dtipton

Anyone have any experience with this bike? Components seem to be decent for the price point, not finding much info. online concerning the model.

wvridgerider

Nope buy I have a shop holding a Salsa Timberjack for me. I rode it at the shop and it felt pretty good. I am on a Karate Monkey now, I have had it for four years. The 27.5+ seems like a nice setup and with the Salsa you are not limited to the 27.5+ with the alternator drop outs

hyhuu

I bought one in January and have taken it out on the trail 5 times (about 2 hrs long/ride) and so far I absolutely love the bike. I know I wanted and plus bike. Initially I looked at two bikes: the Diamondback Mason Trail plus and Mongoose Rudy Comp+ as both have nearly identical geometry. In the end, I pick Rudy Comp as it was cheaper and the wheels that came with it has a wider rim than the Mason Trail. Cornering on those wide rims with tires at low pressure (I'm light weight) is fantastic. The only 2 things I changed out on the bike were saddle and pedals. Keep in mind I'm just an average Joe rider with limited skills. If you have any specific questions let me know.

hyhuu

I should also add that the Mason Trail Plus I was looking at was the 2016 model.

dtipton

Thanks for the feedback

682202

Did you end up getting the Ruddy? If so what do you think of it.

Nashbar has them down to the $700 mark again, looks tempting but, hesitant...

koolerb

I've had one of these for about a month. Yes, given the amount of information we're all used to these days it's very weird there isn't more out there on this bike. I found almost nothing. I paid in the mid $600's including shipping. I'm normally the last person that would buy a dept store brand bike, goes against all the advice I've given everyone else for years. But,,, I had limited cash and nothing good was coming up on craigslist. Given the component set and the price I figured how bad could it be. I almost upgraded to the Expert. But for a bike I was very unsure of in the first place the extra $300 pushed the price too high for my comfort level. Here's a comparison if anyone is interested:

Mongoose Ruddy Expert 27.5+ Mountain Bike / Mongoose Ruddy Comp 27.5+ Mountain Bike
FORK Manitou Magnum Comp, 120mm travel w/ remote lock-out, QR 15mm thru-axle, Tapered steerer tube / FORK SR Suntour Radion 27.5+, 120mm travel, Remote lock-out
CRANKSET Shimano M627, 36/22T chainrings / CRANKSET FSA Comet , 36/22T chainrings
BOTTOM BRACKET Shimano BB-51 for 73mm English thread bottom bracket shell / BOTTOM BRACKET Shimano BB-ES3000
SHIFTERS Shimano SLX M670, 2x10-speed / SHIFTERS Shimano Deore 2x10-speed
LEVERS Hayes Radar Comp hydraulic / LEVERS Promax hydraulic
FRONT DERAILLEUR Shimano FD-618 / FRONT DERAILLEUR Shimano Deore
REAR DERAILLEUR Shimano XT RD786 10-speed / REAR DERAILLEUR Shimano Deore
CASSETTE Shimano HG50 10-speed, 11-36T / CASSETTE Shimano 10-speed
BRAKES Hayes Radar Comp hydraulic disc, 180mm rotors front/rear / BRAKES Promax hydraulic disc w/ 180mm rotors front/rear

Impressions after 10 or 12 rides is that it's not a bad bike. I think they saved a good chunk of money in the wheel-set, right out of the box not very true. Probably heavy, guess I will find out how they hold up soon enough. Set up was kind of pain, and I've run into little annoyances that I probably wouldn't have had to deal with if it were a name brand bike. Given the price I can't complain. Bottom line, I'm not in love with it, but it's getting the job done. Time will tell.

prj71

Seems like this guy did OK with that bike...

hyhuu

Meh! Beginner's stuffs, not bad ass like the forum members. That was just riding to a pub. I want to see what crazy thing he does after leaving the pub.

QUOTE=prj71;19946658]Seems like this guy did OK with that bike...

[/QUOTE]

koolerb

4 month Update:
Shifting:
One of the really frustrating problems I was having with this bike was getting the shifting dialed in. I just couldn't get the bike to the point where shifting was consistent. Going through the shift cable routing again a few weeks ago I made a pretty big find. The assembler, where ever these things get assembled, used the wrong size screw in the cable guide under the bottom bracket. It looked like it was screwed in because there was a screw there, but it wasn't actually attached to the bike. I attached the cable guide and it made a big difference, huge improvement. I'm going to say because they opted to route cables internally on this bike and there's some drag at the out transition shifting still isn't as crisp and quick as I'd like but it shifts OK.
Wheels:
I took a closer look at the rear wheel and was ready to true it up because there's some visible wobble between the rear tire and the frame. What I found when I looked more closely is that the wheel wasn't bad. It wasn't perfect but it was mostly straight and mostly round. I think the issue is probably some inconsistency the tire, not the wheel.

So my verdict after working out some of the bugs and riding the Ruddy Comp for 4 months is,,, this is a pretty good bike. Given the level of components that are in this package its a great value for money.

dtipton

Thanks for the update!

koolerb

I did a two day mountain bike clinic a few weekends back and found my, and the bikes limitations pretty quickly. All the other bike there were full squish, only one other hardtail, and one of the instructors ended up lending her a bike. I had a few mechanical issues, headset loosened up, and rear brake was leaking fluid. I never set up the front shock so it was hard as a rock according to the instructor that safety checked my bike. Probably the one thing about the bike that couldn't be fixed though was seat height. Even lowered all the way the seat was pretty high compared to the other bikes. Rolling off drops and over big obstacles the seat was bucking me a little bit. Bike issues definitely effected my confidence. All that said the average price of the other bikes there (minus mine) was probably $3500. Still think this is a good bike for money but has limitations if want to really grow as a mountain biker and start riding the rough stuff.

victored

It's 2022 and I still own the Mongoose Ruddy. I bought it used in 2018. It had all the OEM/stock parts and one thing led to another, and I upgraded everything. The only thing left stock in it is the headset.... which I am now thinking about upgrading. I am looking for some info on which headset is best for it but it seems I may be the first one to post haha.

These are the parts that I have on the bike now. FORK - RockShox Judy Gold RL 120mm

CRANKSET - Raceface Next SL Carbon 30mm crankset / Raceface 32t chainring

BOTTOM BRACKET - Raceface 78/83mm wide english threaded BB 30mm

PEDALS - Raceface Chester Red Pedals

SHIFTERS - SRAM X01 12-speed Shifter

REAR DERAILLEUR - SRAM X01 12 speed derailleur

CASSETTE - eThirteen TRS 12 speed cassette 9-50t

SEATPOST - RockShox Reverb Internal Dropper Post, 31.6mm 125mm travel

CHAIN - SRAM GX 12 speed chain

BRAKES and LEVERS - SRAM Code R brakes

WHEELSET Rims: Raceface Aeffect 27.5 wheels with Raceface Aeffect Hubs, 6 bolt disc brakes, 29mm inner rim width

Front=110mm width thru-axle

Rear=148mm wide boost thru-axle

TIRES - Bontrager XR4 TLR Team Issue 27.5 x 2.4

HANDLEBAR/STEM - Raceface Turbine Stem 32.5mm length, 35mm diameter

Renthal Carbon Handlebar, 35mm diameter, 30mm rise, 800mm wide

SADDLE - WTB Silverado Cr-mo saddle