As above, but also, how well do they climb and cope with long days on the hills?

Cheers

Chris

A mate has one and thinks it is a decent all rounder. To start with, it weighs around the same as a sturdy Five. His has Lyrics and climbs well, as well as spending long days on the hills.

Not actually tried riding this one up a hill yet, it's coil sprung and has duel ply tyres so it's pretty heavy at 37lbs and she's set up pretty soft for DH fun. The air sprung one I demo'd rode acceptably up the whites level climb but in comparison to the Alpine 160 I tried on the same day it was awful going up. The downs were immense fun (it seems to pop and fizz and wants to be jumped like a BMX) but I'd never consider using it for long days out in the hills. I haven't even considered taking it to Swinley for a short blast yet, maybe when it dries I'll give it a go.

Great bike but not for all day riding, unless there's an uplift.

With pleasure :o)

Don't really agree that its not an all day bike. Mine's built up sturdy and comes in at 33-34 lbs I think. Have had it up Carn Ban Mor and it is my main bike for all day rides, trail centres and hacking about in the woods.

It might be slack but the Large has a long top tube so climbing is not too bad for me (I've since fitted a layback seatpost as well). Certainly, the difference on the climbs between this and my Giant Anthem is really quite noticable but this is just so much more fun on the downhill parts of the trail – its worth the effort.

Its just awesome fun.

These look so fit. I'd be sticking on some coil pikes, layback post and 50mm stem.

Keep them coming!

Chris, I had a demo one in the larger size (17.5?) for a weekend. At 6'3" I found the bike generally quite small but chuckable, I took it down some of my favourite DH, which it was perfect for but I also found it easy to pedal uphill too and over distance it was comfortable. I did have the seatpost fully extended to the max mark though!

The demo I had, had 36 Floats and an RP23 shock.

It's fair to say a big day on one is not quite as easy as a Five, however there really isn't much in it, and the fun you have when you're not climbing more than makes up for it. I run 1×9 on mine no problem at all, and have done big 40km+ days the last few weekends in the Highlands without regretting selling the Five for a minute.

Standard-issue bike with montains in the background photo.

Just before major fork service!!!

If I could be tempted away from my blur 4X, it would be for one of these. Would love to demo one.
Brycey, is that a 32T front ring?

Does this count? Half of what was drained 2 weeks after i broke some ribs! Nice

Doesn't climb all that well though, and a day in the hills is definitely out of the question, on the up side it made a lovely accessory whilst wandering around the hospital!

Yes 32t on the front, a bit small for faster decents. There's a 34 going on shortly.

damn thems some lovely bikes!!

Isnt a 37lb coil sprung DH only one kind of missing the point of it?

How strange, i was going to post exactly the same question!

I demoed a 15" the other week and at 6ft 3" sure was fun but for every day riding i be plumping for a 17" Just dont know what colour to go for! 😕

I'm 6'3 with a 17" and it's fine with a high seat (although that 27.2 post does look spindly!), and plenty long enough on the top tube. Have to agree that a 37lb one seems pointless, as if it's not going to be ridden along or up a decent mini-DH-type bike could easily be built with the same cash and be equal to or below that weight (in my opinion of course!).

Cant see pics of your brycey, what spec is it??

Sorry – repeat post joke 🙁

My blood was in my abdomen (about 4 pints of it 🙁 ) – does this count? 😉

'09 17"- air shock (RP23), 36 Floats, yellow. I bought it partly for the Mega so it's about to get an adjustable seatpost and potentially a brake upgrade (though the Hayes Strokers have been better than I thought they'd be.

Blood with Five Pro build – 29.1lb of all-day trail bike goodness. Not much heavier than a Five.

Mmm nice, that the spec i was aiming for bryecy, i got a gravity dropper to go on mine already!.

I may swap the rear mech as well although I change my mind daily. I'm not sure if it's because of the dodgy cable routing at the shock, but the X9 shifting starts out well, then goes to pot as ride progresses. Thinking of re-routing under BB and/or switching to XT (or maybe Saint) though there's no real logic to do either.

Anyone heard the old wives tale that a Saint mech runs better with a XT/XTR shifter? Got Saint/Saint on my DH bike and it's a very firm shift action.

I have a five as well so am able to make direct comparisons. For sure the five climbs much better, if your rides are xc, lots of ups and downs then the five would be best. Over an average ride for me the five is quicker but when the trail points down hill the blood just smokes the five. It feels much more solid and far more planted.

dont be fooled by the sizing, i am 5'11" and went for the 15" frame, which coupled to a 50mm stem is spot on. Having said that I run my 18" five with a 35mm stem so maybe I just like a short cock pit.

