Pole-Stamina-140-or-180

What is the difference between Stamina 140 and 180

Our sales get a lot of questions of people wondering which Stamina should they get. We asked the people who have been involved a lot to the development and testing the bikes what are these bikes designed for and how do they perform on the trail. Here’s what our founder Leo Kokkonen the test rider Matti Lehikoinen think about these two bikes.

 

 

 

Pole Stamina’s have done a huge leap from the day we announced the first Stamina 180. Joseph Nation has won competitions and made one 3rd fastest stage time on the most physical stage in New Zealand Enduro World Series. Now we just reformed the both of the Stamina’s bodywork by removing the bolts. We also updated the links and rear triangle where we got better performance in strength and weight point of view. We are looking at an aluminum frame that is nearly the same weight as it’s carbon competitors. Getting the full properties of the 7075 T6 aluminum means that you will get a super comfortable and well-performing bike without the burden that comes with the carbon frames. In the end, all the carbon bikes try to imitate the feel of an aluminum bike. We have let only a handful of people ride these things so far and everyone has been blown away how amazing these bikes feel.

Matti riding Stamina 140

What is similar to these two bikes?

Both bikes have the same frame construction and the looks. Both bikes use the same bearings and lower link eye to eye is same, so basically you can fit a taco to 140 or ride the 180 without a taco. You just need to order the spare part in order to switch this feature on or off. Both bikes share similar anti-squat kinematics so they pedal amazingly well uphill and on stages or trails. The leverage curve on 140 is very similar to the 180 on that point where the 180 continues its path.

What is different?

The travel is the most obvious difference. Stamina 180 has 40mm more travel in both ends than 140. This means 80mm more damping Although the frames look very similar, the rear and front triangles are different from each other. 180 is also beefier in both ends so it can take more abuse. Also, the 180 needs to be a lot higher than the 140 on the front end to compensate for the 40mm extra length of the fork. The rear triangles differ in length and the connection points. The 140 has 5mm shorter rear center to compensate the 10mm shorter reach in order to have good front and rear balance.

Leo riding Stamina 140

Leo’s take

The short answer is that if you like to ride fast with more stability, and your pedaling is going to be more to uphill than flat, get Stamina 180. If you are more for the style than speed on the downhills and 90% of your riding is trail oriented the Stamina 140 is your weapon of choice.

The speed that you can get by less effort on 180 is unreal and the playfulness of the 140 without sacrificing the Pole feel is just pure fun. The fun aspect is very rider specific and sometimes a bike is stated fun to ride but I think in most circumstances “fun” is a paraphrase to a bike that is harsh or slow. Therefore we designed the 140 around the 180 that pedals superbly good and is already very agile bike. Everyone knows that if you want to make a more responsive ride, you reduce travel and shorten the wheelbase but very few know what is the Pole receipt for a bike that is fun and fast.

The 180 is made for speed and 140 made for more active riding in mind. This means that the 180 can eat a lot more square edged hits than the 140. In other words, it means that on a technical track with a lot of high-speed impacts, your body will get more fatigued on the 140 than on the 180. Also, you need to be more active on the bike because you can’t take always the hard lines. For example, an EWS race is a four-day event where you build up fatigue towards the end. A longer travel bike helps the rider to be less fatigued on the last stages. 180 handles most of the stuff letting you focus on carrying on speed and watch the perfect braking point before the corners but some riders find this less fun.

I personally feel that Stamina 140 would be a great bike if I would only ride the local stuff and I would like to feel more into the trails while riding. The vertical difference here in Jyväskylä is not very big when comparing to the Alps, California, British Columbia, Norway, Scotland or England. What we have though is a lot of small hills after hills. On a two-hour trail ride, I can get some good 600-800m vertical. I like to use the 180 on the trail rides because I like more forgiving and comfortable rides because we have tons of big rocks and roots on the trails. The trails are mainly made by walkers. There are hundreds of kilometers of a trail nearby because in Finland there is freedom to roam. I like both bikes but if I would need to choose one, I would go for the 180 because I travel quite a bit and I like to ride technical stuff.

-Leo Kokkonen

Matti’s take

We have been working on this bike for over the winter a lot by discussing ideas and designs what we want to achieve. The end result is stamina 140 fully CNC machined bike. We wanted to create something that would be playful without losing any of the features what that Pole is known for stability, aggressive geometry and long wheelbase.

This bike is an awesome allround bike for all purposes from long trail rides to bike parks it can handle it all a hardcore trail bike. I personally like to do a lot of play riding and go session little DH track and jumps near my house. This bike is a very agile and fun bike to ride, it still has that famous long wheelbase and slack head angle, so it gives you that stability at high speed, but with the reduced travel to 140, it gives you little more ground feedback, so you have to ride it more aggressive. It is a bike that you can take to bike parks, go jibbing, take on trail rides and enduro racing.

 

Matti riding Stamina 180

Leo riding Stamina 180

Stamina 140 is not the Pole’s fastest race bike, that title belongs to the 180, but if you feel like you want to take it to a race, feel free to do so. The two bikes 180 and 140 stamina look much alike but they are were different. 140 is 180 little brother with some of the same features but when it comes to big mountain riding 180 will be the one. With the 140 you can ride up the mountain just and good as on the 180, but when you’re coming down, 180 will be smoother and faster. I wouldn´t say that you can´t ride it on big mountains you just have to bear in mind that it´s not as forgiving than the 180. You win some you lose some. So I would say if you want to race but not take it too seriously and ride a little bit of everything this is the ultimate bike for you.

-Matti Lehikoinen


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