Hello

First post on here. I have recently started getting back into biking, I ride a 2000 model year Spesh Hardrock. It has had no Gucci bits or even had a fork service in all those years but it is still okay. I live about 10 mins from Whinlatter so went and hired a Cube 29er hardtail the other day to hit the red routes, it was a revelation compared to my current ride and I enjoyed the speed but found it a bit more of a chore to change direction quickly.
I am using my Spesh on Barrow, Grisedale, Whinlatter etc but I need to retire it and get something new. I am looking for something that will be reasonable to climb on and provide solid handling for high speed descents from the top of Skiddaw, Grisedale etc and also allow me to develop further and improve my speed/flow on the red routes at Whinlatter.

I am attracted to the Canyon al+9.0. It seems like value for money and I am happy to fettle things myself although the latest review in MBR suggests that the handling isn’t that great.
https://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3042

I also had a look at an Orange Five S, a lot of folk seem to have these so the design is well proven but it seems less vfm than the Canyon.
Does anyone have any experience of either of the above bikes in the type of riding that I do?
I know that the bling on the Canyon is good, but is the frame up to the job?

Any thoughts or advice appreciated.

Canyon is a head bike, Orange 5, Santa Cruz and Yeti are heart bikes. The Canyon frames are very good, if you can get over the Direct sales model, bang for buck they are pretty unbeatable.

Agreed. They are not a bike to lust after, but a bike that’s components shine, probably more than the actual frame. Styling wise, canyon don’t do it for me, but each to their own. I built myself a heckler for 2.5k about 18 months ago, so I’d say if you can get a frame for around a grand, it’s doable, and you’ll get a bike specked the way you want it. I love building bikes, too.

Buy my orange 5 2011 £1600 size 20inch. More details In the classifieds

The Orange is just plain bad value for money. But value for money isn’t the most important thing. TBH getting a testride on a Five shouldn’t be too hard and will be worth your time, to see if you actually like it. If it knocks your socks off it’ll be worth the price premium. If it doesn’t absolutely impress you then it’s not. A selfbuild on a used frame might work better.

Unhelpfully, I’ll give you a 3rd contender 😉 If I had £2500 to spend on a 140/150mm bike, to do this job, I’d have a shortlist that said stumpjumper evo comp. A very shortlist.

Go for a Five – they ARE that good. Especially if you plan on keeping the bike for more than a couple of years. Virtually every part on a Five can be easily serviced/replaced by the majority of good bike shops across the UK. No strange components or sizes of bearings etc, just good performance and easy to live with. My opinion of course. Also, the deep purple colour is lovely.

Didn’t get on with my 5.

Love my Stumpjumper FSR EVO.

I would also be considering the stump jumper Evo, they ride really really nice, climb well, decend even better.

Canyon are fantastic value for money but I think the important thing is to get the frame that you get on best with be it the orange or whatever you choose as you can upgrade everything else around it much cheaper than having to buy another frame as you bought the one that had great components but the frame turned out not to be for you.

Everyone always says get a test ride on as many bikes as you can but in reality this seems to be a tall order! Some shops want you to pay to take the bikes out and then knock it off the bill, they normally don’t stock all the brands you want to try. If that’s not the case they don’t want you to get it dirty! If you can though get out and have a sit on a few at the least.

The Five is really a marmite bike, so best to test one first. Full builds are also pretty poor value, so you’d be better off with a frame or one of the many second hand Fives on offer. The modern Five is at the more hardcore end of the Trail-All Mountain-Downhill spectrum and the Canyon is probably nearer the middle, if that makes any sense.

With that kind of money burning a hole in my pocket?

It’d be a Whyte T-129S (if you can find one in stock anywhere!) and pocket the change… They really are that good!

Well, I’d buy one, ditch all the SRAM kit on it, change to a 2×10 XT setup instead, but other than that… I’ve ridden many many full sus bikes, the T-129S was the first full sus bike I’ve ridden in a long time that has left me shocked with just how good it is! And I don’t mean “how good for the money”, I mean how good full stop… Not that I like to agree with the media unnecessarily either, but What MTB just gave it 5 stars and voted it their trail bike of the year.

colin27 – Member

Virtually every part on a Five can be easily serviced/replaced by the majority of good bike shops across the UK. No strange components or sizes of bearings etc,

You mean, like most other bikes 😕 Only real exception that springs to mind is bushing suspension bikes but they’re relatively uncommon. You can certainly say the same of the Canyon.

What about a nice trance….

Trance and spend the rest on wheels, a new dropper and beer…

Or if you feel like something at the other end of the spectrum! (appreciate not exactly what is required, but its a great bargain!)

Claymore Bargain

or if you are a midget theres someone selling a brand new SC Butcher frame in the classifieds for 600 quid! (not me I may add)

I think there’s an orange demo day coming up next month at Biketreks Ambleside give em a shout and try one as its allot of dosh

The Orange is just plain bad value for money.

