Kona Honky Tonk?

[JackGTA]

Hi all, I'm about to start commuting in London and am looking at getting a road bike. I had a 1998 Kona Fire Mountain until it was stolen a few years ago and, as a result, am rather enticed by the steel framed Kona Honky Tonk, either the 2010 or a 2009 if I can find the right size.

Has anyone got any experience of these bikes? I've always been a mtb guy and I'm not too up on road bike stuff so any advice would be much appreciated!

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/kona/honky-ton...

[sjg]

Nice bikes if you like the retro look. I'd be more swayed by the Dew Drop though as a commute bike - cheaper, bigger profile tyres and disc brakes (so you won't wear out your rims). Seems to be absent from the 2011 lineup though so worth finding now if you can.

[JackGTA]

Thanks for the advice, I'm not sold on the Dew Drop though. I'll pop into a bike shop and have a good look at a Honky Tonk...

[esuuv]

I personally wouldn't get a full on road bike purely for commuting in london.

There is basically nowhere you're ever going to get into any sort of rhythm for any length of time without there being a crossing, bus, taxi, delivery van, boris bike, pedestrian, massive pothole in the way.

I have a road bike but I use my kona hoss on road tyres 99% of the time to commute as the riding position is just so much better for seeing whats going on around you and being able to manouvre out of trouble.

Disks are a lot less hassle and work a lot better for the constant stop start too.