Hey Mal – nice build

Could you post a closer up of the front chainring assy (it’s a fettish thing)

Cheere

Was dark by the time I got back 🙂 Will try + get some tomorrow.

Holy fking moley. What an ace bike.

I know I know its proper bone dry trails out there + new bike love rose tints it all.
But that was some of the funnest riding I can remember. High front end, combined with low centre of gravity + tight back end feels very precise, balanced, encouraging lots of weight shifting and general hoonery. Fun as.

Feels like a newly strung Fender Precision through a cranked up Trace Elliot.

Big fast rolling tyres on wide rims feel bang on. Will want something grippier up front when it gets wet.

Reminds me of the best aspects of the original Trek 69er single speed (benchmark singletrack bike, mad capable).

This is a proper rider’s bike. [/gush]

Hi Mal-Ec

Nice ! Tires look massive on those rims. Would be nice to see this Stooge against a Krampus on trail?!

@jonestown
XL would do 🙂

My build’s been delayed by all sorts of frustrating stuff. Hoping to build and ride it this weekend, although a wide front rim and Knard will have to wait a bit longer.

If anyones going to be using Rabbit Holes on a Surly hub they may need a couple of these to get the rotor position right so the brake calliper doesn’t foul the spokes Rotor spacer things

Really needs a fat fork, for more fun 😉

I disagree. 29+ keeps allot of the advantages of full fat, but rolls and response way better. Sticking a heavy slow turning front wheel on there would lose some of the sharpness and manoeuvrability that makes this bike so much fun.

Mal-ec – Member

If anyones going to be using Rabbit Holes on a Surly hub they may need a couple of these to get the rotor position right so the brake calliper doesn’t foul the spokes – Hope Rotor spacers.

This worked for me with SLX brakes on my front Rabbit Hole wheel, the spacer stopped the calliper lightly rubbing on the spokes.

That’s a stunning looking bike by the way Mal-ec. Your ride report sounds very similar to my thoughts after my first ride on my Surly Krampus.

Newly finished … or at least it would be if the 30t On-One TT ring wasn’t inducing combined chainsuck and chain drop 😐

I just put a 34t onone narrowwide on a used 9sp chain/system and that works well.

Mai-ec, re fat front, unless of course the front is slightly steeper to compensate….houses for courses. Also depends what you want to ride, if it is rock gardens etc, fat is a touch more comfortable.

Interesting thread to read , especially since my Jones will be returning to me and I sometimes ride with Placid-casual.

I never found the Jones cockpit too short, but then I used a 90mm stem. Which will be interesting to return to since my current full suss has a 7mm stem! The slightly shorter cockpit was deliberate on Jeff’s part to make getting the weight off your wrists and letting the front float easy on very steep and rough tracks. I can vouch for that working as I raced mine on some proper evil rock gardens. Could have done with a bit more HSC and HSR on the front tyre though”

This looks like a really nice bike at a great price.

Paceman. Ta. Did you have to file a smidge off the brake adaptor as well?
Another nice build.
Rode until sunset, again.

Mal-ec, the spacer between the hub and rotor sorted the spoke-rubbing issue for me, I didn’t need any other modifications. That was with SLX brakes, it may need more with some other calliper shapes.

Built.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/ocpqsh]Stooge build day (5)[/url] by placid casual, on Flickr

Purple Hope, XT/Zee and Thomson bits (the stem hasn’t arrived yet so has a Crank Bros temporarily fitted) with Velocity Dually rims. I still need to shorten hoses, but maybe not if I fit the Jones bars.

Plenty more pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/placid_casual/sets/72157644970654521

Nice.

Mal-ec – I have a 29er+ 50mm wheel with a 3″ tyre, 65mm rim carbon fat wheel currently with a Husker Du, and a 72mm rim with 4.8″ bud. All have their place, a fat fork will simply add more options and fun and be versatile !! My new carbon rim/HD UL combo weighs about the same as the 29+ setup – it is neither slow nor unresponsive, with the added benefit of being proper fat ;), unlike the 29+ . With a fat setup you have options for different rubber, BFL, Larry, HUDU, Knard, various Vee rubber, floater, for 29+ you have only the Knard, which is sub-par in my opinion.

The Stooges are looking really nice though! 🙂

what are the build weights?

Here’s mine at last…

There’s a little green eyed monster trying to tap CTBM’s url into my phone. 😆

Let it loose. No idea on weight. Strong with more twang than Duane Eddy. Did a big 4 hr hilly ride yesterday without feeling I was hauling anything unnecessary around.

Another really nice build.

FRC, I get what you’re saying, but having to by one of the multiple fat front hub “standard” might put people off? I toyed with putting my fat forks and wheel on the front. After riding it I wouldn’t, all about personal choice + options eh? Looking forward to more 29+ rubber coming out.

No need to – if you have another bike with a fat front- my jones is my only bike, so it’s nice to have multiple options available 😉

Really like the purple!

Vondally, my bike weighs 26lbs, there’s nothing partucularly lightweight about the components, so i imagine it’d be fairly easy to hit 24lbs if that’s what you wanted.

