I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a serial bike-switcher. These days I almost wonder if I enjoy the thrill of the chase – researching, speccing, sourcing, wrenching, admiring – more than the actual riding. I’m sure Long COVID has had a role to play as of late, but I’ve felt myself drifting that way for quite a while now. It takes a lot for me to form a genuine attachment to a bike.

The Stooge Mk6, however, is a bike that I can confidently say I will never, ever let go.

My first proper post on here was a Stooge bike check back in January 2024, a few months after first building it up. It’s evolved a little since then, so I figured it might be time to see what’s changed in the past year-and-a-bit, besides it acquiring a little patina…

Knees be damned, it’s still single speed. I honestly don’t think I would want to build this bike up with gears, as its simplicity is a big part of its charm. The 22T Surly cog, 9-speed SRAM chain and 28T OneUp Switch chainring persist, but the cranks are now Shimano Deore. The only reason for this is that the original SLXs feel more at home on my Enigma, aesthetically.

The TRP Slate EVOs I built the bike with were great, but have since found a new home on a beautiful blue Stooge Scrambler that I built up for a friend. Having heard almost universally good things I fancied trying something different, so braking duties on the Mk6 are now handled by Hope Tech 4 E4s on their own Floating Rotors.

My experiences with Hope have been mixed over the years. Some of their design decisions are baffling, their insistence on using proprietary tools is maddening from a mechanic’s perspective, and both pairs of Tech 3 E4s I’ve owned were… middling at best, including one brake which was returned under warranty after one ride. True to form, I have mixed feelings on these. They’re immaculately put together and feel lovely to use, with bags of power (green pads) and a super light lever action. On the other hand, they were immensely finicky to set up and required a total of three bleeds to get them feeling reliably solid. And they’re still noisy. I’m sure I can make them feel better with further tweaks to alignment and piston massages, but this shouldn’t be necessary on a new, premium product. One of them also came with a damaged master cylinder diaphragm right out of the box – while I have no doubt Hope would have warrantied this, this also shouldn’t be necessary and I just ordered one to save the hassle.

I should also mention that replacing the brakes meant replacing the heat-shrink tubing (and consequently re-cabling the dropper post), too. An entirely self-inflicted problem, this was a real pain. Was it worth it? I reckon so, but we’ve already established that I’m a pedant…

Elsewhere, the humble OneUp Dropper Lever V2 has metamorphosed into a beautiful V3, simply because I broke the V2. The black Vocal BMX stem has gone to the same home as the TRP brakes, replaced by an exceptionally shiny S&M Enduro Stem V2. I think it fits the lines of the frame better, and the polished silver really ties the front end together – this might be my single favourite component on the bike. The ever-popular ‘F*** The Tories’ top cap has been relocated to the Enigma, replaced by a lovely topographic steel job, also from Bentley. I still hate that infernal Torx 30 bolt though.

My friend’s aforementioned blue Scrambler has one more thing to answer for: the saddle. Both Stooges in his stable have Brooks Cambiums, and on my post-build test ride this time it was love at first sit. I promptly found a rather battered tan C17 going for a song on eBay, and after a little TLC I think it looks right at home on the Mk6, even if Brooks on a dropper has become a meme at this point. I really like the Fabric Scoop, but like something from a Junji Ito story, the Cambium feels like it was just made for both my arse and this bike – DRR… DRR… DRR…

Rounding out any major changes are the tyres. The big ol’ front Magic Mary isn’t going anywhere, but I fancied trying something a bit faster than the 2.8″ Nobby Nic out back. Cue the 2.6″ Schwalbe Rock Razor, also in Super Trail/Speedgrip flavour. It’s bordering on a semi-slick so it’s loose, drifty, a lot of fun and for sure makes the bike feel a little more spirited. I’m not convinced it’s a year-round option, but I do think it’s more capable than it may look at first glance. I still have the Nobby Nic I can chuck on if conditions dictate. Thanks due mainly to Andrew Major for pointing me towards this tyre in this size – it’s a bit of a sleeper, I reckon.

Big 27.5+ meats can be hard to seat sometimes and I was fed up with constantly clogging valve cores, so I thought I’d give the Muc-Off Big Bore valves a go. They do actually work as advertised, however they definitely look questionable and I don’t think they’re the most elegant solution. I’ve been more than impressed with Schwalbe’s new Clik valve system on another bike, so as soon as I can get my hands on some more Clik valve cores then I’ll be refitting the much sleeker Peaty’s valves with them installed.

Finally, my ever-trusty OneUp Components EDC Pump and Tool still accompany me on every ride – they really deserve a post of their own – but over the pump bracket now sits a stainless King Cage Iris cage. It looks great, it holds a bottle securely, and it will outlast the cockroaches when the apocalypse comes – what more could you want?

So, are there any other things I want to change out on this bike? Well, I’m in two minds about silver cranks – they could look fantastic, or they could be the tipping point of “Too much silver!”. If I decide to experiment with this, I’ll probably just end up stripping and polishing the Deores. I also think a set of Onyx Classic hubs would be absolutely lovely on this bike – how pure would the ride feel when silent?! – but paying £600+ for a pair of hubs is insanity and there’s no way I can justify that.

For now, I’ll continue to ride it, and it will continue to being me great joy. I do have my eye on a perfect stablemate for the Mk6, though… my beady little eye, you could say…