Time to fatten up the herd. I was jealous watching all my pals go off road on their fancy-shmancy gravel bikes with their fancy-shmancy tubeless tires and their oh, so fancy drop bars...
Behold, the 2015 Kona Rove, 59cm.
It's a smidgen larger than ideal, but I can help that with a straight post and a slightly smaller stem. It's also kinda heavy, but I like the fact that it's adaptable - slap on some racks and bags and I'm bikepacking! Strip it down and I'm out gravel-grinding (and singletrackin' if it's not too technical - it has a pretty impressive standover height!)
It's very comfortable with that long head tube forcing a more upright position....
I'll give it a new crank and tires and some other little upgrades, but I took it out for a 30-mile spin last week and had a great time, plus I was able to keep up with the gang just fine. It's got a 32 - 36 granny, so I'm not afraid of big, steep climbs, and the long wheelbase had me feeling comfy on 40mph pavement descents...
(and, no, I will not nickname it "turdblossom' thank you very much!)
