jones bikes and bars ..really something particularly special or just different?

never had the opportunity to ride one although i rather like the look of the titanium with truss fork version . Just wondered whether he really has created an awesome ride or is it just different? I guess some who’ve bought a mega bucks version will say yes as they have a vested interested in not being disappointed but have others found them to be nothing special?… on the other hand i presume others have nothing but praise?
Being of the victor meldrew character type ( grumpy and getting on a bit ..me btw) he certainly looks what we used to call “trendy”…. wearing wrap arounds and a funny little beard …does this add to the cool image he hopes to boost sales
or is there genuine positive innovation for sale that improves your riding experience ?
guess i’ll only find out by riding one but wondered what others think or have experienced ?

I tried them, I liked them so much I bought three pairs.

Couldn’t really care less what anyone else likes on their bike and I’m ambivalent towards beards.

I do however wear wrap around shades, they cost £3 though. 🙂

Jeff is a definite innovator when you look at the way he’s trying to develop rigid bikes in a world where some people just throw more travel at a bike.
He does seem to have kind of kicked of a trend of people looking at wheel sizes and fork offsets and the like.
If it’s for you or not is another question.
I had one of the early spaceframes and still own a later gen spaceframe but i’m getting older now and doing more lift assisted riding and riding it less and less.
It is still absolutely brilliant on smoothish woodland singletrack and is still an eye opener for what a rigid bike can do.

Just different.

You really need to ride a Jones for a bit and then get back on a normal bike to appreciate the alternative riding position of the Jones. You don’t jump on it and it’s an instant revelation. It’s when you get on another bike after that you realise. Seriously, my other bikes now feel wrong.

The bars on their own are not the full picture. Get an extended test ride on a full bike if you can, then go back to
your own and see. I’m in West Sussex if you want a try.

I have a half fat (with 29er front wheel option) original (Merlin titanium works) 3d Space frame with a Rohloff and it’s now my winter Thursday night bike, it’s great and does everything that I want from it.

Most of my time now I ride my Lauf fork’ed mainly Jones bar’ed titanium hard tails that offer more give but still with the same lack of maintenance.

Would I sell the Jones? I doubt it and it would need to be at the right money.

I finally gave in and bought a pair of his bars.
So far?
So good.
Seem pretty much spotty dog on my Krampus for long, bike packing days out..

Your not really describing the ride though are you John.
Just trying to swing your shit handling fireroad bike owning dick. 😆

I run Jones loop bars on my rigid fatbike – for long-distance riding they really are awesome as they really help keep your weight centred on the bike, both seated and climbing. Never found a situation where they’ve compromised control, including coming down Boner at Caberstone Forest where getting your weight back is kinda necessary.

I’ve got the bars and find them really comfortable. I’ve not ridden a Jones but have gone back to a rigid frame.
What I’ve realised is that most of my mountain biking on a day to day basis can be done on a rigid bike and I only need the full suss on trips elsewhere.
The bikes I ride daily are more about comfort than anything else. I imagine that a Jones bike fits that idea more than most.

BTW I’ve got a set of ummarked allow loop bar in the garage if anyone want’s to offer me anything for them?

Rode jeffs bike at sswc and it was quite a revelation in terms of position and what it could handle.

Cant imagine how horrible a rohloff makes it feel though (spoken as a rohloff owner)

I have a set of the bars and a set of the h bars made under license to titec.

bought a mega bucks version will say yes as they have a vested interested in not being disappointed but

Bill, as you know i have bought and sold more bikes than most on here. varying from £99 on ones up to £3k ventana’s and nicolai’s.
i buy em, ride em and if i dont like the feel, they are gone.

my jones+ so far was (up to surgery) keeping me smiling. it just feels kind of right. a big boys bmx if you like, which is why i ride, to keep me happy and smiling like when i was a kid.

time will tell i suppose. but if the time comes when it feels wrong, it will be sold without so much as a blink.

and the bars just feel very comfy and have stopped any wrist ache i had. and that was a lot (fused right wrist).

oh, and if you want to borrow it for a day in the next 2 month, feel free to drop me a email.

It’s when you get on another bike after that you realise. Seriously, my other bikes now feel wrong.

