The question I had three years ago when I bought and then changed up the San Quention was easy to answer; a new bike with modern geometry was absolutely worth it. I’ve enjoyed the bike immensely, and between the joy of riding, our exceptional network of backyard trails in Helena, and a schedule with more freedom, I’ve ridden more hours in 2023 than I have in well over a decade.

A number of things changes over those years; a dropper post was transformative, and living with that 125mm of drop highlighted that I wanted a bit more out of an ideal frame. I also switched from a carbon fork to a steel one, which is drastically heavier but rides much better; this switch being prompted not by refinement but by crashing the carbon fork into the shed roof of the carport, cracking it to hell, and not wanting to pay for another. I’ve futzed with grips and drivetrain and stem length throughout, the later highlighting the fact that the San Quentin never quite fit comfortably in all situations.

Having built up the Stooge Speedbomb right before Thanksgiving, and had it dialed and ridden hard for the past week, my main conclusion is that the seat tube on the San Quentin is too steep for all around riding, that the San Quentin was probably a bit too long, or at least I never bothered to set up the cockpit short and high enough. More broadly, the original intentions with the San Quentin, to be a lightish fatish bike for backcountry adventures ended up being a rare use case. 19 times out of 20 I go for a bike ride straight from home or office (which never stops being amazing), and the mission is to ride singletrack for 90-240 minutes for fun and fitness. Self-shuttling boating trips is next most frequent, with bikepacking and exploration a small percentage of riding time. The more I thought about this, the more a bike tailored for this reality made sense, and the more I thought about that, the more the San Quentin did not seem quite right.

The Stooge fit the numbers, as well as having more novelty and soul (at least from afar). Logan Watt’s review of the Mk6 was published four days after I ordered my frame, and the same day it was delievered, and had me on pins and needles, both because his reports of the ride quality, and that the frameset weighed 10 pounds, which is as far from my intentions for the San Quentin adventure as a rigid bike is likely to get. Fortunately, thus far I’ve been astonished with every ride at just how much I agree with Logan; the Speedbomb rides in a masterful manner, and vastly exceeds expectations.

More on that subject as I get to know it better.