Rose Uncle Jimbo 2 - Review

German direct-sales bike manufacturers have been making a significant impact on the cycling market in recent years, with the likes of Canyon and YT Industries making waves with well designed and well spec'd bikes. Not to be outdone, Rose has given its 165mm Uncle Jimbo enduro/trail bike a complete overhaul for 2015, with an updated frame and an upgrade to 27.5" wheels.

The Uncle Jimbo is available in three stock builds, and starts life at £1,838.56 ($2566 USD, plus additional shipping costs) but our test bike has a few changes and costs £1,892.56. At that price the bike comes equipped with a 160mm RockShox Pike RCT3 fork and Monarch Plus RC3 rear shock, a Shimano Deore XT and RaceFace Respond 2x10 transmission, SRAM Guide RSC brakes, RockShox Reverb dropper post, Schwalbe Hans Dampf tyres and Spank Spike Race 28 wheels and matching 777mm handlebars and 50mm stem. You can change any part of the build too; the Rose website has an easy to use bike configurator that allows you to build the bike just the way you want it, and everything from the suspension to the wheels, tires and handlebars can be upgraded from a plethora of available choices.

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Frame and Suspension Design

Rose updated its key trail bikes for 2015, and they all share a visually similar frame. Featuring rounded-square hydroformed 7005 tubes with a lower dropped top tube for more standover clearance, it’s a clean and smart looking bike, a big improvement on last year’s slightly 'agricultural' looking design. While it retains the same basic four-bar layout, the rocker linkage assembly has been reconfigured. It's still a four bar with a Horst linkage at the end of the chainstay, but the Rose engineers made changes in an attempt to improve pedalling efficiency and to produce a more progressive action from the rear shock. The rather more fundamental change is the transition to 27.5" wheels, it used to be a 26" bike last year, but Rose has gradually been moving its entire range of trail and all-mountain bikes over to the bigger wheel size.



The Uncle Jimbo's frame is brimming with modern details. There’s the internal cable routing which is extremely well done, top marks to the designers for managing the cable routing, and I had no issues throughout the test. There’s a 12x142mm bolt-thru rear axle, ISCG05 mounts and a nicely designed forward-facing seatpost quick release - a small item but one that shows good attention to detail. Another nice attention to detail is the clear protective tape adorning the underside of the down tube, to protect the paint from rock strikes. One omission on the updated frame is the lack of bottle cage mounts - the low position of the shock doesn’t make space for a bottle - so don’t forgot your hydration pack before hitting the trails.

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Climbing

Some 165mm bikes are a handful on the climbs and make you wish you’d taken the uplift option. At 32lb the Rose isn’t going to win any hill climbing competitions, but I was pleasantly surprised with how well the Uncle Jimbo masks its weight on the way up. On smoother easy gradient fireroad drags there’s enough gearing to find the right ratio and sit and spin all the way to the top, and allow you to conserve enough energy for the ensuing descent, especially handy if you’re training for an enduro (which everyone is these days right?).

Many of my local trails are typified by very short and steep climbs, the surface covered in a messy tangle of tree roots. These are the sort of trails that really test a bike's climbing ability, and while low weight is obviously desirable, a balanced bike that serves up plenty of traction is critical to cleaning the climbs without dabbing. It was on these sorts of technical climbs that the Uncle Jimbo really impressed; I’ve ridden shorter travel and lighter bikes, like the 140mm Giant Trance, that didn’t fare as well on these climbs as much as the Rose did.

The steep 75 degree seat angle provides a good position for pushing your weight forward, and keeping the front tire on the ground when you’re scaling steep gradients. The Pike’s travel reduction option proved to be useful on the steeper stuff by lowering the front end and making it easier to keep weight on the front wheel to keep it from wandering. The relatively short wheelbase makes the Rose manageable through tight hairpin bends - one of my favourite trails has a succession of half a dozen switchbacks and the Uncle Jimbo breezed up it, posting impressive times compared to even bikes weighing several pounds less. It’s certainly not a bike for racing to the summit, but it’s no slouch if you’re in a hurry.

