Hopefully putting the deposit down on the new bike this weekend but before I spend the cash would you change anything on this spec?

Bike for Trail centre / peaks / uplift DH days and 1 week a year-ish apline riding (big ask i know but after one bike to rule them all!).

Please don’t tell me i should buy a SC / White / Spesh – I want to spend mt time riding not fettling with bearings!

Orange five with Maxle & Kashima shock
2012 Fox Float 150 RLC’s
1×10 2012 XT drive train
Hope Pro2 Evo / Stans Arch Ex wheels
Hope M4 Brakes
Reverb post
Hope headset & BB
Thomson 50mm stem & Answer bars

Finishing kit and brakes off my current bike everything else new…

Please don’t tell me i should buy a SC / White / Spesh – I want to spend mt time riding not fettling with bearings!

[/s] my cash on an overpriced single pivot frame instead.

FIFY 😉

Mating a Hope hub with an Orange 5 surely breaks noise pollution laws?

heckler has life time warranty on bearings, and is significantly cheaper.
shimano brakes, cheaper and work better
other than that, nice bike but i would have some carbon havoc bars, lovelyness in a bar.

what i’d change?

dump the full suss & get a hardtail.
rockshox fork
shimano brakes
FSA headset.

HTH 😉

Flows not Arch
Easton bars
Shimano brakes
Haven stem

Flows not Arch
Shimano XT brakes

“Bike for Trail centre / peaks “
“1×10 2012 XT drive train”
IMO I’d want a 22/24T ring. Though I am more a pedal spinner than a pedal grinder/masher
If you’re going to single ring properly, then you’ll want a proper unramped single chainring. Which then means you’re paying loads of money just for XT crankarms, as far as I can work out, the chainrings are where all/almost all the 36?g weight difference between XT and SLX crankarms are.
If you want stiffness IIRC there was something somewhere I read saying the crankarms from SLX double/bash (steel axle/pedal threads) were twice as stiff (or maybe it was strong?) as XT arms

“Hope Pro2 Evo / Stans Arch Ex”
Arch EX, yes, as wide as 321/521/Havens etc. Id probably only go Flow’s if you were putting a 160mm fork on? After crest/arch EX release’s Flow ‘EX’ must be due though?
Hope Pro2 freehub isn’t the quickest to engage, though is pretty adapatble. Superstar switch evo is supposed to be very similar (weight, pickup speed), but I dont know how reliable they are, I know the customer suppost is hardly equal, not the wheelbuild quality ..

“Hope M4 Brakes”
Ive seen too many things saying they’re not all that powerful. Id probably be looking at lighter-weight codes, maybe marta’s or whatever they’re called now

“Hope headset & BB”
Shimano BBs are fine IME. Id wait kill that off first

“I want to spend mt time riding not fettling “
But you’re opting for fox forks/shocks?
Do orange 5’s go through shock bushings fairly quick?

36 floats (you can reduce them to 150 later if you want), Easton bars.
Otherwise looks good (for a 5!)

Why Flows?
I know they’re wider but I’m Sub 70Kg’s fully kitted up.
Think the Arch Ex should be OK – won’t be running anything wider than a 2.4 (Maxxis 2.5) which should be OK on an Arch EX with air in 😉

frame 🙂

Orange five with Maxle & Kashima shock
2012 Fox Float 150 RLC’s (I suggest going zochis if you want less maintience)
1×10 2012 XT drive train (Don’t change that)
Hope Pro2 Evo / Stans Arch Ex wheels (Flow or crest)
Hope M4 Brakes (Shimano XT’s with 180 front and 160 rear)
Reverb post
Hope headset & BB (I have used these for a couple of years and get on really well with them)
Thomson 50mm stem & Answer bars

Heckler and Marzocchis

For me it’d be:
Rockshox not Fox
2 x 10 so you can spin up the climbs
Mavic 819 rims

…. and some sort of noise baffle to put round the swing arm? 😉

XT brakes.
IME Float 150 is flexy, I’d want something stiffer 😯 (went back to my Thor, much better tracking)

Shorty121 – Member

Hope Pro2 Evo / Stans Arch Ex wheels (Flow or crest)

Why would you recommend “Flow or crest” over the Arch EX, which falls right between the two?

I’d swap Fox for RS or ‘zocchi. Just less faff, unless you don’t mind the 15 hour lowers off service intervals.
Do you need the M4’s? Why not the pretty Race X2 and just get bigger rotors for the Alps trip?

Already own the M4’s and actually like em a lot but take on board the new Shimano brakes are supposedly excellent…

I was torn between RS and Fox and swayed Fox as every other brand of forks I’ve owned (bar one pair of Reba WC’s which were absolutely brilliant) have self destructed. The 15 hour service is a PITA but that said my current pair have been run for 4 years with very little servicing and are still going strong and the Kashima is supposedly make things even better?

I’d have shimano brakes and BB, and an FSA headset.

Looks like a nice build.

Personally I´d go with Shimano XT brakes (but I haven´t had Hopes´).
1×10 would be hard going in the UK, 2×10 isn´t going to be that much heavier and you´ll be happier anytime your on a hill.

At the end of the day a lot is down to personal pref. and fitness level.

Looks good to me, as above maybe consider going 2×10 unless you really want a single ring up front. I Would consider swapping the rear mech for the xtr shadow plus version.

The xt brakes are great, but the new tech evo hope brakes are supposed to be much better than the outgoing version, got a great write up in the magazine. I’ve got the xt brakes and they’re very good but if you want something a little bit more special (in my opinion) and something that everybody else doesn’t have (judging by the rosebikes thread) go with the hopes.

Have you taken the bike on a demo ride yet? Thats what I would do. Personally I like hope brakes, the mini’s I have had for years are still giving me faithfull service. As for stopping power I have never had any issue with them even when decending something steep. I am sure there newer efforts are at least just as good.

As for hope hubs, they are a bit noisey but I don’t here when I’m riding, having to much fun.

Not ridden one of the new fives, but loved one of the older versions and an Alpine and 224 I’ve thrown my leg over…

Will definitely be getting a demo before buying

oh yea – currently running a 2×9 set up with a road cassette on an Intense 6.6 – 1×10 should be a doddle after lugging that around 😉

CCDB
Moto V2
Fox 36 Vanilla

Still fine to pedal, won’t add more than 2lb in weight, but a load more fun.