Jake the Snake? Looking to get one...

It's been awhile since I've been on, but while in the LBS I saw the Jake the Snake cross bike and it was instant bike lust. Guy let me take it around the local trail and I really enjoyed the ride to the point that I've saved up enough to get the bike.

Here's what has me worried other than the price: My last road style bike was a Madone and it hurt so much to ride on it. I'd come back home with my outer sides of my legs in pure agony. Being bent over so far also hurt. I'm worried that if I buy a road style bike I'll have the same issues.

I just sold my Fargo because I hate bar end shifters and it had other issues; however it was comfortable and mostly upright. My second favorite was the Cross Check, but with deore and bar end shifters like my Fargo, I don't want to deal with it.

I had actually gone into the store looking to get a 29er wheel set for my fat bike using the money from my Fargo. After he quoted me 500-600 for the set (ouch, but no surprise) I wondered if another bike was a better choice. That's when I saw Jake. It didn't hurt after a 20 minute ride, I got on/off and I wasn't so bent over it hurt. It's the 2012 green one. The one I really wanted..was either red or orange is out of stock at Kona's warehouse and no one around had a size 56. It felt lighter and faster. The green one had a bigger fork for more clearance but the guy said it made the bike more stable.

Kona's new Jake is all black and boring but I like the idea of disc brakes. He had my size in a box and a huge one out on the floor so I didn't ride it.

Can the Jake do some basic single track? I'm not looking to race, just ride the highway roads and the crushed limestone trail nearby.

Hi again! I was just wondering the other day what you were up to!

It's not a Kona, but a friend of mine takes his cross bike to the local mountain bike trails. He just avoids the most technical one. I love my CX bike. They're awesome do-(nearly) everything bikes. It'll probably have lower gearing and be less aggressive than the Madone, so odds are you'll be more comfortable.

I've actually been doing pretty good despite spending most of the winter sick. I've had a blast riding my fat bike in the snow and ready for the road. My fat bike does well on the open road, but at nearly 40lbs, I wanted something lighter when I felt like it. Flat roads, the fatty is fast and easy. Hills, it's agony. A 29er wheel set seemed the perfect set up for my bike for the summer/mountain biking, but the guy said I really wouldn't notice any difference in weight, just agility. At 500-600 for set up I figured I'd check my options.

After selling some stuff, I have enough to buy the bike. I also hate being "between" sizes. Now that I have more experience on fit, I'm taking every advantage of it and getting a bike that I enjoy. The Madone was too much bike and wrong fit for someone who hadn't been on a bike since she was a kid.

The Jake I was looking at only had a double. I'd really like a triple for hills so I'm hoping it's enough to handle them. Hoping to get up to the LBS this weekend and do another test ride.

My flexibility sucked when I first started riding. I could barely get over the top tube on the Madone. Same with the core muscles. I was SO out of shape. I did have the Madone professionally fit but my fear of falling off and not understanding that you aren't supposed to be able to touch the ground with your toes probably didn't help with that. Clipless pedals made it worse.

I think my Fargo was an 18 because my Muk is a 19 and it's too big. Only problem with the fit of the Fargo was I kept sliding down on the saddle after I fiddled with it and never figured out how to get it back to the position that worked. Never had leg pain and rode with ease and comfort except for the crappy shifting problems. The Woodchipper bars were amazing as they flared out and I never felt like I was being sucked in. I'll probably buy one to go with the Jake if I purchase it.

I was shocked when I got over the top tube on the Jake with ease and rode off. Everything shifted just fine and 20 minutes later I was still doing good even when the guy raised my saddle higher after doing some riding in the parking lot and sent me off again. My concern is still the reach. The smaller size is to small and this one feels too big. Smaller Jake I rode was a 53. They size 47,49,53,56,59,61.

Did some reading on geometry. Some of it made sense and some of it didn't. Does a degree or a couple of centimeters make that much of a difference in sizes/handling? I compared the CC with the 56 Jake and compared how they rode. CC was far nimbler and the Jake was more stable. I don't remember the CC size, but it was smaller than what I thought it would be but fit really well. I wish someone would come up with a computer program that could lay the exact frame on top of another frame to compare.

I have almost 1600 dollars saved up. The Jake was 1475 since it was last years model and said with tax was 1575. I've owned a couple of trek bikes and they always hurt, Specialized bikes feel mushy and ride like sludge. I did like the Dolce though. All of them come with horrendous colors. My Trek/Specialized dealer isn't the greatest and that's the closest bike shop.

I adore my fat bike and really liked the Fargo. Most of Salsa's bikes run 1800-2000. Most of Surly bikes have bar end shifters. They guy at the LBS said Jamis had some nice cyclocross bikes that were similar to Kona. There's a dealer in Omaha. I'm in no hurry to buy a bike and I'll take my time. The Jake was the first bike I've ridden where it didn't hurt and I wasn't constantly shifting my weight.

The lower priced Jake is really, really nice..if Kona wasn't out of the size 56 completely and their next smallest size is too small I would have walked out with it. LOL. I called several stores with no availability. The hard part is I don't know about the geometry and where I fit. LOL. I have a sheet with my numbers when I got my Madone fitted for me. I really need to try the Jake again. The article was really great. I'm wondering if the reach is part of the problem.

LOL. Well, not a "Jake the Snake", but I came home with a Ridley X-BOW. Yes, lower components but it seemed to fit much better. The Jake was a better deal since it was last year's model, but after going over the geometry, it was the biggest bike out there. Not sure where the Ridley bikes land in coolness or reliability, but so far I really like the bike. I'd better like it cause I'm stuck with it now..LOL.

I may need to change out the drop bars. They feel awfully long and too short at the drops. The bike itself might fit, but the addition of longer/shorter drop bars is a big factor. I'd like to change the bars to Woodchipper 2's, but not sure how it would affect the handling. He said I might need a shorter stem as well.

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Here's the bike. 2013 Ridley X-BOW. Trying to figure out better pedals, BMX and what color. I'm hoping to get a Salsa Cowbells (mountain drop bars) put on soon. According to the LBS she survived the crash unscathed so I'm impressed with Ridley bikes.

I can't tell you how nice it is to have a bike that shifts perfectly and fits. Every Time. My confidence on a bike over the past couple of days has improved more than riding a couple of years.