Seen very mixed reviews on the above, but what appears to be a good deal at Evans at the moment and the possibility of a cycle to work voucher has got me tempted

Anyone got any first hand experience? Riding would be predominantly Surrey Hills and some XC which would seem to suit it

Cheers

I was intrigued by the reviews too, but I’ve mostly ridden retro before and figured it’s likely to be at least as capable. I mostly ride cross country in the hills of Snowdonia.

Just ordered the Charge Cooker Midi 3 from Wiggle for about £630. Happy to post an update when I finally get to ride it.

Hi greencat, thanks, would certainly be interested to hear how you find it, cheers

It has arrived. The tyres on this thing are massive. Only ridden it up and down the road so far, but not too draggy considering. Might not get to try it out in anger until Sunday, but I might give it a spin around the local hill if I get time at lunchtime sometime this week. All weather pending.

I know it’s not the bike in question but I bought a cooker 0 singlespeed in November for commuting, I’ve been blown away by how capable it is, the big 2.8 tyres, wtb trailblazers, are surprisingly fast rolling, riding a mix of 60% off road 40% on road with 1000ft of ascent on the return journey. Absolutely love it, I think if i’d bought a geared one my 456 evo would never see the light of day again!

Mate has one as his winter bike. Put a shorter stem and wider bars on. He loves it and is very quick descending on it – he’s quick downhill on a full sus and quicker than many mates on their full sus on his charge. “Old ” angle don’t seem to hold him back!

Managed to get out for a quick blast around the local hill. Compared to my previous 26 inch vaguely (and actual) retro steeds – this is a real trail tamer. Perhaps even a little too much – I will have to find some more challenging ones. But nice to come back from a 40 min blast without aching wrists and jelly legs.

Bit more upright position than my usual rides, climbs well (although the rear tyre has a tendency to tear up the trail if you are not careful) while soaking up the bumps on descending. I do wonder if the bottom gear will end up being quite low enough, but the grip is pretty good.

In a phrase, confidence inspiring on and off road. I don’t think it’ll necessarily be the fastest feeling bike you’ll ever ride, but I think it has a lot of fun potential and will look after you. That said, I’m a smidge under 6 foot and went for the large (19inch) and I wonder if it would be a different experience with the medium.

Thanks, interesting to hear the feedback, think shorter syem, wider bars makes sense, in all honesty think downhill speed will always be governed by my ability / cojones versus the bikes capability 🙂

Ever more tempted…! If I push the button, I’ll report back

Anyone else out there?

I am interested in this too!

I moved away from this as an idea for my Cycle to work scheme bike, due to the Bike radar review.

Then a mate turned up on a Trek Stache 5 yesterday and having had a go on it I like the plus idea more again.

Any of the collective had experience of the COoker 4 and the Stache 5 as I am keen to make a decision and get one ordered – I think they weigh about the same – my only concerns would be about the gearing – are they low enough?

I looked at one in Evans on Friday night for £599.00. It looked superb for the cash, I’ve got the Cooker Maxi in exactly the same colour so managed to walk away…

But nobody would have noticed if you had got it – Ultimate N+1 by stealth! 🙂

Update for those who are interested.

I got one last week and have had a couple of local jaunts on it.

Tyre pressure – not managed to fine tune this – they put far too much in at the shop – I am letting air out and using the very scientific thumb test to see what pressure there is left!

Its not as heavy as I was expecting! – will be going tubeless in the near future – the shop tried with stans valves and had problems so I have bought the WTB ones to have a go.

Its pretty good downhill – had a couple of good downhills on it and was close to times with my old orange 5!

Happy so far, might experiment with wider bars and shorter stem as mentioned above – a dropper might be good too!

I am enjoying my Cooker midi 3 immensely. It’s surprisingly quick and relatively light – so much so there’s a risk it might supplant my commuter. Extremely confidence inspiring offroad. The grip and stopping ability is incredible – even in the gloop, I’m doing some of my best times. I don’t think I’m close to pushing its limits yet either.

It does attract quite a lot of interest. I don’t think these plus size tyre sizes are that well known. A lot seem convinced it’s some kind of custom-built bike.