Ultraspontane

I picked this thing up about a month and a half ago and have put close to 900 miles on it since then.

I love this thing. There are a few components I might change, but this is the perfect bike for me. The cromoly frame and fork are waaaay overbuilt. The front fork spacing is 1mm wider than it needs to be, so I attempted to close the gap 0.5 on each side as per Shledon method by bending fork blades. They wouldn't budge no matter what. I tried levering it between wrought iron posts for extra leverage, standing on it, jumping, ect. It didn't budge even a fraction of a mm. I've done this before with relative ease on a few road bikes, but this one...impossible without a bench vise and breaker bar to slip over the blades for extra leverage. I love the frame with the looptail rear end and double wishbone stays.

As far as the ride, it feels really solid. Moreso than any other bike I've been on. Like an armored SUV barreling down the street. But it doesn't feel slow. I ride it around town every day for work, hit the dirt with it, ride down stairs, on and off curbs, and it hasn't given me any complaints yet.

The components are decent. The crankset feels good. Nice and solid. The stock saddle is actually satisfactory. The rims are holding up fine, but I'm not too crazy about the hubs. They are cone and cup with rubber dust covers that rub the side of the hub housing and seem to create lot of friction. I'll probably remove the dust covers. The brakes are basic tektro V-brakes. Nothing special, but they stop well enough.

I'm thinking of replacing the riser bars with some sort of dirt drop bar or mustache bar so I can have some more hand positions. If you have any recommendations, I'm all ears.

All things considered, it's a great bike. Especially for how affordable they are.

Here are some pics from when I first got it:











And this is how it is now with SKS fenders:

striknein

I've got a friend who has one. It looks nice, but it's pretty heavy. Also, the guy managed to break the stock stem. He weighs about 300 lbs. though, so *shrug*.

Scrodzilla

You should have gotten the Redline Urbis you were considering instead.

Ultraspontane

Nah. I went down to the shop and rode it and it wasn't all that I was expecting. The disc brake felt anemic, the headset was very poor, the frame wasn't as burly as I had originally thought, and the welds looked really bad.

The Stout feels a lot better to me and inspires more confidence while riding. Plus the looptail...

Ultraspontane

Yeah, it isn't light. But a weight weenie, I am not. The stem is a generic unbranded, so maybe I'll look for an upgrade for that.

striknein

Scrod, I have to know what the hell that gif in your sig is supposed to be. It's driving me nuts.

fixedgear80

I would totally take one of these also. Maybe when I upgrade to 2 bikes, one for Urban Assault and one for Long Distance. The frame looks waay better IMAO.

Ultraspontane

Function > form. For me, anyway.

Not to mention the Urbis is 200 dollars more than the Stout and comes with worse components.

Hipster tax.

markaitch

of course it is overbuilt...for god's sake - it is a mountain bike.
i had a stout & loved it too...for mountain biking. it was great out on the trails, rigid singlespeed is a hoot & occasionally i threw on a tomicog & rode it fixed. but that thing was terrible on the road. even using it for stair, platform or curb jumping did not make up for the fact that it is so damn heavy & long & has awful road gearing. putting smaller cogs on did not help much & chainstay clearance limited how big a chainring it would take.
your statement about hipster tax on the urbis is bs. your bike was cheap because it is from almost 3 years ago & they did not sell well back in '09. if you want an "urban assault" bike jenson has an eastern that's pretty decent for only $400.
glad you like your bike, good luck & have fun but unless you do an awful lot of real mtbing...well nuff said.
btw...if you would like some landing gear (a longtime se bikes trademark) decals for your fork, i have some i'd like to sell.
anyway, here's my old stout the morning my buddy bought it off me:



edit: i just noticed in your later pics you took off the rear brake? on a single speed? or did you covert it to fixed?

Scrodzilla

Yeah bro...nothing screams "hipster" quite like a Redline Urbis.

Ultraspontane

You left the stock gearing and stock knobby tires on? Of course it won't be good for the road that way. I'm running a 13t cog and 700x35's. Yes it's heavy, but like I said before weight weenies need not apply.

Yes, the rear brake is gone. Not fixed, but the damn cable was pushing the bar to one side causing to veer off when riding no handed. So it's off for the time being.

Abe Froman

900 miles in a month and a half! With that gearing that's quite a feat. I'd go insane!

Nice bike

MuppetMower

Hows the warranty?

Ultraspontane

It comes with 32x18 (48 gear inches) gearing. I'm running 32x13 (67 gear inches), which is good enough for the road, but not too high that I cant take to trails or go up long, steep hills.

Thanks.

Ultraspontane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VBdA...eature=related

Scrodzilla

Immortal sucks.

kyselad

Glad you like the bike -- sounds like fun. Freewheel + no rear brake is a recipe for disaster, though. Go get that fixed (either the brake or the drivetrain).

Ultraspontane

Brake is off just temporarily until I get the cable and housing properly trimmed.

Freewheel + front brake is about 100x times safer than fixed and brakeless. The majority of stopping power lies within the front wheel. If you have to skid 20 feet to come to a stop, you might as well be Flinstone'ing it.

markaitch

dood...

i told you that i tried different rings & cogs on my stout...why u gotta be so rude to anybody who tries to help you???

Ultraspontane

How is saying that you don't like it on the road helpful to me in any way? Especially after I've already stated that I like it on the road.