Staff Bike Test: Hannah’s Stooge MK4

This article was first published in Issue 129 of Singletrack Magazine.

Sometime during high school I had an epiphany: the cool kids were always going to think I was a freak – so I may as well give up trying to fit in and just do whatever the hell I wanted. While this attitude may have led to some interesting fashion choices over the years, it also leads to a whole lot of ‘why the hell not?’ shenanigans. In a world of full suspension, slack hardtails and battery-powered everything, this rigid steel twin top tubed named-after-a-punk-band Stooge MK4 seemed like a perfectly perverse option. To seal the deal, I have eschewed gears – a choice cemented when Chipps told me that single speeding was a very, very bad idea for any Calder Valley rider.

Would dancing to my own beat have me on cloud nine, or in a fug of doom? I girded my loins, packed my hip flask, and prepared to find out.

The Bike

It has two wheels, a rigid frame made of steel, a single 32–17 gear, and zero millimetres travel of suspension anywhere. So, I’d better spend a long while talking about the tyres and wheels. There are two.

Of course, I’m oversimplifying things. The bike is specifically designed around the needs of a rigid frame and fork, with Andy (that’s Mr Stooge) wanting to keep the rider’s weight behind the front axle for better control, while replicating the nimble handling of the 27.5in wheeled Stooge MK3. More specifically still, the frame is designed around a 29×2.6 rear/29×3.0–3.25in front wheel and tyre pairing, with that extra width up front for maximum cushioning. Andy delivered mine set up with a 29×2.3in Specialized Slaughter on the rear, and a 29×3.0 Vittoria Cannoli up front – a slightly less beefy set-up. I’m missing out on a touch of cushioning and rubber, but since I’ve been using it for off-road commutes rather than just weekend blasts, and I’m running it as a singlespeed, the slight reduction in heft is no bad thing. Of course, it’s all set up tubeless – I’ve been running it as low at 12.5/16 psi – so I can really get the benefit of loads of traction along with a good deal of cushioning.

To get you where Andy thinks you should be on the bike, there’s a 66° head angle and 80mm offset, giving a fairly low trail figure. The tall head tube means the position is more back than forward too – which adds control when you’ve not got suspension helping you out, and also makes for a comfortable cruising position. It’s a one-size-fits-all bike though – it only comes in this single frame size, which is longer in the top tube than previous Stooges. The theory is that you’ve got more room to move about within the bike. You can add a longer seatpost if you’re taller (internal dropper routing is provided) or you can put a shorter stem on if you’re on the less tall side of things – but note that there is a slight kink in the seat tube which might limit the height of your dropper.

Which brings me to the bars. Fitted – with a shim (because they’re a 22.2mm BMX standard diameter) are Andy’s £64.99 Junker bars, built from 4130 steel with a 20° sweep and huge 820mm width. Keen accessory users may like to note that the narrow diameter cross piece doesn’t play well with all light or GPS mounts. The bars are specifically designed to complement this frameset, and you’ll likely either like the moto/klunker/BMX look, or you won’t. If you don’t, you’re probably not into the rest of how this bike looks anyway, as the overall appearance is very much like a giant BMX cruiser, or even a klunker.

Speaking of looks, I haven’t touched on the twin-tube top tube. That’s not there for any technical reason, but because of Andy’s BMX roots. It’s a nod to bikes made by local company DP Racing, or the Haro Freestyler that he coveted as a youngster. And why not – if you’re going to have a bike company, you may as well tick all your own boxes and not worry about what the in-crowd is doing.

Personally, I’ve loved the look since I first set my eyes on the MK4. My nine year old thinks it’s cool and takes every opportunity he can to hop on board. And finally, at age forty, high school kids seem to think I look cool. But looks aren’t everything, how does it ride?

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The Ride

The car park test felt… weird. I couldn’t believe that the huge wide bars would ever feel right. But there was still something about it that made me giggle. Once my right thumb stopped twitching and reaching for the shifter, I really surprised myself at what I could get up on that single gear. Sure, there was sweating and hauling on the bars, but I conquered many hills of Calderdale that my 12-speed era legs thought only fit for sitting and spinning. There is a very noticeable difference between pushing hard and not changing gear when you have them, and only having one. There are no skips and jumps, no ‘is the chain going to hold?’ clicks – just a lovely smooth sensation of transferring power from your legs into motion.

Back to those bars – they don’t feel weird any more. In fact, they don’t really even feel that wide. Sitting to spin along, there’s a pleasant sort of swagger feeling to the bike – the riding equivalent of walking like Liam Gallagher. On the steep climbs, the bars give the leverage that helps keep me balanced as I push the single ring with burning quads. And on the descents, they put my arms out at an angle that allows me to use my arms and legs as suspension, elbows and knees flexing in place of stanchions and pistons.

I can hit descents on this at a speed not too far off a hardtail – the limiting factor has been my inability to get the front end up, or get airborne. With the front wheel way out in front, I’ve struggled to ease my rims over water bars, and rides on the MK4 have illustrated how much my usual line choice is now dependent on the expectation that I can hop over and off things. It’s not that you can’t get airborne on this – taking it to a bike park, with the help of kickers and designed-for-sending trail features, I had quite a lot of fun jumping. Plenty of casing too – it’s a long thing to get up, along and over features. But, it can be done, and the landings were surprisingly comfortable – you’ve just got to have your body doing the work. I suspect a bit more fitness, strength and practice will have me able to translate this to the trail, where a swift shift between a shock absorbing ‘attack’ ride position and a weight-back upright position to get the front up is needed in the absence of helpful kickers.

My play at the bike park also led me to trying out a few steep chutes – the kinds of things you can choose to either roll or pop – that I’ve previously only dared tackle on a big full suspension bike. I’ve recently added a bar operated dropper (it came with a crotch-grabber one) and I think this is going to expand my ‘can I ride that?’ horizons. I thought I’d be using this bike for long way round commutes and moorland yomps, but it is luring me towards the steep, silly, and speedy.

Overall

I like how this bike looks. I like how it grabs attention, even from casual non-rider passers-by. I also like how this bike feels – cruising along, it has a swagger to it that is comfortable and fun to ride. But most of all, I like how this bike makes me feel. Without wanting to sound too new age, it puts you in the moment. Riding it is a very immediate physical sensation – I’m constantly aware of my body working, the power it puts out, the points of weakness. There’s something about that immersion in the experience of riding, of what the trail and the bike are doing under me, that’s quite absorbing. It’s not about everyone else, or timed leaderboards, or bike settings. It’s about rattling down a rocky descent, feeling my body guide the bike down the trail, and giggling out loud. The freaks might be on to something: fun.

Stooge MK4 Specification

• Frame 4130 steel
• Fork 4130 steel
• Shock N/A
• Rims Spank Oozy Trail
• Hubs Spank Oozy Trail 395+
• Tyres Vittoria Cannoli 29×2.6 front, Specialized Slaughter 29×2.3 rear
• Crankset 32T singlespeed with Race Face crank
• Derailleur N/A
• Shifter N/A
• Cassette 17T singlespeed sprocket
• Brakes Shimano Deore cable disc brakes
• Stem Gamut Cillos 40
• Bars Stooge Junker
• Grips Mishmash
• Dropper Pro Koryak
• Saddle Bontrager Montrose Comp
• Size tested One size only
• Sizes available One size only
• Weight 13.34kg/29.42lbs