BSNYC Fall Product Review Spectacular Part 2: Jones SWB Complete!

To be honest, I've got reservations about reviewing the Jones SWB Complete:

For one thing, as a semi-professional wiseass what business do I have reviewing anything?  And for another, I've only had the bike since July, and I like to give things a time to wear out and/or fall off before I start making pronouncements.

However, in the relatively short amount of time I've had this bike I've spent a lot of time on it, so I feel like I've already gotten to know it pretty well.  Also, between my own conversations with Mr. Jones and my experience with the bike, I've got a good amount of confidence in the components.  (As for being a semi-professional wiseass with no business reviewing anything, I've got no justification there.)

So let's just go ahead with the understanding that I plan to spend a lot more time on this bike and that I'll continue to update you as circumstances warrant.  Okay?  Great.

Anyway, here's the Jones SWB Complete as it looked after this morning's ride:

The bike is just as I received it, with the following exceptions:

• I converted it to tubeless
• I changed the saddle since the stock one was too squishy
• I added pedals, water bottle cage, saddle bag, and handy Jones handlebar purse

If you get one of these for yourself I recommend getting the tubeless conversion out of the way right off the bat, since trailside inner tube changes are difficult with this particular wheel/tire combo.

Speaking of today's ride, since my time was limited I figured I'd just nip on down to Highbridge.  However, when I got there I found the trails flooded:

It may not look like much, but this was actual running water, and when you consider all the drug paraphernalia and other detritus that accumulates on these trails I can assure you that you do not want to get splattered by anything while riding in this park.  At first I thought it must be a water main break, but upon returning to the street I discovered that it was in fact an open hydrant:

Flowing along the gutter:

And into the storm drain:

Where it then ran under the dirt jumps and finally onto the trails.

Since the Highbridge trails are essentially carved into the side of a bluff, it meant that basically the whole park (or at least the part I prefer to ride) had been transformed into a giant water feature like something you might find in the lobby of an office building.  So after knocking around on the few remaining dry spots for a bit I gave up and headed back home.

On the bright side, given all the needles I saw I guess the park could use a cleaning:



As for the Jones, while the appearance says "mountain bike," the Jones pitch is that it's a bike for everything: road riding, gravel, commuting, touring, you name it.  Here's the video again to refresh your memory:



Now if you're a Fred like me who enjoys doing club races on the weekend and that sort of thing this is obviously not going to replace your road bike.  Similarly, if your idea of mountain biking is driving to a trail and then hitting only the gnarliest and most technical sections before loading the bike back onto your car and driving home again, go buy the latest full-suspension whatever and leave the rest of us alone.  But for everything else the Jones does have you pretty much covered.  If your ideal day on the bike is actually a day on the bike--complete with road, dirt, and technical terrain in whatever proportion you happen to feel like--then you're going to be extremely pleased with this bicycle.  It's also got mounts for more bags, cages, and accessories than I'll ever use in my entire life, so if you're one of those millennial bikepacking types (or you aspire to be) you should be all set.

Let's put it this way: If I had a whole week to spend riding, this is the bike I'd choose.  One day I'd ride out to the beach, the next I'd go hit some mountain bike trails, the next maybe I'd hop a train and go ride dirt roads, etc.  It's that kind of bike.

I'll even buy Jones's commuter claim, since with a few accessories this would make a pretty good city bike, and it rolls over construction plates like nothing:

Any New Yorker knows how annoying it is to turn a corner and find the street's being milled for the next 20 blocks.  On the Jones you wouldn't even notice.

Of course Jones does things differently from other bike builders--and while this is what makes the bike so awesome, it also takes some getting used to in certain situations.  For example, the Jones has a low bottom bracket, and for this reason it's fitted with 170mm cranks, which is pretty unusual for a "mountain bike" these days.  Despite the short cranks I do find that on very rocky terrain I get more pedal strike than I'm used to, which can be disconcerting at times.  However, the bike handles so exceptionally the rest of the time it's not a big deal.  On fast and twisty singletrack the bike is nimble and makes you want to throw it around like a BMX (I feel like a douche saying it "comes alive," but it really does), and it's also especially well balanced when climbing.  (It can be tough at times to keep the front wheel where I want it when riding my Marin; with the Jones this is not an issue.)

Pedal strike aside, the worst thing about the bike is that it's just so much fun, which gets you thinking: "Wow, if this bike is so great, just imagine what it would be like to build up one like this:"

So the gateway drug aspect is potentially dangerous and expensive--unless you're the kind of person who's able to stop with the gateway drugs, in which case you should have nothing to worry about.

Speaking of expense, the Jones SWB Complete is just about $1,800.  While certainly not expensive in the grand scheme of performance bicycles, it may appear to be so for a bike with that doesn't come with "high end" parts.  However, firstly, if you're interested in the whole Jones thing (that is to say an actual non-corrected rigid all-terrain bicycle) you're better off in the long run getting the real deal than doing a conversion like I did when I found my way to the whole Jones thing, and in that sense the bike is an absolute bargain.  Secondly, as something of a connoisseur of inexpensive bicycle components, while there's nothing fancy on the bike it's all good stuff.  It comes with excellent tires, and with Shimano Deore shifter and clutch derailleur.  Shimano shifting at pretty much every level is amazing: frankly I don't even know why they bother with the different tiers.  They should just offer mechanical and electronic and be done with it.  And yes, the brakes are "just" mechanical Tektros, but guess what?  Mechanical brakes are awesome, and so are Tektros.  As for everything else, it's all good stuff, and if you're the sort of person who obsesses about the brand of your headset then there's no hope for you anyway.

Indeed, at first glance, you might be tempted to compare this to another similarly-priced "plus" bike like, I dunno, a Trek Stache 7:

I'd argue that's not an apt comparison though, since the Stache is more about being "on trend" yet affordable.  (Which I find nothing wrong with, by the way.)

Something like a Surly then might seem like the right bike to compare it to (I think the Wednesday is like $1,500):

However I don't even think that's the right analog.  I happen to be a big Surly fan, but the "compatible with everything" spirit they embrace isn't really what the Jones is about.  Surly frames are essentially just great big adapters, whereas the Jones knows exactly what it wants to be.

If anything, I think maybe the best comparison for the Jones might be a Rivendell, counterintuitive as it may seem.  Sure, they look absolutely nothing alike, and everything about a Jones would probably make Grant Petersen puke, but once you go past matters such as aesthetics and axle diameter choices both bikes represent their designers' best attempts to sell you the best bicycle possible: both in terms of their usefulness and versatility, and in terms of durability and reliability.  And ultimately I think they wind up at pretty much the same place, despite taking wildly different paths to get there.

All of this is to say that I can't think of a single compelling reason not to buy one of these bicycles--unless of course you simply don't want one, or you're saving every last dime for a Rivendell.