Les Straggleurs
Rides for the rest of us.Mike's Stooge Rambler
Posted at 25/03/2025 @ 18:41:00Readers rides number 1 - Stooge Rambler.
So where to begin, I have always been drawn to the slightly unusual bikes. I have never had a double or triple crank, even on my retro modern carbon fibre road bike, that makes do with just 12 speeds, and who else gets Tune hubs mated to an unheard-of French rim for the same bike.
My pub bike has hand-built wheels, which I am proud of as I built them myself and state of the art in 2010 cantilever brakes, with new old stock flat mountain bar handlebars made by a small UK maker David Hinde, and so of course they are 25.8mm clamp diameter.
By now I hope you understand that I try not to run with the herd. So why a Stooge Rambler, and for that matter who are Stooge Cycles? The answer to the second question is that his name is Andy Stevenson, and he has small batch frames and forks manufactured in limited sizes, sometimes only one size, and when they are gone, they are gone. He has been doing this since 2014 from his base in Shropshire. Most of his bikes are more mountain bike in style but they all have an eccentric bottom bracket for single speed duties and steel forks with straight 11/8 th stems (except for the MK 4), most are 29er’s or 27.5+ but the Rambler was deliberately designed for 27.5” tyres up to 2.6” at the front and 2.5” at the rear, with drop bar geometry.
As luck would have it, he had one size 57cm in a rather fetching shade of mustard and I had a hankering to build a 27.5” wheeled bike, with drop bars for gravel duties, it was a marriage made in Heaven.
The plan was to build a retro modern, gravel bike that could also undertake light touring duties and not be too slow for steady road rambles. I went for silver theme for the components, using where possible UK manufacturers, the stem, cranks and top cap are from Unite, a two-man operation in darkest Wales, and the wheels are Hope Pro 5 hubs on Halo Vapour 35 rims, which were about the only rims I could find in 27.5” and silver. The build of the wheels was trusted to Tom at Twisted Cogs in York, who I would happily recommend for good prices and cracking good build quality.
Bars are Salsa Cowchippers as I wanted a wide flared bar and again, in silver the choice is rather limited. The racks are Velo Orange at the rear and Hyacinth at the front. I am particularly fond of the front rack as it is still being made in Ukraine, sadly the matching rear rack is not currently in stock anywhere, but I will get on once it becomes available again, these both came from Freshtripe, a small independent UK distributor of all things shiny for bikes.
The eagle eyed amongst you may notice the split top tube, which probably serves no purpose at all but, except to make cleaning it harder, but in my opinion, it adds to the retro look along with the curved steel bi-plane forks.
So, what next, well first on the list was fitting the racks, now done, and getting a dynamo wheel built up so I can run permanent lights. I will probably change the saddle to a Brooks Cambium, and I might just swap the tyres for something wider, just because it has room for them. Then as the weather improves, I intend to try it out in anger on some rougher stuff.
By keeping the build simple, it uses cable operated disc brakes and a now old fashioned 1x11 Sram Rival derailleur and shifters, I think I have kept the costs reasonable. Although deciding after 8 weeks that I wanted a dynamo front wheel was not the best idea for cost control. I have also learnt about the bike simply by building it, and it is absolutely a keeper in my garage.
It will of course always be a work in progress, the photos here were taken prior to installing a dynamo which is now happily charging my lights. That’s what I love about bikes, riding them and messing with them. It might not suit everyone, but I would recommend thinking outside the box sometimes and not just following the herd.
(Words by Mike, layout by Simon)