That happens with all sorts of bikes, nothing to do with Jones.

What pisses me off about this kind of ‘inventor’ – Moulton springs to mind as well as Jones – is that rather than simply inventing something and throwing it out there, they seem convinced that they’ve revolutionised the entire industry, they’re right and everyone else is wrong. And when not everyone likes it, they think we’re all poor deluded fools being strung along by marketing of companies with vested interests. And then they attract a small group of followers who drink the Kool Aid and then think they are the chosen enlightened ones following their messiah and everyone else is wrong and a poor deluded fool led by marketing of the big multinationals who are too invested in the status quo to change.

The video on Jones’ site also annoys me – ok, so he’s riding his bike around stuff, to show us the really rad things you can do on his amazing rigid bike. Well, that terrain’s all pretty damn smooth isn’t it? Big bastard rocks are what suspension is for not steep stuff.

Just admit it – it’s a rigid bike, it’s built a bit differently, some might like it some might not. Others might not be able to afford it. And there’s plenty of innovation out there.

BTW I’ve got a set of ummarked allow loop bar in the garage if anyone want’s to offer me anything for them?

£20?

i reckon you are a bit jelous molgrips…… 😀

No, I’m open minded. To everything, including Jones.. and everything else.. 🙂

I might be interested in the bars if I could get an almost tri-bar-like position by holding the front part of the loop and resting my forearms on the rear part.

What pisses me off about this kind of ‘inventor’ – Moulton springs to mind as well as Jones – is that rather than simply inventing something and throwing it out there, they seem convinced that they’ve revolutionised the entire industry, they’re right and everyone else is wrong.

Really?
Jeff just comes across to me as this is what I make, this is why I make it.
Try it to see if you like it.
One of the most un assuming guys I’ve ever met.

it’s ok molgrips, email me, you can have a go too. 😆

Maybe it’s his fanbois then, not him!

Or maybe that’s how he lures you into his cult…

I’ve had a go on a Jones btw, around a campsite. May have been too small but it felt very short and the front was quite low.

i had a go on loads of full sussers round mountains…..they felt too bouncy and flexy.

go figure…….. 😀

They are worse climbing. But ace descending, I don’t change bikes often, I like to find the good in everything 🙂

front was quite low.

With a truss fork?
The main complaint I’ve heard about the spaceframe and truss fork is that the front end is too high due to the way the fork clamps above the headtube.
Though again that’s how it’s designed so you sit upright and take the pressure of your hands on the rigid fork.

thanks all especially to Ton for his kind offer but I’m rairly oop north however ..with an offer like that maybe i should find an excuse to visit the friendly country !
like the idea of the jones loop bars but I also like bar ends and that’s not really possible on his design . i have probably tried every bar set up bar ( not a pun ) loops and have found a decent riser with big bar end ergons and a smaller bar end set more central suits me great . I’ll also add some origin drop bar ends into the mix if touring to make the most awesome /uncool front end you’ll ever see but it works for comfort and versatility. To old and settled to give a F about fashion ..for me now biking is about having fun , maintaining fitness and getting away from it all…not impressing others or trying to prove something .

Sounds like you met the man molgrips

Seriously ….and I think Stu was there and bought a bike off the back of it- while some first adey folk attended k a lad who just stacked it on a drop I asked Jeff if I could have a go on his funky looking bike and he just handed it over no speech no I’m Jeff Jones – I had no **** idea who he was. He just had an interesting looking bike that me as a student had no intention of buying but was seriously impressed with how it rode

With a truss fork

Yes, but with those if you change the angle the ends of the bars can be moved up and down a lot. I don’t remember but maybe that’s what he’d done.

I remember that guys splatted face Terry…

Yes, but with those if you change the angle the ends of the bars can be moved up and down a lot.

Sorry no understandy?
What has the fork got to do with the angle of the bars?

Me too. They do seem to add some extra fine control when navigating through soft snow etc. I’ve tried them on a “normal” bike and they didn’t really do anything for me.

For bikepacking I prefer bar ends on flat bars, I’ve also fitted some TOGS and even occasionally fit tri-bars. That seems to give me enough hand positions for longer rides.

like the idea of the jones loop bars but I also like bar ends and that’s not really possible necessary on his design

FTFY 🙂

Sorry no understandy?

