Nice write up! I've been very intrigued by both the Jones 29'er Diamond frame and the Plus frames. I just started riding an old Trek that has very similar characteristics to a Riv (26" wheels) and I've been riding a Surly Karate Monkey, which I think is pretty representative of 29'ers. It would be interesting to compare either Jones to these two bikes. Someday I'm going to splurge on a multi-thousand dollar bike but right now I don't have a good enough idea what I want in that bike.
Have you compared the wheelbase of your two bikes? It's hard to tell by eyeballing which is longer. On Sunday, March 5, 2017 at 8:49:30 PM UTC-6, Tony DeFilippo wrote: > > My wife Erika's Clementine frame arrived from the first batch of frame > only pre-orders in late Oct-early Nov 2015... almost exactly coinciding > with us realizing she was pregnant. :) Funny how the 9 months of > pregnancy and now 8 months of having an infant can just timewarp your life > a bit (in a good way of course). Anyway the point of this is to say that > while the Clementine has been in the family for over a year it hasn't > exactly gotten put through it's paces. It's main purpose is as a classy > townie and now it'll be the main owner of the Yepp Mini front baby seat. > But you can't count out this swoopy-orange frame for some offroad fun! > Stripped of its fenders, bags and smaller tires and wearing the up till > last week Bombadil's wheel/tire-set we took advantage of my Mom being in > town to watch our daughter for the afternoon and hit the trail at Wakefield. > > > Joining the party as of Sat morning is my new-to-me pearly blue Jones > Plus, the 24" frame. Neat thing for my 5'5" wife and 6' me is that we can > effectively trade bikes between the 52cm/650B Clementine and the > 24"Jones... I'm not saying either is the frame size we'd go out and buy for > ourselves as a daily rider but I was very pleased at how just saddle height > adjustment was required for us to swap during our ride today. Both of us > were pumped to try a fat/plus bike (our first), Erika wanted to get some > time on her Clem and I was interested to compare the ride on both. Bottom > line is we had a really nice ride, weather was brisk but very bright and > pretty and the wooded area's were a really unusual mix of low stage green > spreading amongst a wintery treescape. Very unusual weather patterns we're > having here in the Mid-Atlantic this season. It was a pretty short ride > and the focus was on staying together and having fun so I won't give > exhaustive notes, just a couple impressions. > > Clementine - I started out from the parking lot on the Clem and had a > great ride on the bike. The 650Bx2.25" Nobby Nic's performed as well on > the Clem as they did on my recently departed Bombadil. Erika's sprung B67S > is way springier than my B67... WAY. Anyone else encounter this on the > ladies B67 or flyer saddles? On my Flyer and B67 the springs are very > stiff. Anyway once I got used to how much flex there was in the saddle I > got the hang of the bike. It definitely felt longer than the Bomba and the > Jones for that matter but I never had an issue maneuvering it on a trail. > I found it very easy to stand or shift weight between the big Alba style > bars and the saddle for climbing and descending. Erika did really well on > the Clementine once we switched although it is a rough transition both > directions going from canti's-hydro disc brakes and the ride/fit/geo is way > different. Her comment was that climbing on the Clementine right off of the > Jones felt like getting 'out of' a bike and then 'sitting on top of' a > bike... I didn't make the transition back to the Clementine and I'll > comment about the Jones in a moment. After the ride her perspective was > that so long as there weren't significant obstacles she preferred the > Clementine but with any features or obstacles felt more confidant on the > Jones. > > Jones + - I definitely get the 'riding in the bike' feel as advertised > with this bike. I was very concerned the 29x3" tires would make me feel > like sitting on top of a horse... couldn't be further from the truth. The > Clementine did actually feel taller than the Plus. Those 3" tires... wow, > you don't need a road, you don't need a trail, just point, pedal and > smile... I'm not sure how you compare it to any trail bike w/ smaller > tires. I'll be interested to try some other folks 3" bikes over time and > see if, as I suspect, this is common w/ other plus bikes. The bike is > incredibly stable. In my back yard there are several cinderblock low > walls, I climbed the two 12" ones and rode off the 24" messing around with > the bike this morning and even with sloppy technique and little to no > momentum the bike just takes care of you. None of the riding I did at > Wakefield today involved anything I couldn't or didn't do with my Bombadil > (or the Clementine) and I wouldn't say the Jones made it better just > smoother/mushier and probably easier especially climbing. > > That's about it, really enjoyed the time on both bikes and it was Erika's > second ever singletrack experience so I'm hoping to keep building on the > experiences for her. Really hate that I'm heading out of town this week > and can't ride till next weekend. I did take the Saluki out to pick up > chinese food tonight and can happily report that as much as I enjoyed it > the Jones hasn't 'ruined me' for other bikes! The Saluki felt nimble and > quick and her dyno lights and basket made the trip a joy. Couple pictures > including Erika on both bikes; > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lIby9D83AXE/WLzNIT-fyVI/AAAAAAAAWmw/7oP0OcSG_cwSXxMPY5m9wWmskP-DlaeGACLcB/s1600/IMG_20170305_144531574-2.jpg> > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NJO51A1p65E/WLzNOmaaslI/AAAAAAAAWm0/-I2olcqbIlQvNzQ-DDoeIWWJdaUtlOyZACLcB/s1600/IMG_20170305_134336267-2.jpg> > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9Kz34xldLyA/WLzNTbUsYLI/AAAAAAAAWm4/pg-dNt7RQmore6_Zm4GFZD1qi0pdOWKDQCLcB/s1600/IMG_20170305_134344442-2.jpg> > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BL4pGgRHSQk/WLzNX6YFOFI/AAAAAAAAWm8/oxUjkzLYGcc0j9ct7fqke_2OFlY3JbhgQCLcB/s1600/IMG_20170305_135511818-2.jpg> > > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s6ifwFRIVZk/WLzNcM9H36I/AAAAAAAAWnA/lqWw3rfPEsY7-Zss3VputcaWFXZyQytCQCLcB/s1600/IMG_20170305_143941345-2.jpg> > > > > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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