I recently acquired a few years old Kona Jake the Snake which is set up for road riding…and in lovely condition. I’m really enjoying it. I’m in an adventure race in Ireland in August and fortunately (didn’t realise this when I’d decided to enter), the winner the last few years has ridden the cycling part (mostly country roads with a bit of mild off-road…probably too hefty for skinny slicks) on a Cx bike so jake is going to be used in anger.
So, to my questions. Am I stuck with cantilever brakes or can I change to V-brakes on the jake? It’s been years since I had cantis and to be honest, they’re doing my head in trying to get them set up. Looking at other Cx bikes though, they all seem to have cantis on them as standard (I could be way wrong here) – is there a specific reason for this?
Secondly, at the moment, the bike has these wheels (mavic cosmos):
with some generic audax slicks on them. Will I need new wheels if I want to put chunkier tyres on there? If so, what would anybody recommend that won’t lead to mrs deadly leaving me? If just tyres, then what’s good (in the say £50/pair budget)?
Like I say, Cx has always been a mystery to me, but I reckon, having done the race in Ireland, I’ll probably be up for it a bit more.