{"id":695704,"date":"2026-05-26T13:04:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T13:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/695704\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T13:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T13:04:25","slug":"stooge-rambler-gravel-bike-review-fun-at-times-but-absurdly-heavy-and-it-made-me-pull-my-hair-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/695704\/","title":{"rendered":"Stooge Rambler gravel bike review: Fun at times, but absurdly heavy, and it made me pull my hair out"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Our experts spend countless hours testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Specs<\/p>\n

Frameset weight: 5kg, ish… or around 11lbs.Colours: Sky Blue, Dark SageSizes: 52, 54, 57Price: \u00a3800 ($1,070)Wheel size: 27.5″<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a steady change in the world of the best gravel bikes<\/a> in recent years towards greater and greater emulation of mountain bikes. Bigger tyres, suspension, slacker geometry, but everything has been somewhat incremental. A hair more clearance here, a half degree more rad in the head tube there; don\u2019t upset the market, we\u2019ve got a good thing going on here!<\/p>\n

Stooge, a boutique brand based in Shropshire, makes \u2018beautiful bikes that stand outside of any trends or fashions, that handle wonderfully and challenge the common perception that a rigid bike is a lesser bike.\u2019 Its bikes are quite different, and have been pushing massive tyres and progressive geometry for some years now.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll admit, I\u2019ve been a Stooge customer. I\u2019ve drunk the Kool-Aid. I owned a beautiful blue MK4 that I smashed about the Lake District on before selling it to my far more capable colleague, Graham. As such, I was quite excited to call in, build up, and then test out the Rambler, the brand’s only drop bar offering. It\u2019s not been plain sailing, though. It\u2019s a great bike for some things, but for others it\u2019s decidedly flawed. It\u2019s put a big grin on my face at times, and offers up a taste of a wonderfully juvenile ride experience, but at other times it has left me frustrated at the sheer bloody-minded contrarianism of the thing.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos FromDesign and aesthetics<\/p>\n

Image 1 of 9<\/p>\n

\"StoogeA handsome bike, particularly in this Land Rover Defender yellow. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeGiven how skinny the top tube is you may think it could be a feathery frame… not so. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeNo integrated cockpits here; bliss. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeThis is a Pro Discover carbon model and I really rather like it.(Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeThe Rambler is designed for a 50mm stem, but I found it happier with a 90mm. It was a little too short for my roadie sensibilities. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"Stooge27.5″ tyres are still plentiful…(Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeEven if finding non-boost 27.5″ MTB wheels is a little tricky. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeWhile it is a drop bar bike you’ll need a MTB crankset. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeCards on the table, I’ve owned a silly Stooge before and loved it. (Image credit: Will Jones)<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to be a bike expert to see that the Stooge Rambler is a different beast from basically every other gravel bike out there. It\u2019s steel, which you\u2019ll probably have guessed, but fabricated with a beautiful split top tube that curves down either side of the seat tube to become the seat stays. You might not have noticed that, though, because the fork is usually what people look at first. A chunky, twin-plate crown with sloping shoulders anchors the legs, beset with endless eyelets, that curve and taper in a deeply classique way.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not suspension-corrected, either. It\u2019s designed to be run rigid, with a super-slack 69\u00ba head angle and capacity for a humongous 2.8\u201d tyre up front (not quite matched by 2.6\u201d in the rear). You could run it with mudguards and still have room for 2.4\u201d tyres, which is pretty wild, and something I may try out down the line when the weather turns.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t get complete builds, so if you want one be prepared to either build it yourself or employ the help of a decent bike shop. If you live within striking distance of the New Forest, the lovely Woods Cyclery has plenty of experience, and it makes a nice weekend away if nothing else. Building it yourself, as I found, is a bit of a nightmare, and why, despite having had the frame since January 2025, it took me so long to actually get around to reviewing the thing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a drop bar bike, though you could run it with flat bars with a longer stem than is advised. SRAM is probably your best bet for inter-compatibility here, but I went with Shimano GRX, before realising that the cranks wouldn\u2019t fit, as it has an MTB width BSA BB shell in the eccentric bottom bracket (something that allows you to run it singlespeed, if you so wish). Deore crank it is, then. You can\u2019t fit a complete GRX brake, though, as the brake mounts are IS mount, not flat mount, so I had to opt for XT brake callipers with IS mount adapters. The wheels are 27.5\u201d, or 650b for you roadies, a standard that is as good as dead for gravel bikes and not hugely common for MTB either, especially when the rear axle spacing is non-boost.<\/p>\n

