Words:
First rode Hangover on the Jones. Dreamy, and I was able to charge the thing hard from what was essentially my second hour on the bike. Yes, the stays are longish (comparatively) at 16.9", but the build is completely dialed. Tight and predictable, and confidence inspiring all the way around. FR3 front/rear. Excellent rock tire IMO. Even Aqua noticed how it outperformed his Ardent (or maybe my braking was better??)
Afternoon, second ride, switched to the Bystickel on Chicken point/High on the Hog and just flailed all over the place. I could not keep the front hooked up (FR4), especially in sand over rock or off camber rock. Steve noticed that conditions were looser, but man I had very little confidence in the set up. Right now I am pretty disappointed I bothered with the custom thing because the Jones is outperforming it in actual riding. The Stickel just feels like there is too much stuff moving around at any given point. It reminds me of when I went from an older QR Reba to the WB 150. Everything is just quieter feeling on the Jones. You feel the bash and then you move on without a lot of secondary wiggling around and vibration.
I am going to put an FR3 on the front of both and try again, but I can't believe I may be walking away from the Stickel. Maybe I just need a different fork?
It must be some combo of long HT, Truss, and 135 spaced front (would I notice that?). It is the best riding rigid I have ridden for sure. Not bad for $1100 imo.
4 comments:
You're how tall? North of six feet, right? And the Jones has a 22.5" top tube with a 50mm stem? Unbelievable. I'm 5'5" and ride a size small Niner, 23" ETT, 90mm stem. Different terrain, to be sure, but I ride the same bike when I go to the desert.
I am 184cm tall. The guy I am riding with (in pics) is 193 cm tall on the same frame.
Admittedly, I prefer small bikes.
This bike has the same front center, and 1/2" (12mm:)) shorter wheelbase than your small Niner, but the Niner has a longer ETT.
I think everyone is riding mountain bikes that are too big for them.
However: I have never been able to ride a bike with drop bars. The forward sweep to the hoods kills me, and in the drops I only last a minute or so. If you are flexible and can tolerate a flat back, you can stand a longer bike.
If you like riding rigid, I can't recommend the Jones enough. I have ridden a lot of frame/fork combos, and didn't expect to like it that much. I thought it was marketing hype, but it definitely lives up to it. Will post further thoughts when I get time in a separate post.
Also, remember that my riding is focused on extremely technical stuff, not max VO2 speed climbing where a longer cockpit may be more beneficial.
I want to be able to maximally move the bike fore and aft and am willing to compromise my position climbing.
I also ride SS only for the most part and stand to climb.
I totally get the notion of different setups for different types of riding. Most of the trails I ride are so smooth, you feel like somebody raked them.
In my case, the frame doesn't come smaller than size "small" so the only alternative is to go custom. But my comment on your more recent post makes my feelings on that clear. Besides, I don't feel as though my bikes don't fit, especially for what I want them to do. Were I riding where you are, though, I would likely have different fit preferences.
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