So I've been riding like a fiend lately, which is unusual for me. I'm normally a 1 ride a week kinda guy. I squeezed a ride in last Thurs. (Which I talked about in my previous post), I went out again on Friday, which was a super short ride with a buddy, but we ran into more than the usual amount of riders on the trails this time. Wouldn't you know it; everybody wanted to know about the strange bike I was riding. One guy asked me what the deal with the fork is. "Is it shaped that way so you could hang a basket up front?" ... Ok, he was probably joking!!? Another guy asked me what size the front wheel was and later started telling me about other trails in the area where I might have a hard time since I don't have suspension. Anyway, all the chatting got me in trouble with the Mrs. (And my kids) cause I ended up being really late picking them up from camp.
I took it out 2 more times for some more decent sized rides and this is what I can tell you about the Jones ride.
Like I mentioned earlier, I usually don't ride much more than once or twice a week. Usually my body gets beat up, my back starts to get stiff and I need a few days off to do other forms of physical activity. Back to back days, were specially hard for me, but for some reason I can do it on the Jones. It's hard to believe that a rigid bike can be more comfortable than my full suspension bike ever was! My hardtail that came when my FS frame bit the dust had Reynolds 853 and 631 tubing, which is also known for its smoothness. To be honest; when I first considered the Jones I wished it was made out of the Reynolds tubing and not the 4130 it comes in. I think it's the magical Jones geometry that is to be thanked. The large tires have a lot to do with it too. I guess it's fair to say that it's not just the frame, or the fork, or the bar... The whole bike is a system, a combination of all these ideas that work together as a unit. Even the unusual use of a 135mm front hub can be felt when leaning heavily into a corner. I haven't found the limit of how fast I can take a corner yet on this bike, I have to build up more confidence in myself first. All I know is that I'm well past the abilities of my old bikes with the Jones. I did however find the lower limit of my correct tire pressure on the Ardent 2.4. I initially ran it at 16 psi on that 45mm Velocity Dually rim. I pinch flatted on the 3rd ride. Now I keep it at around 18psi. The front wheel with the Surly Knard 3.0 seems to be doing well with 10.5 psi. I did increase the pressure to 11.5 psi just to see if I notice any difference. I did not.
I figured out the climbing position with the Loop bars too. I find that If I keep my hands on the widest part of the bar and at the same time lean my chest forward over the bar more I could make it up some pretty steep pitches with a good amount of control and comfort. It feels like my wrists are bending more than they would on a normal riser bar, but it doesn't feel uncomfortable... it just takes a few rides to get used to.
I have yet to measure this observation, but I've noticed quite a bit more pedal striking on this bike. The Bottom Bracket must be lower than all my previous bikes. I do like the control the low position seems to give me, maybe I'll play with moving the headset spacers to the bottom of the head tube to raise it a bit. This would also slacken the head tube angle slightly. Jeff also recommended shorter cranks, which I was reluctant to agree to. I never had cranks shorter than 175mm. These now are 170mm. I remember having 170mm cranks on my first ever mountain bike, a 1993 Specialized Rock Hopper. I felt uncomfortable pedaling that bike and switched the cranks out for 175's. This felt better to me, but later I think it had more to do with those pesky Biopace chainrings than the crank arm length. I have to say that Jeff was right. The 170's on the Jones do feel great!
Are there any negative traits? Well, so far I've only found a minor one. The ESI Chunky grips have a few rips in them already due to scraping against trees in some tighter sections of trail. The increased pedal strikes maybe, but I do like the stability of the low BB, so I'll count that as a trade off.
I find that I can bunny hop this bike quite well, which is surprising to me, cause I was never that comfortable bunny hopping a 26er with the seatpost fully extended.
Another little plus to the Spaceframe design, the little curved tube that extends from the top tubes to the seat tube makes for a comfortable little perch to sit on when waiting for your riding buddies to catch up.
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