After celebrating Jones Day with the family, I settled into the bike shop and got down to work. I keep an Excel sheet to track my bike budget (surprising, right?), and since the Jones purchase was putting me temporarily in the red, I didn't want to spend any extra on the build that I didn't have to. Here's how I put together a budget(ish) Jones LWB build:
Start with the frameset:
I purchased the LWB with the unicrown fork. My previous Jones was the truss fork 29+ version. This unicrown version is $275 cheaper, and I'm loving the looks of the unicrown fork. The way the fork huddles over the fat tire lets you know this bike means business, no frills allowed.
The unicrown fork also lets me use a normal headset, not the special "double upper" headset of the truss fork. As a bonus, the fork installation is completely straightforward. The only downside I've seen to the unicrown fork so far is that once you cut the steerer, you're done. No second chances (the truss fork has a separate, replaceable steerer). I resolved this issue by leaving my steerer uncut.
The Jones has a normal, 68mm BSA threaded bottom bracket. This let me use my old square taper Suntour XC Pro crank, same as on my Karate Monkey.
Compared to my previous Jones, this new one also has more rational hub spacing. The front hub is now the 150mm fat bike standard, while the rear is currently-normal boost 148. Of course, I don't usually have either of those wheel types hanging around, but they're reasonably available. My previous Jones, by contrast, used a rare 142 front hub spacing on the truss fork, and a 135 quick release on the rear. With this more common spec, I was able to cruise ebay over the summer looking for wheels (yes, I've been thinking about this build for a while). My front wheel ended up being a DT fat hub tied to a Nextie Jungle 50mm carbon rim, complete with WTB Ranger tire and XT rotor, for about half what I paid for my previous Jones wheel:
My rear wheel is a Bontrager Line Comp with 35mm alloy rim. The ebay lister said it had a slight ding in it, and maybe there's a micro spot on one side, but I can live with that for about $50 shipped. I supplied my own Fat B Nimble tire from my Fuel. I need something wider:
Someday when my bike budget is flush again, I'd like to buy a wider-rimmed rear wheel for offroad use, and a skinnier front for road use, along with some plump Schwalbe Big Apple tires. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Interestingly, the through axles that come with the Jones are now a simple bolt on. I find these easy to use, especially compared to my old front Jones hub, where the fiddly adapter spacers would come off every time I had to install the wheel.
Up front, I'm using a Soma Osprey handlebar I had original bought for my Soma Riff build. It didn't have enough rise for the short stack Soma, but works fine on the taller Jones:
This bar is basically a knock off of the Jones H bar, just with a 40 degree sweep instead of 45, and about $25 cheaper than the Jones straight gauge bars. I had thoughts of upgrading to a Jones Loop someday, but I do see some value in having a slightly different bar than what's on my Clem Smith.
My grips are foam XLC foam grips from Amazon. Rather than $30 for a pair of Jones grips, I paid $9 for two 400mm long foam grips, enough to grip out two Jones bars. That's like an 85% savings! And they're working fine so far.
Nothing's cheaper than single speed drivetrain:
Actually, it's a dinglespeed: 32/36 up front and 16/20 in the rear. The Jones is too much fun to ride to keep it with only one low gear.
To keep this build really low brow, I was sure to use my typical inner tube/chainstay protector and PVC cog spacer:
My post is a Chinese titanium post from my bin. I was hoping this would have a nice, flexy ride, but it feels pretty much like any aluminum post ever. Charge saddles are cheap and good, and my Origin 8 seat QR is cheaper than the seat clamps Jones sells (not included with the frame) and works well:
The brakes are $35 Shimano M396 Acera hydros:
I used these on Henry's mountain bike and felt they didn't give up anything to my Deores. These are still bedding in, but they're pretty good so far. I need to trim the cables at some point.
I got the frame on Thursday afternoon, and had it mostly build that night:
A missing star fangled nut kept me from finishing it, though that didn't stop me from a quick test ride around our pond in the dark. Happily, I had a four day weekend lined up, so a $6 trip to Performance let me finish it up for a shake down ride at Alum Creek on Friday:
The ride of the Jones is really pretty amazing. I was hitting the rough lines that I couldn't pedal through on my rigid KM, and the Jones felt as smooth as my full suspension Trek. The riding position is just spot on: upright, comfortable, but completely in control. The big wheels seem to grip better on corners than the B+ wheels I've been riding lately.
On my old Jones, my biggest complaint was when the front wheel felt resistant to turns when I was going fast. I haven't had that feeling at all with the new Jones. I think the lighter carbon rim is mostly to credit here, though possibly the fork and bar deserve some credit for keeping their weight closer to the steering axis.
I rode again Saturday with my friend Marc at Chestnut Ridge. The Jones was great there, even if I burned myself out hammering up the apple barn climb! It has the confidence of my Niner ROS9, but a smoothness that bike never had, even when it had a suspension fork. It's slightly harder to lift the front end of the Jones, but then again, the big front wheel rolls over everything so well, I rarely feel the need to loft it.
I took Sunday off from riding the Jones while we took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge.
Today I just rode around the neighborhood. On the paved bike path, the Jones feels a lot like my Clem: solid, but surprisingly lively, with a good turn of speed. But even on pavement with fat knobbies, I think the Jones actually handles better. It arcs through corners with assured competence but with a very light feel to the steering. It rides no hands as well as my old Trek 650b conversion, which was my previous best bike for no hands riding.
But the Jones also encouraged me to get off the bike path. I cut across the grassy practice field of the high school--it didn't feel like any extra effort coming off the pavement. I went up and down stair steps. I cut across construction sites. I hopped curbs. I dived down every trail that some neighborhood kid had cut into the brush. I had a good time on an otherwise ordinary loop!
My bike fleet currently stands at six bikes. The Soma Riff is already for sale on Pinkbike, and the Trek Fuel is waiting for my friend Chris to borrow it to see if he wants it. My BMC Monstercross has become the bike I steal parts from to finish other builds. The Clem is safe because it's lovely to have a bike with a ready basket and flat pedals to ride with the family, though the Jones could do its utility duty just as well. And I'll keep my KM for sentimental and variety reasons, and because Henry likes it.
But if I had to keep just one bike, it would be the Jones, and that would be no bad thing.
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