The suspension reveals little bob, even with the shock in the middle compression setting. The only caveat is that the Uncle Jimbo definitely favors seated climbing and responds well to a smooth pedalling style. Get out of the saddle and, while the suspension is very well damped, it doesn’t feel as competent as compared to its seated climbing ability. Ramping up the shock compression takes care of matters nicely if you’re an out-of-the-saddle-climber.


Descending

While the Uncle Jimbo manages the climbs with surprising ability, it’s on the descents that the Rose really shines, as any concerns with its weight quickly disappear when gravity plays it part. With wide bars, short stem and decent suspension, the Rose is quickly up to speed out of the box and I was hitting up faster times on my local trails in no time at all. It’s a very neutral and approachable bike, which just shortens the adjustments and learning curve that accompany a new bike.

Make no mistake, the Uncle Jimbo is a fast bike. It’s right at home on very technical singletrack, the sort of trails I ride a lot. There’s one particular section of trail that's full of very tight turns dotted with tree stumps and trees placed awkwardly on the apexes, and it culminates with a fast right-hand berm. Well, it’s a fast berm if I've managed to carry good speed through the proceeding trees. The Rose displayed all the handling ability and agility to let me hit that berm faster than I’ve been able to on other bikes, highlighting the Uncle Jimbo’s keen acceleration and efficient pedalling.

Into the aforementioned berm and the Uncle Jimbo squats neatly into its travel and the geometry, and wide bars, allow a clean line to be carved all the way through. Though Rose has lengthened it this year, I’d like to see the wheelbase stretched out more on the size large to really help the frame unleash its full potential on really high speed flat-out sections. The closer you push towards those limits, the less the Uncle Jimbo feels comfortable and there’s the odd occasion that it can start to become a little flustered. Rein in the speed or hit up the slower twisty trails with plenty of direction changes, and it instantly feels more at home.

The suspension handles square-edge rocks and ledges well, smothers small bumps with ease and it’s well supported in the middle part of the stroke. Launch it off a jump and it handles heavy landings with aplomb, and I never noticed it bottoming out once. There’s plenty of pop in the bike too; the front wheel is easy to manual, which helps to deal with unexpected obstacles in the trail.




Component Check

• Spank Spike bars and stem: With a generously wide 777mm handlebar - which could be cut down if you wanted, but I found the width just right after coming from 750 and 800 on my other bikes, it’s a happy medium. The shape of the bars, the backsweep and rise, felt just right. Combined with the 50mm stem this is a sorted setup from the box.

• SRAM Guide brakes: The Guide brakes have been well received since they launched, but these needed a bit of fettling to get the best out of them. Firstly I needed a dab of Loctite on the lever adjust dial as it had a habit of moving closer to the bar over time. And I also swapped out the pads - they didn't last long in the Welsh grit - and fitted a set of sintered pads. The braking performance after this inexpensive change was dramatic and transformed the bike, so it would be nice to see SRAM address these two issues

• Ergon GE1 Grips: I wasn’t expecting to embrace the Ergon grips with much enthusiasm, being pretty set in my way with grip preferences, but I was pleasantly surprised with how good the tapered shape felt in the hands. Along with the SDG saddle, Rose has nailed the contact points of this bike; everything falls to place nicely.

• Spank Race 28 wheels: Intended for the hard charging riders that will likely gravitate towards the Uncle Jimbo, the Race 28 wheels proved very strong through the test, and despite solidly casing a few landings they’re still perfectly true. They're not the lightest wheels out there, but given their strength and reliability it's easy to overlook a few extra grams.




Pinkbike's Take:

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Posted In:
Reviews and Tech Reviews Enduro Bikes Trail Bikes Rose Bikes Rose Uncle Jimbo