I am in the early stages of planning a new bike. It will be a road bike that can handle at least 700x28 tires, and will be my nice day bike. My Kona Jake will remain fendered and will remain my commuter and rain bike (possibly cx next fall too, with a wheelset change.)

Looking to keep the build around the $1000 to $1300 range and am eyeing the Casseroll and Honky Tonk, and wondering if anyone has any opinions between the two. I'm not completely up to snuff on steel quality levels, esp when companies name them themselves:

Casseroll: Salsa Classico CroMoly tubing
Honky Tonk: Dedacciai Com 12.5 Cromoly Butted Tubing

Honky Tonk is $350 for the frame and fork, while, if I went Salsa, I'd probably buy a Casseroll Single ($850), then swap out rear wheel/crank and add derailleurs.

Both would run a 2x9 drivetrain with Dura Ace downtube shifters matched to Kelly TakeOff mounts.

I've seen lots of good opinions on the Casseroll, but would like feedback on the Honky Tonk, if anyone has input.

Thanks.

I read here on RBR from some member that the Honky Tonk was similar to the Paddy Wagon but according to Kona this isn't the case. It seems there is a discrepancy between CBO and Kona on the sizing. Check out this thread in the Kona owners forum

http://www.konaworld.com/owners%5Farea/index.php?showtopic=6947&hl=tonk

If you have any questions about the Kona, they seem to be quick to answer in that forum. I asked a few on my Paddy Wagon and got replies from Kona within a day or so.

My guess they are both good bikes, with good value. With the Kona, you get to choose every part you want on that bike, which means you can start looking for stuff on sale and closeout or what you have in your bike closet. And in my opinion is a better looking frame.

On the other hand the Salsa has a lot of what you need, but as you said, you need a new rear wheel, so are you going to buy one to match the front or have the rim rebuilt? New dérailleurs, front and rear. New crank and you might have to swap out the bottom bracket because of spindle length.

What ever bike you choose, it sounds like there is work involved but maybe you like it that way. What about buying a bike that has everything you need something like the Jamis Quest? It is around your price range, steel but I don't know what tire size in can handle.

Good luck with what ever you decide.

Unless you already have a significant number of the parts you need lying around or there's going to be a bike swap in your area soon, building a kona up is going to cost more than just buying a pre-built salsa.

And if yer gonna go with prebuilt, why not look at a cross-check complete while you're at it?

Also, the (brand that has nothing to do with the original) Masi commuter is pretty freaking sweet as well, and is very cheap complete.

Thanks guys. I know there's some work involved, which is the way I generally like things. My gut right now is leaning towards the Salsa. The singlespeed version of it seems to be a lot of bike for the money. I could sell the rear wheel and crank/BB and get the same wheel in 9spd hub and a double crank for not much more net $$. Add derailleuers, cassette, chain and be good to go.

I think going this route would get me overall better spec for the money, and I would have Salsa cockpit components as opposed to likely cheaping out on generic stuff to complete a Honky Tonk.

Still lots to sort out and decide- I will definitely have more Q's on this board and will share the end results down the road...

I have a honky tonk; it was pretty tough getting info like geometry, so I went on what I read about it being similar to the paddy wagon. Search at mtbr.com and there are some numbers posted there as well.

It's hard to give a real opinion because I've only ridden it for a couple weeks commuting (and the fact that I am more of a mtb biker, and pretty new to road bikes), but I think the bike rocks.

But bottom line for me was that it was cheap ($350 from lbs for frame/fork/fsa aheadset pressed in), and most parts were swapable from my old bike aside from some cane creek long reach brakes I had to buy and a new front derailleur that wasn't braze-on. I am able to use my 27.2 thompson seat post from my mtb bike for now. I have pretty normal parts on it (tiagra, ultegra, mavic open pros) and it is a 3x9 setup.

here is a pic before i had the brakes on

http://www3.telus.net/sandikim/bikes/honkytonkbuilt.JPG

This is probably more than you want to spend, but have you seen the new Kona Kapu? I saw one at a bike shop in Portland, OR, last week, and it was beautiful. Molteni orange with chrome lugs. Bike shop told me you can buy the frame separately for about $1,100. The geometry is nice with relaxed angles. Also has eyelets and brazeons for racks and fenders. Here's a link:

http://www.konaworld.com/08_kapu_w.htm

There is a geometry chart on the page, and perhaps it is the same as the Honky Tonk. I don't know why Kona is so secretive about the Honky Tonk. The bike shop I was at couldn't find any info on the Honky Tonk either.

This is probably more than you want to spend, but have you seen the new Kona Kapu? I saw one at a bike shop in Portland, OR, last week, and it was beautiful. Molteni orange with chrome lugs. Bike shop told me you can buy the frame separately for about $1,100. The geometry is nice with relaxed angles. Also has eyelets and brazeons for racks and fenders.

Yeah, my LBS has one too, in my size. It is a great looking bike. The newer kona font in the white stripe on the road bikes look very classy.

Yeah, the panel paint job on all the 08 kona road/cross bikes is great. I was just drooling all over a kapu in a shop the other day. But at 1100 dollars for the frme it's simply in another league. You could go custom for that price.

I vote kona just to be different. One thing to note: many hae said the salsa is avery stiff ride for steel. Maybe that's a good thing for you, maybe not. Just someting to keep in mind. They'll both make great bikes.