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Basically, you need to make your life easy and do what Stooge suggests and just get a set of Hope Fortus wheels, which are good but not the lightest. I shod mine with Vittoria Mezcals, which have since been renamed the T70.<\/p>\n

Stooge suggests choosing a size that allows you to run a 50-60mm stem, and initially that\u2019s what I did, but then swapped to a 90mm when I found I felt just a bit too off the back of the bike; my roadie is showing, I guess.<\/p>\n

A dropper was a must for a bike that pertains to be supremely capable on the rough stuff, topped with a Brooks Swift saddle, partially because I love Brooks saddles as they allow me to ride without padded shorts, and partially because it looks right. Actually the whole thing looks right; it\u2019s gorgeous, and got just as many admiring comments from my riding buddies as when I turn up on the next ‘worlds fastest aero bike’. Even strangers would tell me it was beautiful, which rarely ever happens.<\/p>\n

Looks matter little, though, if it doesn\u2019t ride well, and it does in the right context.<\/p>\n

Performance<\/p>\n

Image 1 of 8<\/p>\n

\"StoogeThe fork is eye-catching but really contributed to a heavy front end. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeThe position is tall, perfect for enjoying the view, but don’t even think about the word ‘aero’. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeThe rear can hack a 2.4″ tyre, slightly less than the front. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeXT brakes had to mate with GRX levers and IS mount adapters, which was a lot more of a pain than just being able to bolt something straight on. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeThe GRX derailleur paired with an MTB cassette works wonders on steep, techy climbs. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeThe bottom bracket sits in an eccentric shell, meaning you could run this singlespeed if you wanted… or fixed if you’ve got a screw loose. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeThe split top tube is gorgeous, I’ll give it that. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeA dropper is a must in my opinion. With GRX you can use the left lever to actuate a cable dropper.(Image credit: Will Jones)<\/p>\n

The clue, as I found out to the cost of my knees, is in the name. This is a bike predisposed to ambling. Smell the flowers, enjoy the view, take a photo, take your time. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a fast bike, and as such, it required a bit of mental recalibration. I took it on a speedy gravel group ride one evening, involving a fair bit of elevation, and got home feeling like I must be very fatigued, as I simply couldn\u2019t keep up. Dropped like a stone on every climb. I got the scales out, out of curiosity:<\/p>\n

15.12kg.<\/p>\n

Fifteen! That\u2019s as-ridden, with a frame bag of spares (a small multi-tool, a small mini-pump, a TPU tube, a tubeless plug, and some plastic levers), half an un-drunk water bottle, and a computer, but even so, fifteen kilograms in bike terms means it weighs the same as the USS Enterprise. The wheels aren\u2019t all that light, but it\u2019s by no means a heavy build. Yes, it has a leather saddle, but it also has carbon bars, titanium bottle cages, and I even swapped out as many of the 3,000 M5 boss bolts to titanium ones as I could. That\u2019s like riding a Crux with a second Crux on your back. Hell, it\u2019s more than some e-bikes now, and it really does slow you down uphill. This only matters if you\u2019re gasping trying to keep up with your usual group ride, but even if you\u2019re not, it makes life harder if you live somewhere lumpy.<\/p>\n

