Editor’s Note: After seeing the Reader’s Ride(s) post about Angry Andy’s Ritchey P29 singlespeed, Philip Rohrer sent us some shots of his newest build. It’s a Stooge Dirtbomb. 29+ enduro-klunker and asked if we’d be interested in featuring his bike. We gave him a yes followed by another yes. (that’s two yesses) The results are below.
I hail from northern Virginia, about an hour from DC. Pretty good variety of trails on the east coast, a mix of old school singletrack, rocky/rooty tech, some newer flow trails with berms and jumps. Started mountain biking in ’89 with a rigid Specialized, had all kinds of hardtails and FS bikes, but rigid SS has been my main rides for the last 8 years. I found Stooge Cycles 4 years ago when I was looking at going from 29 to B+. My 2013 Kona Unit wouldn’t fit the tires I wanted, so I went searching for something new. I’m drawn to smaller companies, and bikes I won’t see at every trailhead.
The original Stooge was conceived in England as rigid bike with a more modern geometry, less XC. Skinny tubes, dual top tubes, tall headtube, relatively long and slack. Old school straight steerer, QR axles, 27.2 post. It’s pretty much a one-man show at Stooge, and Andrew makes bikes he wants to ride. (that does sound familiar) A year or so ago, he built a one-off Ti Dirtbomb as a further experiment with geometry, but with a klunker look. Even longer than the original, built around 29+ wheels, with boost T/A and a 30.9 post. It’s not suspension corrected, and has a straight steerer, so it will never see a front shock. Slack 66-degree head angle with a 57mm fork offset.
Fast forward to last winter, he decided to make some in steel. 99 total, split between 3 colors. So mine is one of 33 teal, and 1 of 1 with the custom Schwinn paint I did on the front end (pics above). For such a long slack bike with huge wheels, it is surprisingly nimble on the trail in the tech. Where it really shines is at speed, it’s so stable and just monster trucks over everything. There was along wait after the pre-order, so I had plenty of time to source parts and plan the paint. I wanted to go with silver components to add to the throwback look. Hard to find off-the-shelf 29+ wheels with silver rims, so I laced them myself. It looks like a cruiser, but it’s an extremely capable and fast MTB. Another owner in England loads his Stooge with bike packing gear; rides to endurance races; usually gets on the podium in the hardtail class; then he rides back home.
The build:
- Frame: Stooge Dirtbomb. Size 18” (cuz they only come in one size)
- Fork: Stooge klunkpacker
- Stem: Promax Impact Toploader 57mm
- Bars: Soma Dream Risers 780 width, 25 degree sweep
- Grips: Ergon GA3
- Headset: Chris King
- Brake Levers: Avid
- Brakes: TRP Spyke
- Saddle: Selle Italia Flite Ti (I’ve had this one since the 90s, not sure how many bikes it’s been on)
- Seatpost: Trans X Skyline, 125mm drop
- Dropper lever: Sturmey Archer 3spd shifter, circa 1956
- Cranks: Rivendell Silver, 172mm 32t N/W ring
- Cog: Chris King 19T
- Chain: SRAM SS
- Wheels: Novatec hubs laced to Schlick Cycles Northpaw rims, 47mm outer width
- Tires: Innova Vidar 29×3.0
Share the Stoke
If you’ve built something in the Klunker, Singlespeed, Fat, or Adventure bike genres that you’d like to share, we might just be your huckleberry. Drop me a note with a few glamour shots of your whip and maybe one day, your ridable work of art will follow in Phil’s footsteps. My email is still gomez@fat-bike.com and hey, let’s put reader’s ride(s) in the subject line, shall we?
Sweet build!
Love the throwback Schwinn paint and ratrod dropper lever!
Cheers!