Want something to put 140mm forks on.

Orange 5 fits the bill – anything else I should consider at a similar price point?

Hemlock?

i have a 5 and really like it, but as you ask – commencal 5?

Pipedream Torero 140, = £699 (singletrack reccomended)

’08 Giant Reign?, 152mm (were £800)

Commencal Meta 5.5, £850 on merlin at the mo

Cotic Hemlock, 120 or 150mm = £980

Santa Cruz Heckler, 150mm = £1200

Orange Five, 140mm = £1275

How much more do you want/are you willing to spend?
There must be more than that for less than a 5 frame costs

Thanks all – would prefer 2nd hand frame only

Yeti 575? They’re sold with Flaot 32’s so I guess a 140mm fork would be fine

Cannondale Prophet.

I’d just get a five, but then I own one and think it’s great…

We got a Giant Reign frame for Abigale of Ebay for next to nothing and stuck some Pikes on it, the bike rides great, both uphill and downhill, and is used in the Peaks most weekends and in the Alps in the summer

Tracey

i think i saw a 5 frame in the classifieds for £250.
on my second one , upgraded from the sub 5 to a new 08 😀

Chumba XCL 😉 I have a few available at really good money 🙂

Pace RC405

Deffo worth a look around that price level.

Five

I’m not going to bang on and on but seriously at least demo a Five – it’s not quite for everyone but most love it the second they swing a leg over… There’s plenty of demo bikes kicking about.

In fact I’ve never met anyone in person that didn’t love it after trying, plenty of internet trash talkers though 😆

Get a Turner 5Spot, costs a fortune but well built and last forever. Lovely frames which turn into fantastic bikes!

what’s the relative advantages and disadvantages of the design like the orange five, santa cruz heckler (single pivot, is it called?) over the 4–bar linkage system like the cove hustler, kona coilair?

Commencals heavy
Chumba
Heckler
Definitely a Reign and a 5- both have good right ups…

The winner is Reign though- cheap as chips if you wait for one

Five is all about being stiff, strong and having a sorted geometry and ride position – it’s piss easy to maintain and just feels unbelievably sorted in any situation. It’s probably the bike equivalent of a 911 – you could argue rear engine design is flawed (and many argue SP is) but they’ve been refining the design for so long that it’s simply brilliant regardless.

Supposed Five Cons:
Bob is neglible when seated, pro-pedal max does the job if you’re a stand up and mash. So meh.

Pedal feedback, MTFU and pedal harder, really doesn’t bother me and in some situations actually helps you power through.

Brake Jack, you’ll find you brake less anyway on this bike and you shouldn’t be breaking on the brake bumps anyway where it would even be an issue.

Weight, it’s not any heavier than anything in it’s class. 28lb (sans pedals) for what it can handle is quite admirable.

Value, sod it, it is pricey but you quickly forget about that when you ride it. I thought ’08 was fair value anyway and frame only hasn’t actually risen in price much which is rare for ’09. Besides, I see so many original Sub-5s riding around to know that there’s many a year to come on this bad-boy…

(I’ve gone on and on haven’t I?)

I’m running a trance x 0 frame with 140mm pikes. Rides lovely! I picked mine up second hand, but when i say second hand it had been ridden on 2 very local rides and i genuinely thought it hadn’t been ridden when i picked it up!
Very versatile frames depending on the build, i have mine set up as a “do everything” bike from xc to downhill! They can take a fair bit of abuse…Chris Smith used one as his slope style, light freeride and full sus DJ bike!

I do like the practicality of the single pivot bikes but they just don’t feel as nice to ride (in my opinion) than a bike with linkage such as the giant.

Hugh

I forgot the Trance 🙁

so basically, a single pivot is simpler and therefore fewer bearings to wear out, the trade off being that it allegedly suffers from brake jack/pedal bob but whether that’s true/noticeable is debatable
?

Heckler. It’s nice, but only likes to go fast downhil. Nice if you’re feeling a bit pootly or are a fat lad on the climbs, like me.

so basically, a single pivot is simpler and therefore fewer bearings to wear out, the trade off being that it allegedly suffers from brake jack/pedal bob but whether that’s true/noticeable is debatable
?

Pretty much… 🙂

sorry we didn’t like the 5pro we demoed for a half day. We compared it with a trancex and a P7 HT who ever was riding the 5pro was at the back – hated it climbing, fiddled with shock settings no real help. DH was solid except for the conti tyres which slipped and drifted sideways all the time.

sorry 5 owners, just our experience