Loaded up with an off-road tour\u2019s worth of stuff, the additional weight of the bike makes up a smaller proportion of the overall system weight, but it is worth bearing in mind that this is still bulk you\u2019re going to be shipping up hill and down dale regardless of pace.<\/p>\n

The weight also has impacts outside of climbs. On singletrack, it felt rather cumbersome, though I will admit I am used to much more road-like front ends, but I put this down to a combo of the bulk of the thing and the 69\u00ba head angle.<\/p>\n

It is, to all intents and purposes, a mountain bike, but lacks the agility. However, on some terrain, it absolutely shines. Genuine off-road rambling is a delight. A jaunt to the woods to pick wild garlic was joyous, and any time I pointed it downhill, on or off-road, I was left beaming like an eight-year-old. It is absurdly stable, whatever the surface, and on flowing open corners, you can hit them at warp speed. I even managed to pick up a top ten on a popular road descent, mostly because I could drop the saddle and stay in a supertuck with absolute confidence. I do think fitting a slightly longer stem than was advised made it grip a little better at the front end, but that is going to be a personal fit issue. It\u2019s doing the bike a disservice to simply distil it down to a \u2018modern klunker\u2019, but of any bike I\u2019ve ever ridden, it screams more than anything else \u2018ride up a big lumpy hill just to send it back down again\u2019, and I kind of love it for that. Did I pretend in my mind\u2019s eye that I was hurling down the Repack course in late \u201870\u2019s California? Of course I did.<\/p>\n

Weirdly, I was about to type \u2018you needn\u2019t be put off by the lack of a suspension fork\u2019, before I remembered it\u2019s a gravel bike and that\u2019s still very much not the norm. It actually feels like, as tyres get wider, the short-term industry flirtation with suspension doesn\u2019t seem to have blossomed into a full romance, so in this regard it\u2019s future-proof.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot of bike to ramble about on, but if you measure your rides by time rather than distance, watts, calories, or some sort of suffer-based metric, it very quickly gets under your skin. It may be flawed, it may weigh a ton, but when I am on my own and not chasing a group, I haven\u2019t had a ride on it I didn\u2019t enjoy, whether that\u2019s in the woods or just going to buy paint from the hardware store. If my home city of Bristol weren\u2019t so bad for bike theft and it weren\u2019t so clearly going to draw attention, I\u2019d use it every day for everything.<\/p>\n

I also ran it initially with flats before swapping to clipless gravel pedals<\/a>. While it\u2019s slow on climbs, the massive tyres and low gearing on offer with what is effectively an MTB drivetrain mean you could probably ride up the side of a building, albeit slowly. I was able to rumble over steep, rocky terrain that I have often found myself walking up on less.<\/p>\n

Value<\/p>\n

Image 1 of 3<\/p>\n

\"StoogeWhile it’s beautiful it’s really hamstrung by the system weight. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeThe fork especially makes the front end feel slow, not aided by the very slack head angle. It’s great for steep descents, but for general riding it feels floppy. (Image credit: Will Jones)\"StoogeDespite the weight, when I’m just pootling on my own it is a delightful bike to ride, but I probably need to ditch the Wahoo for an OS map for the full effect. (Image credit: Will Jones)<\/p>\n

Normally, in this bit, I compare X option to Y option, but there really isn\u2019t anything comparable to compare the rambler to. For \u00a3800, a figure itself that shows it\u2019s based on what the brand thinks it\u2019s worth rather than \u00a3799.99 to trick you, you get a steel frame that can ride over almost any terrain. You can run it drop bar or flat bar, you can fit a rack, a full frame bag, you could run it fixed if you\u2019re a moron, or singlespeed if you just need your head examined in a good way. You can run a pannier rack, you can run mudguards AND still have capacity to fit mega tyres. It can sort of do whatever you want it to off-road, other than go fast.<\/p>\n

