Jones: Worth selling rest of your bikes for?

I gotta say keefs space frame looks **** ace in the flesh, pictures don’t do them justice

Just off out myself.

Meet mates, ride, pub, ride home.

It’s what it’s all about. 😀

OK, as a wee one I’ve always been skeptical of the one size fits all and normally of the “I have a Jones” brigade. But I tried riding 2. I can honestly say as soon as I sat on the steel spaceframe I thought bl**dy hell it’s a spot on set up, then I did a route I know, then I swapped and tried the Diamond. I’m converted. In my humble opionion the Diamond frame is good but not significantly better than my Karate Monkey. But the Spaceframe is another story. I’ve started selling bikes………..
It won’t do everything I do but I hope it’ll do the vast majority.
So if you haven’t tried one stop moaning and actually ride something different and with an open mind, you never know you may actually like it……

If your bike makes you smile every time that you ride it, then I guess that it’s money well spent. My new Trance 29er makes me smile every time that I ride it……but maybe that’s just because I’ve started riding again and am realising what I’ve been missing for the last 12 months? It’s all riding bikes at the end of the day-chuck in a decent bunch of mates and beer-even better……..keef and emac will suffice though!

Jones are still for saddo attention whores with small knobs though 😈

my question would be : when you get bored with the jones, where do you go from there? im only asking because i get the impression you would buy one because you have exhausted all other bike options, is it not a retirement bike really?

Tom B thinks I’m his mate……..what a knobber 😉

my question would be : when you get bored with the jones, where do you go from there?

You go riding instead of hanging out on internet forums.

Admittedly my last post was a bit trollish and for sure, the bike you enjoy riding is the right bike for you. I have to say though people referring to short-travel XC FS bikes as skills compensators make me smile, surely the point of a Jones having a truss fork, fat tyres and being a 29er is all about smoothing out the trail a bit, exactly what full suspension does (only it’s better damped and more tuneable). By that logic a Jones is a skills compensator compared with a standard 26″ rigid bike…

By that logic a Jones is a skills compensator compared with a standard 26″ rigid bike…

Maybe. Does it matter?

I get the feeling from this thread the Jones owners are happy with their bikes and not bothered by how they’re called. It’s the sceptics who seem to get in tizzies about the different bells, whistles and widgets that can go on their bikes.

Does anything in this thread matter? :p I’m just making the point that as jibes go then Jones rider deriding a ‘skills compensator’ doesn’t make much sense.

Does anything in this thread matter?

No. Nothing actually matters, we’re all just space dust being transformed to worm food. But that’s another topic.

Jones rider deriding

Did they though?

Jones rider

is this different to mountain biker or cyclist? it’s just a bike, (albeit a magical dandyhorse of epic proportions that seems to evoke a strange response in those that have no interest in it?)

Odd old thing the mountain biking lark these days, or at least this forum is strange place, where everyone must conform to the “norm” or else is told repeatedly they are wrong by those with no experience in the subject matter. Do we expect a visit from the thought police to take us to ministry for re-education where we will be subjected to constant MBR and MBUK abuse until we are at one with the hive? 😯

Lucky we have radical free thinkers like you to help stop us from being such conformist slaves to the man though eh? 🙂

And you accuse others of taking themselves too seriously. Oh the ironing etc

And all those who claim not to care about what others think seem to have spent an awful lot of time justifying their purchasing decisions. 😕 I’ve been out riding my (bland, mainstream) bike in the sunshine.

And all those who claim not to care about what others think seem to have spent an awful lot of time justifying their purchasing decisions.

or just discussing it on a thread about Jones bikes rather than trying to derail a thread by posting a load of negative crap about stuff you have no interest in, hey grumpy 😆

glad you enjoy your riding, it’s nice to see post something positive for once. xx

I’m interested in brands and identity, perceived value, etc. Been doing some research recently for my business and you lot provide some fascinating data. 😉

Do I want a Jones? Yes
Space frame? No
Diamond? Yes
Can I afford it? No

On that basis I ride my bike with a fat front and one gear
Does it make me smile? Yes
I also have a bike with bounce and gears
Does that make me smile? Yes

Do I care what others think of what I ride? No
If folk like a particular bike make and can afford it. Fine

Now i know this is going to go a bit against the trend but….Fontmoss…I think the answer you’re looking for is probably yes. If you’re coming to the south side of london then you’ll likely ride swinley and surrey hills. At both places you will be able to ride any of the runs and have a great time doing it on a fat front Jones. I can do so on my swift with a rigid front and i’m no amazing rider. Sure some of the rougher, faster runs round Peaslake will be a bit jiggly but they’re still a giggle and you can always slow down.