Er sorry yeah reading back that was nonsensical.. made sense in my head. Let me re-phrase:

Even if the forks are higher, the bike also had Jones bars which because of the rearward extension allow you to move the grips up or down quite a bit by rotating the bars. So the owner might’ve had the bars low down even if the fork was high.

I really liked bar-ends and flats btw, but when I went to big wheels I had to have wider bars and they felt quite wrong with bar ends.

I’ve tried the bars and they work.

It’s the angle at which they place your hands and the range of movement offered.

They are certainly a genuine alternative to straight bars with ergo ends/butterfly bars and in my very limited experience seem to be a more useable alternative to both.

It’s an old fashioned idea brought sensibly up to date.

I think the bikes themselves are very interesting, definitely on the ‘must do’ list.

I’m quite interested in how a Jones bar feels but they are pretty expensive just to have a test run on. The most comfortable bars I’ve ever had were Mary bars put on upside down.

I still regret not taking you up on your kind offer sstu of a go on your Jones years ago at an ssuk or sswc but I was afraid I’d want one and need a remortgage lol. I did however have a go on Jacquie Phelan’s singular and bought one of those, I’m very easily led obviously 🙂

Stu sent you a message

A few people have emailed me about buying my loop bar.
I’ll get round to taking some pics and putting up a for sale add later in the week.

They are certainly a genuine alternative to straight bars

Or in other words, sweep can improve comfort.. there are many swept bar options these days of course! I’m using on one fleegles, they were a tenner.

‘m using on one fleegles, they were a tenner.

molgrips, so jelous and miserly………. 😀

I’ve owned various Jones bikes and the space frame is just brilliant. I’ve got through nearly as many bikes as ton and have no problem with spending a lot on a bike and getting rid of it quickly if it just doesn’t gel for me. I like the fact that Jeff does his own thing, doesn’t push it down everyone’s throat and isn’t the next best marketing thing in the world of ever increasing gnarrrrr-silliness. Its more of a case of form following function, which results in a really unique ride. Yes it looks like the bastard lovechild of a leg caliper and a coat hanger, but I don’t care.

Idiosyncratic, amazing ride, well thought through in every way. Not just different, definitely better.

Once you ride one and ‘get it’, you do wonder why his ideas aren’t more mainstream.

If you have never ridden one, or just don’t ‘get it’, here’s a great video explaining the point. It doesn’t look that way by accident or just to look different.

It’s nowehere near as plush as a full susser, but definitely more forgiving than a hardtail. The position works, the forks are amazing. Makes you realise just how much unwanted flex there is in a suspension fork as well as the up and down movement that you actually want.

You can set it up fat, semi fat or racing snake. Very versatile. I personally have mine set up with wide carbon rims, 3.0 up front and 2.3 out back. Provides plenty of grip and comfort.

I have the thru axle ti spaceframe and after years of searching I do genuinely feel like I have found bike nirvana. I have tried and been critical of many bikes over the years, so I am quite objective, but the Jones is amazing in pretty much every respect. Looks (subjective I know!), build quality, ride quality. And the bars are part of the story. A really natural hand position and many different options.

A Jones isn’t cheap, so many owners have owned quite a few other bikes on the way to their Jones, and aren’t afraid to criticise even bikes they have spent quite a bit on, but most agree that the Jones is special.

Watch some of the other videos of Jeff riding and you will appreciate that you ride a Jones in a slightly different way to a modern full susser. A bit more finesse required (it is a fully rigid bike afterall), but very capable off road.

The one frame size thing is a bit strange, but somehow it works, although I personally think that it has a 6ft’ish sweetspot.

[/quote]I’ve had a go on a Jones btw, around a campsite.

Well that’s a definite test then 😉

Joneses come in 4 different sizes, 29er (short wheelbase) Spaceframe Plus (slightly longer) and Plus, 24/25″ (long qwheelbase)
Opossum
I’ve never read a comment that the front of a Jones was too low before.

I’ve had mine for 7 years, as my only bike and it suits my riding, which is South Downs/rooty/twisty/woodsy single track.

That ^^^ is exactly what I am talking about.

They are uglier than the bastard child of Bernard manning and Jo brand.