If you do get one check to make sure the front mech wont damage the chain stay when at full travel, mine was set too low and caused some minor damage.

Standard spec is pretty good. My wheels had to be trued after a couple of rides but i have had similar issues with mavics before. The bars are pretty much useless as they are very narrow. The brakes were the biggest surprise, I wasnt expecting too much from the juicy 5's but they are savage, leagues ahead of the hope's fitted to the five, in fact i now have hope M4's on my five and the juicy's massively out perform them.

Mmm not heard that old wives tail, Ah right i shall bear that cable routing in mind, oh have any of you had any probs with the boost valve rear shock?

cable routing isnt perfect but isnt as bad as sometimes made out. The main issue is with the rear mech cable, i have had no problems with bad or ghost shifting, SLX shifters saint mech. The only potential issue is with frame wear, but some careful helitape application in the cable guides seems to have sorted that. It does seem now though that the cable outer is wearing, but i would rather replace that than take paint off the frame.

ha ha why would you want an AM bike that jumped like a bmx? sounds sketchy if you ask me!

lol yea i have had issues with the rear shock, i did try running a basic coil in its place but i just couldnt get it to work, it was just blowing travel despite custom shimming. If you want to go coil I would say you need a fully adjustable one with at least compression and bottom out adjustment.
I posted my rp23 on monday and got it back wednesday, its all ok now, for general trail riding i find i use propedal (1) quite a lot for the ups and alongs so think the rp23 is a great spec.
the shock problems arent specific to bloods though, i know of at least 2 people who have had similar issues with 2010 rp23 bv shocks on other bikes.

Ah didnt realise it was a general prob, just seen on orange web site an double barrel upgrade for £400! if only eh!! lol

Well the 15" i demoed pedaled better up hill than my 1999 patriot!

I just sent the shock to mojo and put a cross in the warranty box on the form, they did the work no question and 48 hours posted to re-delivery is very impressive. On top of that a quick phone call and they gave me some very good setup advice for this bike and my five, and interestingly they advise almost complete opposite settings for both bikes.

Sailor74 would you like to share the set up tips? I'm sure some blood owners would like mojo's advice and personally i'm interested how they say to set up the rp23 on the five, cheers mate.

the five advice was based on my running the shock at around 170psi, I mentioned that the blood feels more planted and mojo were adamant this shouldnt necessarily be the case, I also found the fork on the five a bit twangy and didnt always go where it was pointed. I have since swapped the 32 for a 160mm 36 which has helped but for quite lengthy reasons that were explained to me the ride can be improved by slowing down the rebound on the rear. This will keep the bike further in its stroke making it more stable and stop a subtle seesaw action which upsets/varies the tyre contact patch. Basically a high single pivot such as the five wants to return to full extension so running a slow rebound will counter it. The blood is the opposite in that it uses up travel more readily so needs a quicker rebound to keep it propped up, together with a firm compression, i was told i may even prefer to run the blood with permanent propedal 1, 2 or even 3!
As for the five based on my 170psi i was advised to run the rebound 2 or 3 clicks from slow propedal off. I had been running it as fast as possible without being thrown out the saddle (4 – 5 clicks), I havent had chance to give this a proper test yet but for sure 2-3 clicks make a big difference in the 'kitchen test', will have to wait and see what the actual real world results are.

[/quote]Isnt a 37lb coil sprung DH only one kind of missing the point of it?

[defensive mode] Without doubt for similar money and weight I could have a full on DH bike and I would probably be faster but the main limiting factor to my riding is bravery. I’d rather be pushing myself at 7 to 8/10th’s of a bikes potential than be a passenger on a DH bike at 4/10 th’s. I’m sure DH bikes are a lot of fun but at the moment where I ride and how I ride doesn’t require one. If the time comes when I develop riding god skillz (and the girlfriend lets me) I’ll splash out and get one and return the blood to general duties. [defensive mode off]

SO anyone know of anywhere to get a good deal on one then??

Sailor 74 many thanks for that advice, nice to get tips from mojo as they run fives on their team bikes. Really helpfull.
OP apologies for the thread hijack.

Goby – theres an ex demo on oranges website which looks pretty good for 2k, check the offers section.

Got mine as an ex-demo direct from Halifax, all went very smoothly, can't knock them.