With the ISCG mounts and tapered head tube, the new Five looks to be a great short travel play/trail bike… where as an ST5 might be a more taught and sprightly long travel XC bike… What I'd like is an ST4 that will take a longer fork… or an ST5. Lighter and better climbing than a five, and a little less plush sofa ride on the downs.
Obviously, the Five is a superb bike, and as said the new version looks awesome… but I've got a 6" travel single pivot play bike all ready and I want a 4/5" bike that's a bit faster pedalling but keeping a bit of that killer geometry for fun descending. Does that make sense ?
Guess we'll see on Thursday.