do you. Jeff is also sporting a Wolftooth rear axle.
Braking is courtesy of TRP’s Spyre brakes with 160mm rotors front and rear.
“I had ridden a few 80-85 km rides so far this year on a hardtail and since building this bike up my first ride after a 6km loop was 100km, it was amazingly comfortable and fast. The 36×42/10 gearing was just enough and everything worked great. “
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