We brought you exclusive news of the Charge Bikes Cooker 29er a while back as well as a video interview with designer Nick Larsen. The Cooker is their first foray into the world of big wheels, Nick admitting that he hadn’t thought much of other 29″ wheeled bikes he’d test ridden. The aim was to provide a bike that had benefits of the bigger wheel while keeping the fast handling and classic feel of their 26″ bikes.
Here’s a rather nicely shot bit of riding and interview from the lens of Alex Rankin….
All Cooker bikes share the same double butted Tange Infinity steel frame, Spoon saddle and Griddle grips, also a Charge 29 specific bar.
£700 Cooker rigid comes fitted with a Shimano Altus 8spd group and cable disc brakes.
£800 Charge Cooker Mid features Shimano Alivio 9spd group and hydraulic discs. Fork from Suntour.
£1000 Charge Cooker Hi has a 2 x 10 Sram X5 group and Avid hydraulic brakes. Fork from Rockshox.
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God it’s painful stuck in an office sitting in front of a computer screen and watching that!
Any frame only options? Not much difference in pricing – I don’t think the prototypes they are riding cost £899!
Anyone know where this was filmed? Some lovely landscapes there.
I really liked that vid, cool.
“Handle like a 26er” isn’t that what loads of manufacturers have been saying for ages? Have they really done anything different with this bike?
Looks nice…frame only would be good….
Many companies that have held back from 29ers always start with saying exactly the same. Then the bike turns up and has remarkably similar geometry to the others. Only Banshee and Canfield have delivered anything truly different
It might be the woods around Longleat. The bench with the view over the river looks familiar. And it’s very close to Frome where Nick/Charge are based.
Pretty sure some of it was browns folly, bit cheeky!
Longleat indeed. With a cheeky foray into Browns Folly…
“The bench with the view over the river looks familiar…” It’s Heaven’s Gate overlooking Longleat House.
*proud local*
Frameset available 2012 model year.
Poor spec for the money, I know the frame is a big lump of the cash but you really shouldn’t call a bike with Alivio and a Suntour fork Mid anything.
frame looks nice, quite slack head angle or is that just the way the bike was leaning? no mention of whether it has an EBB or sliding drops. agreed that the specs there don’t sound very tempting, but frame only would probably do well. must go and find those trails…
And if they could make smaller frames it’d be even better. Looks a nice bike, fancy my own build.
“Poor spec for the money, I know the frame is a big lump of the cash but you really shouldn’t call a bike with Alivio and a Suntour fork Mid anything.”
Its not a Giant or Boardman, the frame is probably about £400 at retail and the bike is £800.
Odd question, has it got rack mounts?