I would say part of the fun, if you can call realising yet another part won\u2019t fit because of some needlessly contrarian design decisions, fun, is in the building of the thing. Much like the Fairlights I\u2019ve ridden, it\u2019s a delight to work on, once everything is in order. External everything, big bolts, threaded bottom bracket. It\u2019s utilitarian, and all the better for it, and despite the massive weight of the thing, I think it\u2019s pretty good value for \u00a3800 if it fits your use case.<\/p>\n

Verdict<\/p>\n

\n

\"Beige\n<\/p>\n

I used to cut about the hills on this hefty old beast. I loved it, and it’s the same sort of thing… You can enjoy bikes for what they are, even if they are objectively worse. (Image credit: Will Jones)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard for me to overlook the sheer mass of the thing. It really does hamstring the ride feel for the kind of gravel riding I do, and it makes singletrack a bit of a battle. It\u2019s not aero, it\u2019s been a nightmare to put together with quite backwards-thinking standards, it\u2019s so close to being a mountain bike that you should probably just get a mountain bike\u2026and yet I love it, that\u2019s the mad thing.<\/p>\n

Before I spent my time testing aero bikes and deliberating on the advantages and disadvantages of aerodynamic tyres, I used to spend a significant portion of my riding time essentially messing about. I\u2019d ride up Lake District passes on a late \u201880\u2019s Specialized Rockhopper with a saddlebag of sandwiches for the joy of the endeavour. I rode truly horrendous fixed-gear gravel bikes and ancient tandems. I even made myself a cantilever-brake, downtube shifter touring bike and rode it halfway down France.<\/p>\n

In fact, my happiest memory on a bike was riding through the woods in Sweden on a beat-up town bike with a coaster brake. None of these bikes was terribly good by any measurable metric, but they all brought or continue to bring me immense joy, and the Rambler kinda fits into this category. Just typing this now, I want to go and ride it for a little while in the woods.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t really compare it to modern gravel bikes because it\u2019s not designed to do the same job. If you want to set an FKT, this isn\u2019t the bike to do it on. I can absolutely see why The Woods Cyclery stocks them, though, as I think it might be the perfect bike for the New Forest, or cosplaying the pages of the Rough Stuff Fellowship Archive photobooks.<\/p>\n

Would I change anything if I had my time again to build it? I think I\u2019d stick a wide range 50.4 BCD double chainset on it and make it work somehow \u2013 I\u2019ve seen it done \u2013, and have a real crawler gear for uphill and a bigger ring for the rest of the time. I\u2019d leave flat pedals on and fit a small front rack. I\u2019d probably fit mudguards too, and probably some 2.25\u201d Schwalbe G-One Allround tyres, and stop trying to treat it like MTB-minus and view it more as gravel-plus. I still might do all of these things. Maybe I\u2019ll go all in and lace a coaster brake to the rear rim and see how quickly I can vaporise the grease inside it\u2026<\/p>\n

Swipe to scroll horizontally<\/p>\n

Design and aesthetics<\/p>\n

Full marks for the look of the thing, but the insistence on using outdated standards makes it an annoying bike to build.<\/p>\n

7\/10<\/p>\n

Weight<\/p>\n

It’s monumentally hefty. It’s the heaviest bike I’ve ridden, besides fully loaded touring bikes and tandems. <\/p>\n

4\/10<\/p>\n

Performance<\/p>\n

While it barrels down descents, and handles technical terrain with aplomb, the weight makes it a sapping climber and a sluggish singletrack machine too.<\/p>\n

6\/10<\/p>\n

Build<\/p>\n

I built it, but even I can’t give myself full marks. The narrow selection of 27.5″ non-boost wheelsets means there’s only so good you can make the build. The lack of integration does make life better though.<\/p>\n

6\/10<\/p>\n

Value<\/p>\n

Considering how adaptable the frameset is, it’s not bad value for \u00a3800<\/p>\n

8\/10<\/p>\n

Total<\/p>\n

Row 5 – Cell 1 <\/p>\n

62%<\/p>\n

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