Readers’ Rides: Phill M’s Stooge Dirtbomb

For this edition of Readers’ Rides, Phill M shares his Stooge Dirtbomb which he sets-up with cod liver oil tablets and swearing.

Bike brand and model

Stooge Dirtbomb

Why this bike?

I spent years chasing the latest trends and changing bikes willy nilly. After a pretty rubbish year I wanted to get back on a bike and reconnect with why I fell in love with riding to begin with. That would be fun with a capital F. I also figured it was time I learned how to build a bike from the frame up.

As soon as I saw the Dirtbomb I knew I’d found the frame I wanted. It’s ridiculously good fun to ride and has an extra top tube which clearly means it’s twice as good as a regular bike. Admittedly building a bike from scratch in the middle of a supply shortage seems like madness. Surprisingly I only had trouble with buying the headset and I’m still waiting on a dropper post.The bike is a mix of used, new and a couple of bits I had lying around.

Fork

Stooge Bi-Plane

Shock

Who needs one?

Suspension Set-up

Suspension setup is cod liver oil tablets to keep the joints supple and messing around with tyres pressures whilst swearing a lot.

Wheels

WTB i29 on Hope Pro 4

Tyres

Teravail Coronado

Drivetrain

Shimano SLX and Aerozine

Brakes

SRAM Guide R

Bars & Stem

Stooge Junker Bar with a retro World Force BMX stem

Grips

ODI Vans lock-on

Seatpost

Brand X

Saddle

Madison Flux

Accessories

Wee Cog saddle bag and a cheap bottle cage because my daughter ate my fancy Fabric bottle

Size and Weight

Klunker size. Weight, meh.

Additional Comments

If you ever fancy buying a Stooge just do it. Andy is a great guy to deal with and answered all of my ridiculous questions. The bike is exactly what I need at the moment. A grin inducing hooligan that’s good for a bit of everything. Bimbling with the kids, exploring and handles my local route of Macc Forest really well.

Want to share you bike with the group?

Whether you’ve got a special new bike or just a bike that’s special to you, this is where you get to tell us about it! You send us your submissions, and then we cast our judgemental expert lustful eyes over them and bring them to the world to ooh and ahh over. We’re picking the prettiest, the most curious, and the ones with a good story for you to appraise, praise, and maybe look wistfully at.

Ben Haworth

Orange Switch 6er. Stif Squatcher. Schwalbe Magic Mary Purple Addix front. Maxxis DHR II 3C MaxxTerra rear. Coil fan. Ebikes are not evil. I have been a writer for nigh on 20 years, a photographer for 25 years and a mountain biker for 30 years. I have written countless magazine and website features and route guides for the UK mountain bike press, most notably for the esteemed and highly regarded Singletrackworld. Although I am a Lancastrian, I freely admit that West Yorkshire is my favourite place to ride. Rarely a week goes by without me riding and exploring the South Pennines.

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