I have been riding the Jones almost exclusively for over three months, and for the most part it's been everything I wanted for my everyday bike.
Almost all my rides originate from home, and I utilize my terrible narrow roads, gravel roads, smooth trails and some rocky singletrack. For this purpose the Jones has been pretty good. The upright position and 45-degree bars have virtually eliminated the neck and wrist pain I was experiencing with my other bikes.
This comfortable upright posture may not look like a "performance" position, but once I adapted to it I felt as fast or faster when climbing and almost as fast descending. When climbing, it's really just a matter of moving your hands forward a bit on the long grips, bending your elbows, and letting 'er rip. It's not much different from the classic XC racing position.
Descending so far is a bit different. With the bars so high, and the hands so far back, I don't feel I can attack a technical downhill like I can on a traditional bike. Maybe someday I will get there, but I feel a certain detachment from the bike when picking my way down a rocky trail. Your hands are SO high.
Conversely, on smoother high-speed singletrack the bike is an absolute blast. Too often you hear people say some bike feels like it's on rails, but I don't know any other way to describe it. And there's a good reason for it to handle this way.
While this bike is considered by Jones to be "short wheel base," the chainstays are quite long. Even with the EBB set at 9 o'clock (from the driveside), they come in at 450mm—pretty long by today's standards.
That chainstay length, combined with the low bottom bracket, can be felt when trying to loft the front wheel over obstacles. It doesn't come up as easily as you would think with the bars so high.
Speaking of the bottom bracket, it's low. Really low. Lower than anything I have ever owned before. I have never had an issue with pedal strikes in 36 years of mountain biking, but this bike is giving me fits when trying to ride the occasional rock garden. Granted, Jones specs 170mm cranks, which I refuse to use. I have been running 175s since my BMX days and I am not about to change now. People say you can't tell, but I can. Heck, I can tell if my saddle position changes by a couple millimeters.
Also, until recently I was running smallish 2.8 inch tires that actually came in at about 2.65 inches. Since moving to true 3.0 tires the bottom bracket is noticeably higher. Still, I think the pedal clearance aspect of the bike makes it unreliable as a "true" mountain bike.
The upside of the chainstay/BB combination is super sticky cornering. At high speed this thing just rails corners. It's amazing.
By the numbers, the top tube is relatively short at 23 inches, but when you factor in the bent seat tube and setback post Jones recommends, the reach is actually much longer. It works.
The fork is certainly fun to look at, not so fun to install, and performs just fine. For something so shockingly light, it's actually quite stiff with all the triangulation. If it weren't for the flotation of the plus tires, it would probably be too stiff for me in the dirt. But that same stiffness equates to great handling. You don't really realize how much your rigid fork deflects until you ride one that doesn't. On my Kona and Krampus, you can rub the front disc rotor pretty easily when climbing out of the saddle. I think it would be damn near impossible to do that with the truss fork. The thru axle and 150mm hub also contribute to the stiffness. When you really lean this thing into a corner it does not move.
Now some things I don't like: The water bottle placement is stupid. Two bottles on the down tube was something we were stuck with for a while in the '80s, and I was glad when it went away. Getting either bottle out is a hassle. There was plenty of room on the seat tube to use more traditional bottle placement. Not sure why Jones went that direction.
There are only two derailleur cable guides on the top tube, which leads to some occasional rattling. Every other bike I own has three for good reason. Noises drive me nuts. Using zip ties instead of the plastic clips helped a little.
I am not a big fan of the rear brake mounted on the chainstay. I know, I know, "It's stiffer that way." Well, it's also a pain to get to when installing, setting up or adjusting. Just put the damn brake on the seatstay so I can use my tri-wrench like I can on every other bike.
In the end, the bike has done what I wanted it to. I am more comfortable and putting less stress on my body because I simply believe the position is better. It's made me re-think riding altogether. If I am riding solo, I am no longer bothered by how slow a plus tire is on the road. If my ride takes 10 extra minutes, who cares? I'm not racing anymore. It's just for fun, and being comfortable and pain-free is pretty nice. Hopefully it helps extend my riding for another few decades.
Later.
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