I am a bona fide Jones bar lover but have never used them for anything more technical than big XC loops.

Has anyone on STW used Jones bars for technical trail riding? Any experiences to share? Will I die?

Haven’t used the Jones bars, but have the Gusset and On-One ‘copies’.

Really struggle with them for techy / fast / rough descending. Getting elbows out and forward puts the wrists in a very odd and weak position – feels like I am actually going to die. You may well have a different experience though, worth a try?

Gusset bars now on the recumbent and On-Ones on the commuter.

cairngorm loop has its moments .

have not died.

local trails at quite tech(scolty) – also havnt died. I am how ever much slower than on my big bike…. probably not the bars fault – its a rigid 29er race geometry bike they are fitted to 😀

In all – probably not the ideal bar~(bonafide jones loop alu) but if you do die – its not the likely to be the bars fault.

Has anyone on STW used Jones bars for technical trail riding?

It depends on the bike for me, they suit some bikes well but not all. I’ve used Loop and H-bars on Alpine footpath type trails and some UK steep slo-mo stuff but that’s on a Jones bike and I’m just not hitting things as fast or hard om a rigid plus the bars work best (ime) on that type of bike/geometry. I’ve ridden the same sort of trails faster on a full sus or a more conventional geometry MTB and would prefer a much wider flat bar there.

Ive got copies of Jones bars. Techy no problem when loaded up for bike packing, weirdly awful when not!

Rode Jones bars on a Jones Spaceframe for a few years.
They were nice on smooth XC type stuff.
Bearable on slightly techy stuff but there’s no way I’d be trying to ride the trails where I now live with them. ( Tweed Valley)

I have a new pair coming that I was going to pop on my stupid fixed gear gravel bike, but was thinking that maybe it might be good to redirect them onto my Stooge, which gets used for everything from XC bimbling to enduro.

Maybe stick to the plan and pop them on the stupid bike!

onto my Stooge, which gets used for everything from XC bimbling to enduro.

Worth trying them on a Stooge for that range of use. Ime as the tech level and speed goes up H-bars and good rigid MTBs hit limits around the same point anyway. Comes down to whether they suit your own preferences and the bike.

Had them on my Krampus, fine on slow rocky steppy tech, less good on anything involving much speed.

last time I rode my Jones SF with them on a quick bit of trail, I fell off and snapped a ligament in my shoulder. I was a little bit pissed, though.

I’ve rolled down a few trails at the Golfie on my fatbike with them – I didn’t die! If you try and ride elbows-out, attack position with them you’ll probably come unstuck.

I found my (Geoffs) too wide for me (was used to 640mm flats) but I never got around to actual bike-packing, so rather than risk cutting them down I just now stuck them on classifieds instead. S t e a l t h y 😋

I found tight switchbacks the main issue, in effect my body was in the way to get the bar round far enough (ie full lock). If that makes sense. That was the widest Jones bar in a bike with shortish reach tho.

But rattling down tech stuff no real issue. Did Torridon with the jones bar on a fat bike.

Is it the wrist angle, the shortening of effective stem length, the lack of reach, a bit of both or something else that makes the Jones bars less good for fast steep gnar?

I’ve only tried them once, on a smaller person’s bike, and found them v confusing and that was doing slaloms in a grassy field!

Is it the wrist angle, the shortening of effective stem length, the lack of reach, a bit of both or something else that makes the Jones bars less good for fast steep gnar?

The narrower width I’d say, though a 710 H bar feels effectively wider to me than a 710 flat bar. Grip reach shouldn’t change with the H, you should account for it with stem length, plus you get more fore-aft grip range on a bar with that much sweep. On the downhills you’re at the rear, widest part anyway. If it’s fast, rough and you’re trying to keep a susser on line a wider flat bar and more elbows-out position just feels more braced and stable.

The narrower width I’d say, though a 710 H bar feels effectively wider to me than a 710 flat bar. Grip reach shouldn’t change with the H, you should account for it with stem length

Good point. I don’t think I did play around much with stem lengths. Could have been at fault fir that I just felt that it was ‘tiller-like’ and too near my knees. I like swept bars tho. Like the old On One Mary’s

OK, my Geoff’s have gone to a new owner. Now what. Anyone tried OG V2s?