Re the fat front – one of the important factors to me when designing the bike was that people could take their present 29er, rip it to bits and put it all back together on a Stooge frame, give or take a few little bits.

A couple of years ago i toyed with buying a Jones, it was the front hub that put me off. The Stooge is at its prime with a Knard up front, i think a fat front would lower the front end and steepen the HA a little, so in theory the fork would need to be longer to preserve the geometry. These are just my thoughts on it. I know Martin has built one up with that setup, no feedback yet on what it rides like, but i’d be interested to know.

On the same note, there will be a few pairs of fat forks coming through as an option in the future, just need to work out the figures.

Just to be shure;
It appears that the Stooge has a “build-in” frame saver to protect against internal rust (?)
Does it make sense to ad Tectyl ML or similar for extra protection?

Regarding fat front; I do have a Karate Monkey with Enabler fork and 26×3.8 Knard full fat tire…..Great bike!
The steeper headangle of the KM makes is very manouvrable at lower and medium speed……much nicer steering as f.e Onone Fatty I had before. Goes steady through all sorts of terrain, very close to wat a full fatbike does….except deep snow and dry beach. But….downhill the steeper headangle and “bouncing” caracter prevents very high speeds.

A 29+ 29×3 Knard up front gives much less “float” and comfort on rough or soft terrain…but feels much lighter and faster on hard terrain on a KM. I think that’s a better match with the slacker headangle and fast&playfull caracter of a Stooge.

This is exactly the reason I ordered a Stooge next to my KM……..KM-fatfront for “slower” rough/soft/muddy fatbike-like terrain and Stooge with 29+ front for fast riding.

My thoughts exactly, Monkeyrider.

re protecting a steel frame in horrendous British or Dutch weather, a can of framesaver will never be unwelcome. You can also spray waxoyl through the various holes inside the headtube and bb.

Andy,

do you have a paint code for the aqua blue?

I showed my wife still s8tannorm’s photo and that’s pretty much the colour she wants her bike resprayed.

Cheers

yes i do, i’ll check it out and post it later. In the meantime check out YS paint’s website, it’s on there amongst loads of other fine colours.

Will do, thanks 🙂

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ofDypy]More Stooge[/url] by placid casual, on Flickr

This morning my frameset arrived from CTBM …………some quick building………..first ride on my local trail…………and the first pictures of a (somewhat dusty) Dutch Stooge.

Few things are temporary; I am waiting for a polished set-back setpost……the DIY chainguide (made from an old derraileur) will be replaced by a N-gear jumpstop……..the 8sp Sachs gripshifter and STX-RC rear derraileur will probable be upgraded to 9sp ……and I need to swap my Mach1 rearwheel to a Blunt35……………but the first ride was FUN.

First impressions: indeed very comfortable for a rigid 29er, feels pretty fast and manouvrable but also steady at higher speeds. I have to get used to the fact you need more body-movement for fast tight curves (slack angle?) ……but it runs as if on rails!

That’s lovely, I thought I preferred the purple colour but I’m not sure now. It’s worth tinkering with the tyre pressure on Surly Knards, I’ve found the sweet spot to be around 10-11psi on the front (fine at that pressure or even a little lower with wide rims and tubes).

Anybody using double or triple cranks?
All of them so far are ss or 1xN.

Yes, I’ve found ~10psi good for the Knard

THat’s tubeless on ZTR Flows

10psi was too low for me with Dually rim and a tube – up to about 12-13 (although that’s based on a shonky little gauge on my track pump)

About 11 psi on gorilla tape tubeless Rabbit hole, measured with cheapo digi pressure gauge here.
Lot of nice builds emerging.

So..just started building my frame. Ardent 2.4 and Knard aired up easily on Flows (Ardent is big on flow – I measure it as about 61mm with a ruler). However when I fit the rear wheel the 2.4 Ardent is very tight on the seatstays. It looks like a couple of mm of clearance. When the tyre rotates it buzzes the seatstays. Chainstay clearance is ok. No way it will work in mud or even hard cornering.

Anyone experience this? Frame is advertised as running with 2.4 and 2.5 rears (although I know the WTB 2.5 Weirwolf is smaller than some 2.3’s).

As it stands it looks like I will have to put a different rear on, probably no bigger than 2.3.

That’s bad news Clink. I have a 2.4″ X-King that comes up big on a Dually (39mm) on mine and it has at least 1/4″ in all directions.
Doesn’t help you, but proves that 2.4 can fit…

Ta. I know 2.4 Ardent comes up big. I’ve got a 2.3 Ground Control which I’m pretty sure will fit.

Agree the Ardent is tight. No buzz here, even on cornering, (On Rabbit holes, so maybe comes up squarer?)
I wouldn’t run it in winter that tight. Wondered whether a Bonty XR 2 would be another summer option, they come up pretty big as well.

I can’t run an Ardent on a 35mm Blunt in the back of my Jones, but a 2.35 Ikon fits. The Ardent is just a huge 2.4