# Kona Sutra Ltd



## Indh (Dec 1, 2011)

Thinking of picking up a new gravel grinder/ bike packing rig. I'm looking hard at the Kona Sutra Ltd. It looks like it would handle the gravel we around here better than my cross bike and the build kit looks pretty good.
Any other bikes out there with a better build for the price?

Thanks

KONA BIKES | ROAD | SUTRA | Sutra LTD


----------



## injected59 (Aug 14, 2016)

Indh said:


> Thinking of picking up a new gravel grinder/ bike packing rig. I'm looking hard at the Kona Sutra Ltd. It looks like it would handle the gravel we around here better than my cross bike and the build kit looks pretty good.
> Any other bikes out there with a better build for the price?
> 
> Thanks


Dude, no pics??

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## bitflogger (Jan 12, 2004)

I lust after a friend's copy of that bike.

I see you can go two ways on price. Probably more options if you're not really after a true touring bike. A local shop has a Co Motion that's even more wow. Kona has the Rove ST on my radar that's shorter wheelbase and not the hydro brakes among other things.

Friends with not quite full touring or traditional touring bikes such as Vaya still do bike packing trips just fine. I believe the Vaya has longer wheelbase than the Rove.

For lesser $, the venerable or at least been there for a long time Trek 5xx has received disc brakes. I test rode a Fuju tourer that was a very pleasant bike.

Test riding absolutely had me realize the dedicated touring bikes are comfy but with heavy wheels and not as sporty as the newer class of gravel grinders.

Budget or bang for the buck? I was totally impressed with bikes at a Mongoose demo I attended. They're AL framed bikes but they have a new adventure bike and CX bikes that are true values and for US residents supported by their Madison, WI HQ staff who design them. Some of them are only sold in US via Amazon.


----------



## ToMorrow (Oct 15, 2015)

A friend has one and really likes it. His feeling was that it's a narrow tired mountain bike. I would probably go with a Vaya but my gravel rides are 50/45/5 road/gravel/singletrack. I also would rather have mechanical discs rather than hydro's as well.


----------



## bitflogger (Jan 12, 2004)

ToMorrow said:


> A friend has one and really likes it. His feeling was that it's a narrow tired mountain bike. I would probably go with a Vaya but my gravel rides are 50/45/5 road/gravel/singletrack. I also would rather have mechanical discs rather than hydro's as well.


My Sutra Ltd owning friend feels strongly about hydro for winter and being drenched. I picked up a mint gen 4 Fargo since I posted earlier and yesterday 3 of us in the family got drenched and while the mechanical BB7s worked, my wife's bike with XT hydros kind of proved again how great they are.

You have a point on narrow tired MTB. I loved test riding the Vaya but the Sutra (and Fargo) are more slack and that is beautiful for me. The more stack, the more I seemed to like going back to drop bars.

The bike choices amaze me and the biggest problem I found was dealer inventory this time of year. By me they're getting ready for winter coming.


----------

