Two weeks ago Pole arranged a demo day at my local Nuuksio Bike Park / Swinghill and I got the chance to ride the new Stamina 140 for the first time. After waiting about an hour and doing some warm-up runs on my normal go-to enduro rig, the Norco Range, I got my turn to take the Stamina for a spin. The sample they had was a size Medium, but I normally ride a size large, so this was not 100% what I would have liked, but you need to make do with what is available as the bike is not yet in production. This was a pre-production model with a screwed together frame and a smaller main pivot, whereas the production bike will be 100% glued without any screws and has a larger main pivot.
Judging a pre-production model is always a bit unfair, but still the first impression I got was of very poor finishing. The seams between the frame halves where sharp and obviously visible, and the screwed construction clearly doesn’t work as the frame creaked all over like crazy! The external cable routing was also utterly disgusting, but this frame didn’t have the nice recess the new frames have for the cables. The production sample of the Stamina 180 they had was much nicer, and most importantly creak-free. Sadly I didn’t get to ride it as we ran out of time.
Now, the ride of the new Stamina is a completely different story! I felt right at home on the bike even though the frame was too short for my taste. The bike maintained speed over smooth terrain and bermy flow lines much better than the Range, but obviously felt quite a bit more “lively” and harsh on the few rocky and rooty enduro lines I took it on. I was still well impressed as it’s not often you feel so right at home on a completely new-to-you bike! Nice work, Pole!
Then the big question: would I buy one? The answer is definitely no, not based on the pre-production sample. The quality was just too poor for a frame that costs well over 3000€. I can’t wait to try the production model (if they ever become available, mind you!), but based on this I’d rather spend the money on an actually finished product even though the ride quality was excellent.
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