akorud

Hello, may I ask what is your height and inseam length? I'm going to order roadhouse online, this is the only possibility for me. Salesman suggests 56cm for my 178cm height and 84cm inseam, however as usual at my own responsibility.

kmv2

Depends on your upper body too.
My wife has similar dimensions and got the 54cm.

See: KONA BIKES | 2016 BIKES | STEEL ROAD | Roadhouse for all the geometry (click Specifications), notice top tube (TT Length) is a bit longer than the seat tube (ST Length) on the Roadhouse, and the dimension of the frame is based on the seat tube length.

Always have a look at the actual geometry of the bike too, another we looked at was the Norco Search (available as a steel option until this year), the frame size vs tube lengths was very different: Search A.Tiagra - Adventure - Bikes - Norco Bicycles
53.5cm frame has a 48cm seat tube length and 54.25cm top tube.

A shop (if there are others in your area?) should be able to take some measurements and figure out what you should be getting and at least you have an idea of what frame size you should be looking at.

If nobody can or will measure you up, you can do an estimate yourself here: Bike Fit Calculator | Find Your Bike Size | Competitive Cyclist
It will give you ranges for seat tube and top tube lengths, as well as stem length, etc.

Where are you ordering it online?

akorud

Recently I ride on my friend's classic road with 54cm TT and in my feeling it was a bit short for me. All time I tried to put my hands in the air in front of bar and also be able to see front hub few cm ahead of bar.

I've checked this calculator - for me it suggest 54.5-56 TT depending on selected fit but with stem 10.1-10.9. As I know roadhouse has 9cm stem which may compensate a little bit longer TT (56cm frame has 56.6 TT).

I'm from Poland, actually there is official Kona dealer and I'm going order bike from them, 56cm is their suggestion but based on virtual measurements. Unfortunately they don't have any bike for try.

kmv2

Yeah looks like you are in between the two sizes. I would say go one size down and get a longer stem, at least it won't be too big, but hard to say.

FlimFlamvanHam

new to this site and first post but was looking into building up one of these but this really turns me off.

They cannot sell a thru axle frame without the thru axles. I mean they can, but it would be a first in the bike industry. That's crazy. That has to be a mistake.

Mind me asking where you are located and where you got your frame from?

As for weight, it is heavy. For about triple the price you can save almost 2lbs (this with full 6800, some carbon pieces, CK hubs and light rims) with a CK Cielo road racer disc. Maybe one day...but for $2k in savings I'll ride the extra almost 2lbs.

Said bike for reference: https://www.cyclist.co.uk/reviews/148...er-disc-review

kmv2

Talked to the LBS, and they had received another frame&fork recently without the thru axles, but they have contacted Kona to see what's up. Kinda frustrated at having to spend so much time at this, and go to multiple stores lugging around a frame&fork to test axles to see if they fit.

Also, as I found out, there are no mechanical disc brakes that work with "flat mount", so you'll either need to get hydraulic Shimano or buy adaptors which I can only find online and are ~$50-$60CAD for both.

Still, its going to be a sweet bike when it comes together!

FlimFlamvanHam

It's pretty easy to determine if they fit; no need to bring your frame to different shops. You need a Maxle 12x142 rear, any model, 174mm length.

The front is a Maxle road, any model (although only stealth and ultimate are made) 15x100 125mm length.

But still, I cannot get over that they were not supplied with a thru axle only frame and fork.

Adapters are easy to find for flat to post. Try finding a shimano flat mount to flat mount for the front, however.

TRP have their flat mount Spyres available now. And they are $25 less than the reg Spyres on their website! Not sure how that works but for $64.99 an end that's dirt cheap. i wonder if they leave out discs in that price?

And sorry, but what country are you in where Kona is not supplying the thru axles? I am trying to determine if this is a country thing or a dealer thing.

kmv2

Rear is 167mm, so it actually uses a 12x135 despite being a 12x142 hub. This info is from the Kona tech dept when I asked them and also confirms my measurement.
Front is 15x100 "road" you are correct, 125mm length.

FlimFlamvanHam

that's incorrect advice.

the rear of the Roadhouse is for a 142 rear axle, not a 135. It is, in fact, 174mm length. Simply caliper the distance between the outermost aspects of the frame where axle mounts, it's 174mm.

kmv2

I'm telling you I measured it and that Kona also confirmed that measurement and told me why the measurement was weird: it is 167mm, the length of a 12x135 Maxle type thru axle. The rear hub spacing is still 142mm, the dropout thicknesses are less because of the steel frame, I guess they found that it didn't need the extra 7mm of material.

