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

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

But you don’t see it while riding it.

lets face it – they aint as ugly as those **** girvin flexy stem sorry lauf forks.

half ugly i reckon

2016-07-20_01-11-14 by 20ston[/url], on Flickr

@johnclimber – yes you do, that split top tube looks worse from above….

#gopping

Having people complain that your Jones looks ugly is something of a badge of honour to owners! Nobody buys one for the looks. There’s so much more to it.

Cynics may mock the looks, and admittedly both the looks and the ride aren’t for everybody, but you have to admire Jeff’s thoughts and determination to do things his way. You either but into it or you don’t, but if you do, frankly nothing will dissuade you.

They are a novelty bike. Great fun I’m sure; not what any serious cyclist would use though, especially if you ride black routes.

I’m not knocking the bikes, never really ridden one properly. I’m knocking fanbois in general.

mine is stonking on the canal towpath…..makes it come alive 8)

Crikey, the front of Tons Jones looks a bit low! 😉

singlespeedstu: sent you an email re. bars. Can you check you got it?

Crikey, the front of Tons Jones looks a bit low!

it is so uncomfortable set up like that, i get terrible backache…. 😆

I’ve had my Jones (ti SF) for 5 years new and I still cant believe how good it is. It was a massive commitment to me (and a big bank loan!) and I’d never even seen one – never mind ridden one prior to getting mine built up – super risky!

It took me 6 months to get the set up right, had loads of tinkering with the bars but just absolutely love it now.

To this day, I can’t decide if I like how it looks but the way it rides and feels a seems so much better than anything else I’ve ever been on. Its been x30, x10 and ss, 29/29+ front and fat front, full bike packing mode and pedalled through grim Scottish winters and its never disappointed.

Sure, Jeff Jones – ideas/bikes/components splits opinion and I’m a fussy guy so I’d always respond honestly – if it was rubbish, I’d have sold it and moved on.

Understand it’s not for everyone but for anyone curious, they need to have a spin on one to get a sense of what’s going on. Its now my only bike, I can’t think of a scenario where I’d every choose anything else…

I can only comment on the loop bars. I use them on my Fargo. I love them, so comfortable, they just feel right…. When I go back to riding risers you realise how good the loops are, risers just feel so wrong. Also have the loop out in from of you gives you a sense that you can ‘barge’ through anything

They are a novelty bike. Great fun I’m sure; not what any serious cyclist would use though, especially if you ride black routes.

Just loving that comment 😈

I feel so much a lesser rider for having had 4 Jones bikes, really 😆

I’ve nothing to add to this conversation although these articles are worth reading…

http://nsmb.com/jones-plus-long-term-review/

Jones Plus Review: A Bike Like No Other

I rode a bike with a truss fork long before Jeff Jones ‘invented’ it! 😆

It was similar to this. It had been in the cellar of a friend’s house, and we got it out to have a play on it. It was comfy, but very heavy, and the brakes didn’t work. I think it ended up as as scrap. 😥

Didn’t they start off on motorbikes? I seem to remember a couple of framebuilders reviving the truss fork back in the 90s. The main issues until recently, were that metal fatigue eventually did for them, and the frame and fork have to be more or less specific to one another. Makes for difficult manufacture. They never became popular because of these issues. Titanium, and modern steel alloys allow for better performance and longevity.

As for the handlebars; again, they just seem to be adaptations of previous designs. Fair play to independent builders for trying different things out though; it’s nice that we can enjoy the results of someone’s experimentation.

I keep wanting to reply to this, but don’t want to feed the trolls.

I have a Jones, I like it; I have other bikes, I like them too; but the Jones is definately the most adaptable of the lot.

I can’t think of a scenario where I’d every choose anything else…

Blasting rock gardens as fast as possible?

Passenger
Cyclist

Choose one

?

molgrips, so jelous and miserly

So if you don’t spend £150 on bars you’re a miser? 😯

This is great. One bike doesn’t fit all so stop fighting it.
If you spend a lot of time flying through rock gardens then there are better bikes for you. If you ride 200km a day on the road then there are better bikes for you.
Jeff has made a collection of bikes that cover a very broad spectrum of riding and does it exceedingly well. The majority of people that have tried them like them. If you don’t it’s no biggy. Specialized will sell you a bike that will make you happy as will Trek, Marin, Genesis, etc.
As The Doctor Pepper advert use to say,”Try it, you might like it.”
Tim

I’d love a Jones, but that’s because I do like a bit of ‘oddness’ in my life..

Having ridden a jones around a bit (again, mostly carpark riding, not proper off road) I can confirm that my Kona Minute has a very similar riding position 😉 (same bars, too!!)

Jones Space frame:

Kona Minute:

DrP!!

would that be a jones thats been through a mangle to make the wheelbase twice as long ?

Jeff Jones – probably the smartest guy I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking to about bike design. I just asked some questions then learned by listening. I liked the h bar I had on my SS, liked his approach to it all and a chat then a test ride sold me a bike.

