On the finish of 2023 I intimated that maybe I’d be eliminating some bikes.
Properly, it’s 2024, and as of right now I’ve settled all household enterprise:
Barzini…
Philip Tattaglia…
Moe Greene…
Stracci…
Cuneo*…
*[OK, this one wasn’t actually my bike but I did send it back to Classic Cycle and I needed a bike for every name in the scene.]
Every of those bikes is now both with a brand new proprietor or within the technique of being delivered to a brand new proprietor.
Certain, not like the heads of the 5 Households these bicycles weren’t my enemies–removed from it. Every served me effectively, and a few had been really particular. For instance, the RockCombo was probably the greatest all-arounders I’ve ever ridden, and the made-to-measure Engin was positively beautiful and a motorbike I by no means thought I’d relinquish. However like Michael Corleone I have to not let my feelings intervene with enterprise. Additionally, like every self-respecting bike dork, whereas I’ll have “whacked” 4 bikes, I additionally used this as an excuse to fill a emptiness and anoint a brand new capo de tutti capi:
So kiss the hand of the latest member of The Household:
Sure, after a shady backroom deal the Vinershiki will stay on Tenovo turf for the foreseeable future. And whereas including a motorbike once I must be subtracting them might appear to be a step backwards, it’s truly a extremely calculated transfer, as a result of having a pristine classic Italian specimen like this can maintain me from doing one thing reckless like trying a expensive and time-consuming all-out restoration of the Faggin:
Now I can maintain it in dirtbag mode like Lob meant.
As for being with no single-speed mountain bike for the primary time in lots of, a few years, that’s an enormous psychological hurdle, however the truth is that I merely don’t have time to spin slowly as much as the mountain bike trails as of late, whereas the Jones will get me there and again effectively and in consolation–after which as soon as I’m there it will get me up and over all the things with (relative) ease:
And whereas nothing is as mechanically easy as a singlespeed mountain bike, the Jones has been boringly dependable, needing solely minor changes right here and there. I did detect a teeny little bit of play within the crank on my trip this previous weekend, and whereas on SRAM/Truvativ/No matter cranks like these that’s a easy matter of twiddling with the preload adjuster, I did almost lose the crank on the crabon cyclocross bike not too way back:
And I noticed that within the 5 years I’ve had this bike I’ve by no means checked the fixing bolt:
So after years of not fascinated with the crank in any respect, I abruptly determined I needed to test it now. Alas, I didn’t have an 8mm hex key on my multitool, however luckily my trip took me previous a kind of public bike stands:
Although because it turned out all of the hex keys had been stolen:
However at the least there have been loads of cone wrenches in case a passing bike owner had a sudden need to overtake a loose-bearing hub.
So as an alternative I saved driving, checked the bolt with a torque wrench once I received residence, and located it to be as comfortable as a bug in a rug, which suggests I had nothing to fret about within the first place.
In any case, the Jones is essentially the most car-like of my bicycles–not as a result of I take advantage of it like a automotive, however as a result of it really works extraordinarily effectively in its inventory type and I’m not inclined to tinker with it:
I imply I do know loads of folks customise their vehicles, however I don’t. And sure, I’ve tinkered with the Jones previously, like when I rode it with Rivendell bars and a friction shifter for awhile:
It was a enjoyable experiment, however finally Jeff Jones received the bike precisely proper, and past including equipment or no matter there’s actually no level in messing with it or second-guessing him. This bike will even take up all of the driving I’d in any other case have achieved on the singlespeeds or the RockCombo, and I do know it’s going to accomplish that as readily as these fat-ass tires take up tough terrain:
However bear in mind, plus-sized tires like this are completely out of fashion:
As a result of they “dumb down” the path:
Whereas a motorbike like this doesn’t dumb it down in any respect:
That is like saying giant print dumbs down books once you spend 16 hours a day watching TikTok.
Mountain bikers actually are the worst.
After I love a motorbike, I’m all the time inquisitive about what persons are saying about it on The Internets, and I’m all the time deeply disillusioned. Moreover that silly article about plus-sized tires, one other factor I’ll typically come throughout when studying about Jones bikes particularly is one thing alongside the strains of:
The Jones full bikes are like completely overpriced as a result of they solely include NX however the [WhateverBikes IronicName] comes with GX and prices much less.
Proper. It’s actually not a motorbike for everybody, however assuming you’re searching for a motorbike like this–that’s to say a inflexible do-anything bike with full off-roadability that’s designed to simply accept fashionable parts–which do you suppose is a greater worth? The bike that a bearded bike freak has been obsessively refining for years and years and years at this level and that kinds the premise of his complete firm and upon which he’s staked his complete repute? Or the suspension-corrected novelty bike from an enormous firm that has like 400 completely different different fashions too however makes use of contrived irreverence in its advertising and marketing supplies and comes with a derailleur that prices $20 extra?
However my favourite dumb factor of all that mountain bike folks say on the Web is that mechanical dick breaks suck:
I actually get that there are individuals who want hydraulic brakes for numerous causes, which is completely honest. I additionally get that due to the perverse issues designers are doing with bikes now the cables just about need to be hydraulic:
[Oh, please, you asked for it you Mountain Wankers.]
However assuming a “regular” bike I don’t know what sort of setup errors persons are making to conclude that mechanical disk brakes one way or the other “suck” or are insufficient to gradual or cease an off-road bicycle with precision.
That is in regards to the level at which individuals on the Web will then say “Properly you don’t trip arduous sufficient,” which, primarily based on what I’m seeing on the market, is the hub calling the headset black.
However sure, the Jones is a exceptional machine. Put some fenders on there and you might commute on all of it week after which disappear into the wilderness for the weekend with out altering a factor:
I typically discover myself fantasizing in regards to the customs, however the bike’s so ridiculously competent and enjoyable as is I understand that’s the very last thing I want, and 5 years later it’s principally precisely because it was when it first got here out of the field:
I’m jealous of the kickstand mount on the V3 bikes although.
