RUSSELL BURTON’S 2008 JEFF JONES 3 D SPACE FRAME
US$5,500 (frame + fork) Snapper Russ can’t get over the Jones’s magic ride
I’m struggling to remember when I saw my first Jones bike. It may have been on a trip to the USA, or possibly there was a feature about independent frame builders in my imported copy of Bike magazine. Wherever it was, something about that improbable ‘Spaceframe’, truss fork and oversize wheels caught my imagination.
Going against the grain
Originally, all the bikes were made by Je Jones in his hillside Oregon workshop, but when demand grew too much, he entrusted manufacturing to renowned titanium frame builders Merlin. Sadly, that didn’t make the price point any more accessible. And anyway, it was a crazy bike to lust after – rigid, at a time when everything was heading in the direction of full suspension; 29in wheels, when no one, even if they’d heard of them, wanted them; and carbon rims, which everyone rolled their eyes at. But still…
Getting lucky
A chance encounter with some money that should have been spent on more sensible things (always marry an MTBer – there’s more chance they’ll be happy to support the fiscal path less-travelled) combined with the World Singlespeed Championships being held in Napa, California, and a plan was hatched. Collecting my bike from Je and riding it with him on his local forest trails would have been an amazing experience even if it had turned out to be a total junker. A lot of science-y words have been written about why the Jones geometry works – for this, Google is your friend. The simple explanation is that it’s a combination of all the elements; the frame, big wheels, quirkylooking fork and swept-back H-Bar are all engineered to work together to deliver e ortless speed pick-up without sacrificing handling or agility.
Getting competitive
That new bike memory is completed by actually competing in the Singlespeed
Worlds on what was the hottest California day that year. The water ran out by the second lap, replaced only by beer for the next few. It was super-dusty and rocky, with most people not finishing. My Jones bike made sure that I did, though, and I still have the finisher’s bottle opener to prove it. I even made sure that the California dust remained on the frame for my first ride out at home.
I’ve set up this bike as a singlespeed and with various added gears. Even though I’ve ridden many other bikes in the years since, that mix of frame, fork, wheels and handlebar that all works perfectly together never fails to feel just right, and people still don’t quite believe the magic until I let them have a go.