Interesting comments regarding the ride. I had considered designing it around the dynamic geometry, but I then also considered that with just 100mm out back most people would run 140mm forks, which does give the lowest BB on the 150mm rocket, so maybe a little more ground clearance would be good. Also thought people might want something slightly nippier handling with the shorter travel too.

I guess I was wrong on that from what people are saying here, but that’s why I asked. Thanks for the feedback. I have some offset bushings for playing around with settings.

@Northwind – Was gutted not to do Fort William, but after the “summer” we’ve had the weather FB was awful and cold and it was finally nice and dry down here. I couldn’t bring myself to do a 20 hour round trip drive to get more cold and wet. Maybe next year…..

Is this the one on Fort William? If yes it doesn’t compare to the “RACE”!!!

EDIT: That will teach me to leave the tab open for ages. Cy do you need my address 😉

cy – Member

I couldn’t bring myself to do a 20 hour round trip drive to get more cold and wet.

But you missed the best bit, when the grit sands the skin off your legs 4 hours in and you can’t sit down in the gondola without making a girly noise!

Damn you and your sanity 🙁

So g’wan Juan, what’s THE RACE?

We should listen to some of the bullsh*t that we spout sometimes, we really should. Is there a great difference between any of these modern trail bikes? I reckon the forks make the most difference, me.

I’ve got a 5, I had an Ellsworth before and a Superlight before that. I’ve also ridden a 5 Spot a Mojo and a Commencal something or other. Apart from the riding position (usually because of stem length, bars etc)there’s no difference in ‘Performance’. They are push bikes for goodness’ sake. Some of you lot must be riding gods to think that these small differences are important.

Sorry. I’ll get my coat.

But you missed the best bit, when the grit sands the skin off your legs 4 hours in and you can’t sit down in the gondola without making a girly noise!

Sounds TEH ORSUMZ. So unhappy to have not experienced this 😉

@failedengineer – You genuinely couldn’t feel much difference between a 5 and an Ellsworth? Really?! I guess in terms of outright performance/speed there’s probably not much to choose, but in terms of ride feel and what you may prefer there’s a big difference between all those bikes IMO. And I’m not talking theoretically, I’ve ridden most of the ones you mention.

failedengineer – Member

I’ve got a 5, I had an Ellsworth before and a Superlight before that. I’ve also ridden a 5 Spot a Mojo and a Commencal something or other. Apart from the riding position (usually because of stem length, bars etc)there’s no difference in ‘Performance’.

Wow… I can just about understand why people would think 2 similiar bikes rode much the same, though I’d disagree. But a Five and a Superlight? Crazy talk frankly.

It’s theeeeee race Cy have a look at Issue 75 the article from Jenn about “the RAAAACEEEEE”

I Just rebuilt my 2006 orange patriot with a rp23 shock and marzocchi 55 forks and it is a beast. So got to kind of agree that stuff has not moved on in frames that much in 6 years. Do motocross bikes have lots of fancy pivots or do they go by the simplicity rule as well?

Can somebody explain the orange five bashing on this forum, is it some long running in joke? Its just a bike that happens to be made in our country that is bit more expensive but hopefully you are paying for decent wages, taxes to pay for stuff, a decent bike, environmental stuff, etc, etc. OK.. f the planet and decent wages and taxes give me the cheapest you have got from Taiwan.

Do motocross bikes have lots of fancy pivots or do they go by the simplicity rule as well?

Generally linkage-driven single pivots. Packaging of a motocross bike is quite tricky though – got an engine in the way

Can somebody explain the orange five bashing on this forum

Dont understand it myself. I remember a degree of it toward specialized stumpjumpers/Enduros… if its popular and sells well its obviously not very good according to this forum!

I’m sure if the Rocket does as well as the five it’ll be the same story…

GEDA- out of curiosity, where did you see 5 bashing in this thread?

OK.. f the planet and decent wages and taxes give me the cheapest you have got from Taiwan.

I just googled, most of the worlds aluminium tube is made in China, not Halifax. Shame, I thought you really were saving the planet for a moment there.

Do motocross bikes have lots of fancy pivots or do they go by the simplicity rule as well?

No, but the power from an engine isn’t (as) cyclic, like your legs…..meaning that they don’t have to worry about peddling efficiency.

Also a motorbike doesn’t weight around a sixth of its rider.

So are you saying that stuff made in the east is not cheaper due to the things I mentioned or is it ‘just’ economies of scale. The thing that makes me laugh is when people say that a single pivot is a compromised design that requires a special shock to make it work. Last time I checked the shock is an integral part of the bike and most bikes use the same shocks so who cares how a particular issue is solved? orange five bashing must be the longest, now dullest,troll/in joke on this forum, please no more. Maybe the issue is that at the end of the day it is not that you interesting talking about riding so most people talk about kit only the folk who like talking about kit either don’t do enough riding or are a bit to obsessive about the whole thing.

Wow… I can just about understand why people would think 2 similiar bikes rode much the same, though I’d disagree. But a Five and a Superlight? Crazy talk frankly.

As far as most people on the planet are concerned there are things that are bikes and things that aren’t. The number of people who would accept that you need a different bike for road and offroad riding is already quite small. The number that care about the difference between a Five and a Superlight? Well, they are probably all on this forum.

I’d agree that people who love riding bikes can feel the difference between different bikes. But even then I’m not sure it matters. As long as the bike is half way capable then my enjoyment depends a lot more on the trail, the conditions and on how I’m feeling than any subtle differences in the way the bike handles.

That doesn’t mean that all bikes are equally good but it does mean that other factors (such as who made it, where and how etc) are just as important (to me at least) as tiny differences in how it feels. Especially since they are almost always compromises i.e. bike X is better than bike Y at doing A, but is not as good at doing B.

Cheers,

Andy

Totally agree with everything you said Roverpig.

Thanks, at least there are two of us then 🙂