Thanks for the replies chaps.

Now with Mary Bars 🙂

Nige.
Do you want to borrow a loop bar to try on it?

Sure. Thanks

YGM

In my opinion, experience, the benefit of a rigid fork, is the rigidity. You don’t want it to flex at all if possible. This will give the most precise, direct handling characteristics – the main benefit of a rigid fork. Comfort comes from the tyres, 3″ Knards, or even better a 4.8″ tyre.

A new rear option may be a 650B wheel with a 2.8″ tyre. I’d like to see a frame with slider/swinger dropouts to take 29+ and 29er wheels and have short chainstays.

The Jones, by the look of it, also has a lower bottom bracket.

Hi,

I’am new on this forum. Dutch and VERY interested in this Stooge 29er……close to push the “order button” 🙂

@bonesetter
I am just under 6’1″ .
Interesting why you put a Marybar now? (would be my idea too) and at what length of stem ?
I see you are running a Knard upfront, at what internal rimsize ?

About climbing:
I have a Karate Monkey and its shortest chainstay position is very similar to the Stooge.
I have found it difficult to keep the frontwheel down on steeper (granny) climbs. Sliding it 14mm back to 445mm (using so called “monkeynuts” in the sliding dropouts) improved that very much. How about the Stooge?

Hi monkey, and welcome

I’m trying the Mary bar soley on a recommendation from Mr Stooge. I have to say so far it’s lasted one ride. More on that later. 90 stem. Bit more on bars here: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/difference-between-mary-bars-and-jones-h-bars/page/2#post-6088041

Knard is on a Stans Flow at 25.5mm internal width. Went up tubeless first time and so far performing well at ~18psi. May try a little lower, say ~15

Climbing seems OK. Mind you, I did a last season’s mostly worn out Racing Ralph (2.4). It’s pretty good considering, but in the wet woods does slip and clag up, so halts progress temporarily

Hi bonesetter,
Thanks,

I run a Marybar on a rigid Karate Monkey same TT, same 90mm stem. I love them on a rigid bike, great for singlespeed too. Gives you more flexibility on your wrists and arms if it gets rough on a rigid bike.
I was just wondering how it worked on a Stooge, if you compare them to a “standard” wide bar.

I have quite narrow rims (internal 19mm), probably that too narrow for a Knard. Flow seems to be within limit.

Tip: Onone Smorgasboard is great in muddy, wet conditions. Quite heavy but amazing traction and rolls quite well.

Great to see your ride reports on the Stooge !

The ‘inspirational’ Stooge…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/brants-new-frame-but-he-wont-say-what-it-is-yet

Keep Pedalling in Manchester are now a Stooge stockist and have a demo bike, should anyone wish to try one out.

Charlie the Bikemonger is also on board and will be holding frames in stock as of next week. Charlie has strong legs, he snapped the chain on my test bike halfway up the first hill, either that or it was Sram’s fault for making chains from toffee. Anyway, the sport of chainless downhilling was resurrected for a day. All good.

Any more pics (especially of purple or singlespeed ones)?

Also interested to hear how it works with the loop bars or similar…

bike works great with Jones bars, though my personal fave is the Salsa 23 degree. Here’s a photo of my latest build with Dually rims and fat tyres. Unbelievably capable machine that dares you to launch yourself of anything.

https://upload.facebook.com/StoogeCycles/photos/pcb.267181493467074/267180550133835/?type=1

oooo Very interested in this.
Have been riding a Scandal 29er with 2.4’s and 100mm sus fork for a while. But have been lusting after a simple, beautiful but capable machine for a while. Not found the right one until now.

I have never ridden rigid of road in anger. So one question I keep coming back to is, Rock Gardens.

How do rigid bikes and specifically this Stooge with 29+ tyres fair? For instance I feel I can ride my 100mm forked 29er with 2.4s through a local rock garden quicker than a 26” 5” trail bike I used to have….

am interested to know peoples views on rigid forks. My take is that a bit of flex is a benefit for comfort and ride qaulity. The whole idea behind a ‘fork’ is that it provides a little spring to the ride, isn’t it?

Andrew, I hope this helps, mainly because a key reason I didn’t buy a Stooge was it is rigid only. (This is not idle talk, I just bought a very similar & quite expensive US frame that can take sus forks).

my take on forks, all from experience. mostly I ride Surrey Hills, XC and trails:

* ‘2 tubes’ style carbon forks are quite twangy (fore and aft style), I didn’t notice much damping
* I had some Niner carbon forks, very stiff but again I found them too harsh
* I rode some steel Swift forks for a while, on a Swift frame. Felt a little gentler but the bloody things weigh so much there is near no weight advantage over sus forks.
* some people think rigid and SS are natural bedfellows, I ride my trail bikes SS a lot and actually find sus forks work well both up and down. (On the ups they help stop the bike getting hung up on trail crap).
* sure one can put a big rim and tyre on the front, but then you’re getting a bike that takes an awful lot of effort to get up to steam. OK for Clydesdales but I’m a middling sized (and age and fitness) guy, I don’t need the handicap.

Mucho ‘spec to you for keeping to and executing your vision, obviously this is only 1 person’s view and I hope to buy a Stooge one day, I’m on your side, but not for now.

rock gardens? Pedal like hell and try and clear them all!

But seriously, there are certain types of terrain that will never be suitable for fully rigid, but then there’s a whole lot more (like most trail centres) that will allow you to totally rip. It’s a different kind of ride, a lot more technically demanding and ditto a whole lot more rewarding.

