Nick Larsen from Charge Bikes has just dropped by the office to show us a very new addition to the Charge bikes family – yup, it’s their very first big wheeled bike and it’s called the Cooker. Don’t start ringing up the shops just yet though, this is a 2012 development bike and is unlikely to be in the shops anytime before next year.
Made from a custom Tange Prestige double butted tubeset, Nick has spent plenty of time tweaking and testing the geometry to get it riding how he likes.
In fact, after originally being unsure of the 29er concept he’s now become a big fan of the way larger wheels work, so much so that his 26″ wheeled Duster is now gathering dust.
This frame pictured here doesn’t have final geometry but the finished frame is going to have a 71° head angle, corrected for the length of 100-120mm suspension forks. Seat angle is a bit slacker than most 29ers out there and the final production bikes will probably be a bit longer in the top tube than seen here. Nick’s been aiming to make the Cooker handle just like a 26″ wheeled bike and is pleased with the results so far.
The Cooker is going to be available either with a rigid fork build for around £699 or with Rock Shox suspension forks for around £1,000.
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Wish I had never got rid of my Kula-29.
Why are some people so prejudice as to blind themselves to something that is just different?
From my experience of riding a lot of different 29ers – geometry charts mean nothing which is bizarre as they normally go to type on 26″ wheel bikes. I’ve ridden bikes with what i would consider crazy angles that have been fine and vice versa. Sadly it’s a try and see sort of deal.
Glad to see everyone’s paying this much attention. I rode the other Charge 29er they brought round – with 100mm forks on and I’ll let you know how I got on as soon as I get a moment.
Is that really £600 fully built?
Makes my Singular Swift look a little over-priced (unless the EBB retails for about £400 that is!)
I really like it, i’ll seriously consider one of those when they come out. is that £600 geared?
Looks too tall and long for me.
It’ll probably suit someone who likes open, fast, wheels-on-the-ground type of riding. For flick-flacking through the trees and puddle-hopping it’ll feel like a barge.
Can anyone please explain why 29ers are so steep in comparision to 26inch bikes? 71 degree head angle just seems soooooo steep, don’t get it.
71 degrees is still pretty much standard for “normal” XC riding. Charge’s 26 inch wheel XC bikes all have 71 degree head angles too so I guess it’s what they consider to be right for the average rider, regardless of wheel size.
The proof of the pudding is in the tasting.
Geometry on 29’rs is tough, there is no proven template to go from, who’s to say that Cy from Cotic is right or wrong?
I’ve had a good ride on a Trek and a Cannondale 29″ bike and i prefered the Trek, but even then it was a bit aggressive.
Im up for trying one of these if there are going to be any demo bikes out.
Not sure if it’s a trick of the camera, but is there a slight kink in the chainstay on the right hand side where it meets the dropout? Just noticed it.
And yep, 71’s a standard – if slightly old school – head angle. It might come in handy to speed up the steering on a big-wheeled bike, but what do I know. 🙂
Cy (and Sam from Singular) both have a point, I think. The Singular 69er, the Hummingbird, rides very nicely indeed as both a 69er and a 26er, with 120mm forks.
I don’t think tyou can really judge a bike’s geometry on how it looks in a picture..
the fork offset / HA balancing thing mentioned is old touring / road bike set-up wisdom and was done by Jeff Jones before GF i think. it’s only ‘new’ on MTBs as we’ve had set sus fork designs for so long and it took someone like trek to push through a new fork rake. whether that fork rake was right is another point of debate.
all interesting stuff tho and it’s good to see more people working on 29ers in the UK, it looks nice.
“Can anyone please explain why 29ers are so steep in comparision to 26inch bikes? 71 degree head angle just seems soooooo steep, don’t get it.”
trail is what affects steering, it’s a function of head angle, fork rake and wheel radius. change one dimension and you can change others as required to end up with the right trail figure. a steeper HA and / or more rake can shorten the trail, or offset the effect of the bigger wheel that lengthens the trail.
Is it me or did the base price just jump by a hundred quid?
It did. 🙂
James-O – you’re right, of course.
That’s inflation for ya! 😉
Although, although – if Charge is going with a slightly whacky trail / HA / fork length set up, it’s not going to have the ability of, say Trek and Cary F, who were able to get custom crowns for the suspension forks on Gary Fisher 29ers. Whatever numbers they come up with have to work with the currently available off-the-shelf 29er suspension forks. Well, unless they’ve got a trick up their sleeves.
Top marks to Charge for tinkering, though…
doesn’t seem that whacky, 71 deg at a 100mm sus-corrected 29er fork length is about mid-range on the trail-ometer, roughly the same as a sagged-to-70-degree 26″. sensible stuff, doesn’t sound overly steep.
i think a lot of 29er forks have the 46mm rake now, trek got 51mm? not sure off hand. I’m not convinced that the added rake ‘adds’ to the handling ability though, it just changes the layout options.
@ginsterdrz BioPace was a marketing ploy. 29ers are an established evolution. It only seems like a fad because the big manufacturers are only jumping on it now.