After a winter free from sciatic pain, this dry spell has made my local routes full of braking bumps and combining that with my HT seems to have set it off big time. I’m considering getting a full susser to help soften the blows to my back a bit and have seen the viper freeplay frame on CRC for just over £500 with a rp23 shock. Seems like a bargain to me, and i can just transfer all my gear over from my current bike, but i can’t find any reviews on them!

Long shot, but does anyone own/know anything about them?

Cheers!

Don’t know anything about it but have seen it and been tempted on CRC. Only thing is I don’t want my bike to have cable runs on the topside of the toptube again. I have that at present on my Kona and it annoys me.

Price has dropped to £399, that’s just put it into too cheap to ignore category!

You’re not wrong…..

Ordered one last week just before price went back up by 100 quid, but it arrived with damage to the headtube (looked like it’d been dropped) – Sent it back….Replacement should hopefully arrive tomorrow. Then I’l try and get it built up by the weekend and give it a test!

Here it is after a dusty day around Dalby Forest:

You’ll have to excuse the 1 1/8″ steerer forks, I will replace them with a tapered steerer fork soon. Also I forgot to buy a conventional front mech – thought I could get away with my top-swing mech but in the end couldn’t mount it low enough, so ended up ripping an old one from my retro hardtail (did the job though!).

My thoughts; Rear end slightly flexy which I only noticed on a rocky descent, but then I’m a heavy rider (85kg), and theres some suspension bob under heavy pedalling (propedal helped a bit) but still, minor niggles when you look at the price. Havent weighed it but feels about average for a 140mm trail bike…I’d say around 28-29 lbs for my build, even with the coil forks and all-mountain rims. Loads of tyre clearance too even with the 2.25 Maxxis tyres which are pretty big volume.

Overall very pleased. Cant wait till the next ride!

Hi,
Does the headset use a 44mm upper part? (1 1/8 zero stack headset) The CRC website doesn’t provide that much info, neither does the viper site as far as I have found..

And if that’s the case, do you happen to have the dimension on the internal opening for the steerer-tube (the most narrow part where you put the steerer through)?

I was thinking about something like this:
http://blog.sidewayscycles.co.uk/2011/03/25/1-5-steerer-integrated-headset/

But then I can’t have any part slimmer than ~40mm on the way through the headtube (1.5″ steerer is ~38)

Is is really sub 6lb in weight? The CRC website suggests its 2.6kg?

Is it a normal external bottom bracket?

Any more thoughts on the ride Shatner?

Got me thinking, how much different to the various brands of Horst link bike ride? Is this a down grade compared to say an Ellsworth, Specialized, Lapierre, etc etc or is it just another fairly decent horst link frame at a more competitive price?

hey guys,

I bought one too.

About the weight….

size M, frame incl. rearshock, no headset

complete bike 12,8kg

I bought it because of the geometry, long top tube, so I can use a short (75mm) stem without any problems during climbing. The head tube angle of approx. 68° with a 150mm fork also fits my requirements.

I rode my new bike already 5 times, the last time on sat. A 12h mtb race.

The bike got a good handling but in my opinion, the rear suspension doesn´t work very well. I don´t know why, it´s kind of “jolty”…..

Not so easy for me to describe it in english 🙂

btw: I didn´t recognize the 30.4 diameter of the seat post, for the first time……no kind shock, joplin or RS reverb fits…….thats bad

so far
regards
Andy

a german mtb addict 😉

Thanks Andy…think I will steer clear for now…3281g isn’t too bad but if the rear suspension isn’t up to it…

Sure you got the boost valve shock set up right? I don’t see how a fairly generic horst link design can’t be effective, and also but a 30.4 seat tube????

perra: yes 44mm upper – I fitted the T3 zerostack headset from Superstar, was a bit of a bugger to fit actually…ended up getting the hammer out, got there in the end!

Overall I’m very pleased with it. Took it to the peak district not long back and it soaked up the rocky descents lovely…the rp23 is awesome, and the ride is much better than my old frame (marin rock springs) it seems to corner better, but then the BB height is lower. The best thing is the immense satisfaction out on the trail, blasting past people on fancy brand bikes 😀

The 30.4mm seatpost is a negative. Also my qr seatclamp was a tight fit too. Pretty sure its the right size (35mm) same as my old frame. As a result it squeezes the post more – the black on the seatpost is already fading from adjustment.. These minor issues I can live with though.

This is how mine ended up 🙂 my first fully hehe, rebuild my hardtail to this beauty.

150/120mm travel Rock Shox Revelation TI dual position (brand new 🙂 yay), front suspension and a old (2009) Shimano slx group.

Its a really fun bike to ride. I’m still adjusting the suspensions and trying out tires but i am all in all satisfied with the result. It’s a bit more heavy than the ol’hardtail. But its a fun ride with great feel of the trail and its super bump tolerant, it can take a beating

I used a Cane creek headset a combination of a top zs44 28.6 to a zs56 30mm bottom reducer cup to fit my fork, the frame have a tapered head-what ever its called.

Anyhow for me personally, i think you get a great bang for the buck, the frame is a fine noob do-it-yourself-for the first time frame.

😛 Cya

Nice. Good to see the frame in the other colours – I was tempted to choose that option myself.

Something to keep an eye on: I noticed a bit of play at the rear end – discovered that the bolts in one of the pivots (lower bolts on shock linkage) had worked loose 😮

I have a friend who’s just bought a Viper freeplay from ChainReaction and is ‘changing components over’ from his old bike. He’s having problems with the front derailleur cage not being ‘long enough’ – it’s an old conventional Suntour front derailleur – the rest is SRAM X’series.He tells me that the height of the front derailleur is set correctly (i.e. the clearance to the big ring)
To try to describe:
He’s running 3 x 9 with the standard 44, 32, 22 Cranks and (I think) an 11-34 Cassette. When on the granny ring, and the 34, and not on the bike, the chain ‘rubs’ on the bottom of the derailleur cage – when he sits off the bike (with sag on the shock),the chain lifts off the bottom of the derailleur. This is the case up to around the 26, when in the granny gear, and after that (in the granny gear) the chain rubs on the bottom of the front derailleur even when the shock is loaded.
I think it’s specific to this front derailluer, but the question is:
What front derailleurs do others have fitted to this frame, and do you have any issues?
Thanks for any help.
Cheers,
Dave.

Currently using an slx conventional double ring specific front mech. Before that was using an old skool LX conventional front mech – no problems. I only had issues when trying to fit a top swing mech.

Hi, two questions to this frame users, please
1) What kind of rear hub mounting used for this frame (135×10, 135×12 etc)

2) What is standover height for M (46cm )size?

Thanks a lot
Mikhail

Standard 135×10, not sure of the standover – bike in bits at the moment so cant measure it.

After 4 months mine has developed play from one of the bolts near the rear axle. Think a bushing must be worn or something. Hotlines Europe are no longer the UK distributor so I’ve had to email head office in Belgium for info on a replacement bushing. Awaiting response..

Heads up – frame is now 300 quid on crc (60% off)

Use voucher code uk15, I just paid £284 happy days

still no response from viper, their customer support is basically non-existant. going to try and find a local engineer to make me some custom bushings.

Shatner,
Sorry to be a pain, I am expecting delivery today of my free play, I will need to run my 1″ 1/8 forks for now, did the Super star T3 zero stack come with a reducer for the bottom cup? I emailed super star but they seem to be confused with what I want.
Thanks

yeh it comes with the reducer…sorry for late reply