Mattjq, cheers for your words. It’s a little known fact the Stooge will take 100mm forks very happily. I call it rigid specific because i recommend it’s ridden as is, but the forks are tall to get the front nice and high. The biggest problem would be finding nice suspension forks with an 1 1/8 straight steerer these days.

Ah. Ironically, I have a pair of 100mm straight steerer 29er Rebas hanging on the wall in the garage … you’re right they’re hard to find.

Jonestown re RockGardens, as expected horses for course etc. Love this. Would love to try one sometime – Have any made it to the SW / Devon yet?

Julioflo, thanks. I was down in Swanage and the new forest last week, Charlie the Bikemonger has a frameset in stock, not sure if he’s planning on building a bike from it. Give him a shout i say, and cheers.

Here’s mine now with Salsa 23deg Bend 2 Bars bought from CTBMonger yesterday (had a chat with him re the Stooge, and he commented on how much he liked it, and the way it turns in a corner)

Personally, I’m loving mine and ride it every day I’m around.

Such a capable bike, incredibly light front, and immense fun

My riding is hilly and steep so lots of snakes and ladders through woods and small paths/singletrack – performs perfectly in this

the way it turns in a corner

As opposed to how it turns whilst going in a straight line perhaps?

Rorschach – Member
the way it turns in a corner

As opposed to how it turns whilst going in a straight line perhaps?

boom-teesh!

It looks great. At first glance the Salsa bars look very similar to the Mary bars you started with, but maybe the Salsa bars are wider, lower, and less swept back. Do they feel quite different? Also, did you manage to try the Jones bars to compare them?

Regarding the effective toptube; I see 23″ and 23.5″ mentioned on different sites? What is actual? In metric?

Hi Monkeyrider, 23.5 is the correct measurement, check my website on the geometry page and all measurements are there in metric. I noticed that earlier on in the thread it was actually me that quoted it as a 23″ top tube – must have been a long day 🙂

Looking at pictures, showing you on the bike ( being 5’9″ I thought?) it looks really short ?
I am running a 18″ rigid Karate Monkey and medium Ragley Big Wig 120mm, both 23.5″ (ish) effective tt and they show a bit longer (?) I am 6’1″
NB: I am still looking for a reason to buy this (beautifull!!) bike, next to my KM and Ragley. KM with very short chainstay, lower bb and steeper headangle, Ragley with longer chainstay, same bb and slack headangle.
What would be my main benefit riding Stooge vs my rigid Karate Monkey ? ( Except being the proud owner of the first Dutch Stooge 😀 )

Re: the tall front end versus suspension fork, I’m more than pleased with the X-Fusion Slide on my 29 Inbred. It’s set at 120mm but the stanchion length is 140 so that gets around the height issue I’d imagine.

Hi Monkeyrider. I’m actually somewhere between 5’11 and 6′, so not much shorter than yourself.

Re the difference between the KM and the Stooge, the slacker headangle and increased fork offset make it incredibly stable at speed, you really feel as though you can hit anything with full confidence. It will also have a much lighter, more unweighted front end, so less punishing and a lot more chuckable.

pluss, no-one else with have a bike like yours in Holland 🙂

Regarding this unweighted front; Are you still able to keep the frontwheel on the ground when climbing seated?

Jonestown – what are the reach and stack numbers?

yes, of course. when i say ‘unweighted’, what i really mean is the ease at which you can loft the front end and, compared to more traditional rigid bikes, the sense that your whole weight isn’t bearing down on your wrists when riding off road. It’s not a case of the front being so light and airy that you can’t keep the front wheel down.

I run my own Stooge with 40mm of headset spacers. The riding position is more like a modern 6″ trailbike than an xc bike. With this set up it excels at technical riding in the woods, really comfortable for all day rides. You could run the front end lower and it would put you in more of an attack mode, better for climbing etc, but the set up i have is, in my opinion, what works the best.

deejayen – Member
It looks great. At first glance the Salsa bars look very similar to the Mary bars you started with, but maybe the Salsa bars are wider, lower, and less swept back. Do they feel quite different? Also, did you manage to try the Jones bars to compare them?

POSTED 2 DAYS AGO # REPORT-POST

The two bars couldn’t feel more different.

I spoke to a dealer who sells alot of 29er bikes and as soon as I mentioned the Mary Bars, he said they’re too narrow – which are the same as my impressions

The Salsa’s on the hand are night & Day better. I can’t say perfect, but very nearly

I would prefer a tad wider and a little more sweep

However, the front of the bike feels brilliant now. They have given more control, made the front feel lighter (as if it could any lighter), easier to loft/wheelie, turn corners, technical – a very big overall improvement

Just fitted Mary bars to my commuter & they feel very narrow. Wouldn’t put them on the mtb (Niner SIR.9), & I’m running old fashioned 685mm bars.

Nice build at CBMH https://www.facebook.com/Charlie.The.Bikemonger/posts/812837665395245?comment_id=812842808728064&offset=0&total_comments=7

My riding is hilly and steep 

lollercopters.
You bimble round Clent.

singlespeedstu – Member
My riding is hilly and steep

lollercopters.
You bimble round Clent.

That’s right yeah, in my world, the Col-de-Clent is hilly & steep 🙂

The Col-de-Clent sounds like a severe test of man and stooge.

Oh yeah, a true test, if it wasn’t for the Stooge I’d be sat at home every time 🙂

Nige.

You still want to try the loop bar?

^ Yes please 🙂

Pick em up tonight if you want.