I liked my first Jones bike enough to buy another one a few years later. When it came to racing the Divide there really wasn’t a better bike to use, imo. It’s not the best bike in every way, nothing is, but I rate it as really good at more things than anything else I know of. It’s simply a huge amount of fun to ride, the handling is sublime. I’ve used it on local singletrack, week-long alpine tech rides, road touring and bikepacking racing, would do it all again on the same bike. Fan, yes. I’ve said all this before here and there over the last 5 or 6 years now so it feels genuine and consistent.

Been keen to try that Jones Plus since reading that NSMB review a while back. Think it looks “right” in a way that a lot of his others don’t.

Only had a very quick play on a full Jones bike at the old Kielder 100. Looked shiny, didn’t get to do anything other than a quick car park lap so can’t comment on ride quality.

Had a set of Loop bars on my SS 29er for a while though, to be honest I didn’t get on with them. The sweep was just a bit too much for me and I never felt as comfortable on them as I did when I switched back to a normal flat bar on that bike. Wouldn’t derive a excellent/good/poor/rubbish scale from that, but they just didn’t work for me. Other people’s experiences may vary.

So if you don’t spend £150 on bars you’re a miser?

yes.

oh, and where do you do your’ blasting through rock gardens’ molgrips?

Er.. Wales?

But what does it matter if I do it or not? Point stands. Horses for courses. As someone else said, Jones are only suitable for certain kinds of riding, just as Endro sleds, XC race bikes, gravel bikes and all the rest are.

quite happily “blast” my jones through rock gardens in wales, peak district etc.. and even on *gasp* black routes!!

dont have a problem with it, yes it’s a bit more of a handful than a 5″ trail bike, but its also a hell of a lot more satisfying and not as shockingly **** as most boingy gear **** would expect 🙂

note: my blast and your blast may be different depending on level of gnarrr, but I seem to overtake a lot of mincing storm troopers so if not blast to your heroic standards at least faster and with more panache, than a pootle 🙂

wales? bloody wales, i did snowdon on a full rigid inbred fitted with vees. and you need a bloody full susser for a few rocks. you need a good dose of MTFU mate. 😆

but ton, you dont understand it doesnt bring the trails alive unless its on the latest garish enduromongchariot with whichever wheel size is in this week 😉

😆 @ tazzy.

got to be honest now, enough piss taking. i see my jones as my ‘grown up ton’ bike.
i dont want to go fast, i dont want hardcore, i dont like riding over anything too rocky, i dont want maintainance.
i do want simplicity, i do want to carry luggage offroad, i do want to go off the beaten track, i love steel bikes.

i have ridden every type and make of bike, i have never ridden a Jones until i bought my +.

hopefully it will keep me happy and stop me buying bikes that are not what i really need and are not suitable.

I like mine

Jones are only suitable for certain kinds of riding, just as Endro sleds, XC race bikes, gravel bikes and all the rest are.

I’d say that’s underestimating how wide-ranging the bike is and that’s the clever bit that Jeff has designed into the bike. I’d never seen a rigid bike as capable of much speed over rough ground until I rode the Jones. It’s somehow a mix of those small 4X inspired HTs from 1998-2000, a fast XC bike and a rigid DH / FR bike, yet it still feels at home as a road tourer. I can’t think of any other bike that covers that range so well.
Yes you need a bit of skill and input to ride it fast over the rough and it’ll never match what a 150mm bike can do in the right hands there, but it’ll suprise you if you have the basic skills sorted. A few friends who are capable, fast downhillers have ridden my Jones and handed it back with suprised, complimentary feedback. The Stooge uses very similar ideas to do the same sort of thing off-road and both are a world away from the more common rigid MTB handling.

I don’t doubt that it’s wider range than many or most bikes. But it’s still rigid 🙂

I discounted Stooge because I didn’t want what it was offering.

Exactly, it’s a limiter, but it’s not as much of a limit as many think – I get all kinds of suprised looks riding it in places where everyone else is on springs but I feel a bit fraudulent, it’s just that people don’t generally realise what the bike is capable of if you gel with the handling style it has. Somehow (for me) it handles in a way that means there’s few places where I miss suspension – usually very long back to back days on stuttery ground, ie that annoying sort of rough rather than ‘good tech’.
I’d have a susser for big mountain days if I lived closer to big mountains, but as an addition to the Jones rather than to replace it. There’s plenty of places with steep slo-mo tech where I’d rather ride the Jones than a full susser.

I get all kinds of suprised looks riding it in places where everyone else is on springs

You must ride with some greenhorns 🙂

I can ride any of my bikes on any trail I know. Just some are much slower than others 🙂

What I like about my long travel FS is the body-English aspect of it, how you can pump it through corners and so on. On my rigid, I like how it doesn’t move when I get out of the saddle on technical climbs.

I’m missing a short travel FS currently. No urge to buy Jones for that purpose 🙂

I think a big part of what makes it work so well is the very low BB, tall stack height and short-ish reach. You’re basically standing in the same position as on a lot of downhill bikes, with the resulting stability and reduced load on the arms. My hardtail is set up similarly – it’s long reach but with the short stem plus bar backsweep the grips are in line with the steerer.

I wonder how huge a difference in stiffness there is between the truss fork and a modern tapered steerer large stanchion fork? I’m sure there’s a massive gulf between it and the XC forks in use when the bike was launched.

Yes I cannot see how all that metalwork on the fork makes any difference.