Visiting our vendors: Kona

We had fun visiting with Kona and trying on their fashions:

This meeting was less business and more fun, as our regular rep Kevin has just become a dad (congrats!), and we were pretty much just being silly with Angie, who subbed for him.
However, we did find a couple of new items that we think our Rapid Transit customers will like back in Chicago.
First, the Ute, a workhorse urban lugging bike, using an extended rear triangle, with a rigid board, capable of carrying four pannier bags. At $800, it comes with two, but you can get more from Kona, or use ones you already have. We will definitely have some of these in the store, and may even get one for ourselves for those big grocery trips. The only problem is, I think our kids will want to ride on the back of it, and I think that's a no-no (except maybe just around the block...)

Another bike we liked is the Sutra, which Kona also enhanced with greater carrying capacity, by including both front and rear carrying racks in its $1200 price tag (hey, that's a hundred bucks worth of racks, not including installation). A great steel road bike for both city riding and touring.