And this is of course why they should include the thru axles.

FlimFlamvanHam

that is odd. I have access to a stock build that I will check out again to make sure.

It makes no sense at all since they use a 12x142 rear hub axle for sure. But what you say about the steel using less material would make sense. Possibly.

FlimFlamvanHam

Thanks. I stand corrected. It is indeed a 12x135 Maxle length of 167mm.

kmv2

Got the response.. according to LBS, Kona says they once shipped this frame&fork with thru axles and now they apparently do not *whomp whomp*.

FlimFlamvanHam

That's pathetic. It's for sure the only frame I've ever heard of, mountain or road, that requires thru axles but does not come with them.

Thanks a lot for the advice on the rear Maxle. I was positive it was a 174 length and would have purchased that if getting one of these frames. However the cost or the axles, but moreover the fact Kona does not supply them with the frame/fork, turns me right off of it.

kmv2

and I couldn't find those TRPs, so you have the flat mount brakes to figure out too.

Anyway, I think the positive is that it is fairly future proof!

FlimFlamvanHam

https://www.trpbrakes.com/category.p...1273&catid=206

No idea if availability is nil but it lets you add them to the cart and direct from TRP...

FlimFlamvanHam

You are a perfect for a 56.

FlimFlamvanHam

Kona will have the new Roadhouse on their site along with all the other '17's this Sunday. Some changes to the chainstays, color, wheels and full Ultegra it appears.

Here the 56cm '16 I just finished. I tried to go silver wherever I could but sure is tough with limited disc hub choices.

Rikkenback

FlimFlamVanHan, I see you have DT swiss wheels on your roadhouse. I have too. Do find them to be very tight in the rear? Any risk for chainrub on frame when running smallest 11teeth cog? I have this issue on mine and I´m trying to solve the problem. DT Swiss says it´s a compatibility issue with the frame. Kona says its an assembling issue ( I´m almost sure it´s not). I have the 240s hub. Just curius if you had any of this problem with your DT Swiss?

FlimFlamvanHam

Woah! I know exactly what you are referring to!

I had mine completely built and had a 12-25 cassette. I was finalizing the set up starting to dial in the shifting. When dropping to the small cog, well, it would not; the chain would get jammed between the seat stay and the 13t cog (on its way down to the 12t).

My mind only thought of a flaw with the hub. i scrutinized the hell out of it. Were the axle caps on the wrong sides? I even pulled my rear wheel off my mtn bike, removed the tire, and mounted that (it's a 142 rear dt350) to check the clearances and it was all ok and same as the dt set you see.

I figured maybe Kona only made clearance for an 11t cog? So next day I acquired an 11-28 cassette to see if it would shift to an 11t instead of a 12t being the smallest. That was me getting desperate as I knew full well the difference in diameter between the two was minimal. No surprise: no help. Chain would still jam between frame and smallest two cogs.

I took a whole bunch of pics and sent them to Kona and they asked me to bring the frame to the dealer. These bikes are scarce but it was my luck that the dealer had a complete 54 on the floor they had just got in, and guess what?

On the complete bike, the inside of the drive side seat stay where it meets the drop out was flattened. On mine it was still the full rounded tube. It was a manufacturing flaw.

Kona found me a new frame by locating a complete 56 somewhere in the US and stripping it.

They said they checked several frames for me when trying to replace mine and they were all buggered.

It's your frame.

Rikkenback

Thanks a lot for sharing this info.

Very interesting and useful.

Yeah, I also have worked and reworked those hubs forever. Frustrating, least to say.

It would be very interesting to see how a correct seatstay should look like. If you would have a picture, I would very much like to see how it looks.

FlimFlamvanHam

first pic is chain up the cogset on the frame with incorrectly made seat stay. Next pic is chain jammed on same. Sorry, I don't know how to get those pics rotated (they are saved/edited upright on everything on my end but when uploaded here go sideways).

Final pic I took minutes ago of my current frame with the flattened aspect of the seatstay.

Anyway, you can clearly see the difference.

Rikkenback

Thanks!
Indeed, it looks like I have a fawlty frame then.

Senson

FlimFlamvanHam