Try finding a shop with the correct lower headset bearing for a Stumpy in stock. Or pivot bearing kit for a Scott bike (at £100+ just for the bits!). Or anything for a Lapierre!

I know there are plenty of good bikes out there but I just find Orange’s so easy to live with. Cheap and easy to maintain, reliable, good back up in the UK should you need it, and they ride well IMO. I just think there is a lot of value in how easy a bike is to live with after the initial ‘newness’ has worn off. They aren’t the best value for money on paper, but if you plan on keeping a bike for several years and don’t want to spend masses to keep it running, I think there is little better.

colin27 – Member

Try finding a shop with the correct lower headset bearing for a Stumpy in stock. Or pivot bearing kit for a Scott bike (at £100+ just for the bits!). Or anything for a Lapierre!

But none of those are things you should ever need to walk into a shop and buy in a hurry, so it wouldn’t make any difference if they’re in stock or not.

I like the simplicity of my 224, but realistically it won’t save that much in consumables over a well made multi-pivot bike over its life- little enough that it just doesn’t really register on my reasons to buy it. My Hemlock’s got a kabillion bearings and gets ridden non-stop year-round, but the bearing bill is a drop in the bucket of the overall biking bill.

Point taken. That thinking leads me to buy Hope components for the same reason. Each to their own, neither of those bikes is going to be bad.

TBF I don’t think you can buy a bad bike for £2500 😀 Best thing to do is to buy the one you like the colour of, then never ride anything else and just convince yourself it’s the best bike in the world.

Go try some out, the downside of the direct sales model is that unless you can find someone with one it’s a leap of faith. The first full sus you ride will feel awesome normally hence you should try a few.

Orange to their credit do a lot of demo’s. personally I find them average and overpriced but thats just me….

Never had a bike that is as hard to service as some seem to claim.

Cotic Rocket? Demo day this sat.http://www.cotic.co.uk/news/

As said above, I’d try a few bikes out first.
What works for someone else might not work for you.

If I had £2500 to spend on a 140/150mm bike, to do this job, I’d have a shortlist that said stumpjumper evo comp. A very shortlist.

That’s how my list ended up. My budget took a couple of hits and i ended up with a second hand Evo expert but i can’t imagine a better complete all-round mountain bike for money.

Saying that all the bikes in this segment look decent, so the first bike you test ride will be hard to walk away from.

Five every time. You’ll completely rethink that whole ‘value for money’ thing when you’ve ridden it for 12 months and nothing needs fixing, not even new pivot bearings. Forget the looks-good-on-paper trap. Fives ride brilliantly too, of course.

Five Anything every time. You’ll completely rethink that whole ‘value for money’ thing when you’ve riddenbought it it for 12 months and nothing needs fixing, not even new pivot bearingsand ridden it as nothing really breaks in 12 months. Forget the looks-good-on-paper trap. Fives ride brilliantly averagely like any single pivot full sus too, of course.

test rode, went back to heckler as good, cheaper. Better bikes and better value out there.

I have a top end 2012 Trek Remedy 9.8 for sale, perfect for lakes riding and trail centres, more details under the for sale section, I’m also not far from Keswick

What a great response, thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply, much appreciated.

I did ask for a test ride of a Five at Biketreks last weekend but they didn’t have a bike in my size (18″), they also advised the demo day as Orange are revising the models again for June. I will try to make the demo day but looks unlikely due to some family commitments that weekend.

I did ask about the Stumpy Comp Evo in my lbs last week but was told that they couldn’t get hold of one as they have been selling well nationwide. They could offer a test ride on a Camber 29er but that won’t be representative of what I plan to buy so I didn’t take it.

To the folks with the Trek and Orange for sale, They are both too big for me but thanks anyway. Plus, as I will be keeping this for many years I want to buy new and enjoy the shiny bling syndrome, at least until my first proper off when I scratch everything to bits!

@Northwind: I like the suggestion of only riding one bike……..that would keep things simple.

I am also now looking at the Canyon Strive aswell, lovely looking bike.

I am still stuck between Orange and Canyon right now.
The Five for it’s heritage and reliability and the Nerve/Strive for the value and apparently happy customers from the reviews that I can find.

Off to look at more reviews of some of the bikes suggested above aswell, I will let you know which bike I go for in the end.

Take a look at the AMRplus7500 from Ghost

http://www.justmountainbikes.co.uk/Item/Ghost13_AMRplus_7500

You can see the Canyons at the UK open day

https://www.canyon.com/_en/service/news_event.html?nt=3981

The Nerve AL+ frame is a new design this year. Not to be confused with the Nerve.

https://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3041

I love my 5 and it’s the second one I’ve had. highly recommended regardless of what the usual haters say. It certainly can’t compete with the Canyon on value for money (what else can?)but actually isn’t bad compared to many other bikes out there, similar spec for similar money. I’ve proved this before but the usual suspects cover their ears and prefer to keep spouting the same old tosh. 🙄

I’m hoping to change this year and that’ll be for another Orange (prob Gyro or five 29 but maybe just another 5). Tried loads of others but always come back to my 5.