Funny thing is, if someone said my bike’s ugly & not fit for purpose,why do you ride it etc etc….
I wouldn’t careless,certainly wouldn’t feel the need to justify it & why I ride it…. 8)

grum please do share what you believe you have learnt from this thread

Now i know this is going to go a bit against the trend but….Fontmoss

IMO:

* sell your CX if you’re not or not going to use it = make your life and move easier
* keep the Superfly for now, maybe get some Niner carbon forks, and see how you get on with it once you’ve moved and ridden ‘down our way’. Do your move, let the dust settle, demo a Jones and other bikes at leisure and a path may then become apparent

IMO your Superfly probably won’t fetch anywhere near as much as it’s worth to you as a ridable bike

Ahhh jj who’d have thought you’d have something to say on this thread 🙂

Quite surprised you have mate,as you only ride when the sun shines …. 8)

How many of the Jones converts on here are a little taller than average.
Always fancied the bikes but have concerns the one size frame might not work for my 6 2″ height.
I know they apparently are supposed to fit but do they in practise.

Even if the sun had been shining the last 2 mths I wouldn’t have ridden, but now I’m living next to some good riding and I’m enjoying it again 🙂

Good to hear you’re getting out & about again matey… 🙂

emac65 – Member
Good to hear you’re getting out & about again matey…

er,you feeling ok,JJ ? 😆

It’s JJ keef….I’d guess that he’s feeling lonely….surely he can’t have many friends? 😆

Why does the website keep banging on about the bikes being non-suspended when they have moving seat tubes that allow the “seat tube to flex back and down for a smoother ride”, have a massive front tyre, and forks that look like they must be designed to flex up and down? Surely that is just suspending the rider, but by stuff bending/squishing rather than sliding?

Orangejohn I’m 6’3″ and about 110kg. I bought one of the first round of Merlin Jones. I’ve thought about selling it a couple of times, but that’s always been when I haven’t been riding it. Then I do ride it and I can’t imagine selling it.

All in all it fits fine. I do like what would generally be considered a more upright position, but with the bars and other elements of the design I move around more on the bike and find it more comfortable than any other bike I own.

Bigjim.

The fork is the stiffest thing i’ve ever riden.
My Van 36 flexes more under brakng that my truss fork.

Grum.
I can’t see anyone trying to justify anything.
What i can see is people answering questions that have been asked.

Next time i’m passing your neck of the woods i’ll bring mine with me and we can go out for a ride.
That way you can try it out and ask as many questions as you want with out coming across as someone that’s just looking for an argument or trying to score points agains others.

Tom B – Member

Yep,can’t argue with that………….. 🙂

How many of the Jones converts on here are a little taller than average.

6′ 1″ here but I don’t like long / big bikes, ride a 570mm top tube / 120mm stem road bike and an average 19″ / 23.5″ or just over TT on a ‘normal’ MTB with about a 70mm stem. Jones feels good to me with a layback post and 90mm stem.

When changed from a 90 to 70mm stem, It felt better to me. YMMV. But I’m a shortarse 5’8″ 😉

An Inbred with a rigid fork maybe?

I used to race one of these. Seriously, don’t do it…

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/lapierre-frame-spares-only-available-to-original-owner

one could almost believe the boingy bike manufacturers also prefer we buy rigid bikes

I still race my Inbred with rigid forks. Love it……….

I actually took a good picture this weekend.

And to answer the original question: if I lived at Afan I would not run a rigid bike everyday, but Si was mental fast on his jones this weekend.

I’m 6’2″ and was fine with a 110mm stem, and a layback Thompson post.

6’1” 120mm and layback here as well.
Is that picture from the Weald of Dorsetshire Charlie? On the heath by he ferry? Aglestone country?

No, not Dorset, tail end of skyline at Afan.

But look, it’s not raining, sleeting, snowing… It’s dry and sunny.

Si was on the jones, I was on the krampus… Two very different approaches to rigid bikes…. The jones was so nimble, the krampus was rolling thunder.