No, you’ve got biopace and new rings mixed up.

No, you’ve got biopace and new rings mixed up.

no I’m just being an idiot, again

I think a lot of bob is the rider bouncing about like a gorilla, sit and spin will smooth most stuff out

True it took me a while to learn to spin slowly

Agree about the granny and the orange works better with a 1 up set up IMHO

The thing I notice about SP is the stiffening of the suspension when in granny ring, not great for getting up technical stuff,

Sometimes you can use that extension to your benefit. It’s all part of the technique.

+1 for Junkyard’s comment re the benefits of a 1x set-up

Does an oval chainring smooth out the impulses sufficiently to reduce pedal bob?

Pedal bob is a minor problem on climbing, traction is much more an issue

I originally moved away from single pivots in 2005 because they seemed to need an extra surge in power to over come hooking up on square edge bumps on tech climbs. The replacement 4 bar bike flowed like water up hill by comparison, and I’ve been on multi pivot bikes since.

I’m happy to conceded that improvements are likely to have been made all round since, especially the 1x thing for single pivots, but it would be a new bike and expense for me to go and try it out again now, so I’m sticking with what I’ve got.

Sometimes you can use that extension to your benefit. It’s all part of the technique.

yeah getting up single objects like a step is ok but if it’s a right rocky bumpy mess suspension that remains active is nice.

It generally does remain active, it only stiffens up much on the really steep step ups and things, where it might even be a benefit.

I’ve only ridden one multipivot bike, and I hated it, but it’s not clear if that was to do with the pivot or not 🙂

Up proper rocky climbs I never have an issue, the shocks are very active. Throw your weight around a bit to unweight the front then rear over rocks and square edges and there’s tonnes of traction in trail or open mode to get up most things. I do love a technical climb.

I read up about lower back pain recently and apparently getting out of the saddle to climb is meant to help so I thought I’d give it a go on the Five on a very steep single lane tarmac road for 10 minutes (500ft) (Worlds End).

I’ve ridden it sitting many times and it’s very tough on a 1×10 bike – one of those climbs where you wish you’d got more gears for sure but grin and bear it anyway. I reset the O-Ring on the Fox Evolution shock and put it into Trail (not climb because I don’t like a harsh ride) and gave the forks a couple clicks (it’s a Sektor). Then standing up I pedalled (on flats) up in 2nd gear (32T single with 11-36 XT).

Where would you think the O-Ring would be?
It had barely moved – just a few mm (more than sag). I looked down to watch it expecting serious bobbing but it was just tottering.
It’s a very active shock on rough ground too. I was impressed.
The suspension seemed to almost go firmer when standing and pedalling smoothly.

I’m a seated climber when on the MTB but I stand up on a gym bike a lot and reading about lower back pain being eased by standing up for non traction limited climbs to stretch out your back on long rides I thought it was worth a try. I rode 35 miles so it worked.

Flick the shock into open and hit a descent and full travel is resumed on demand. They are utterly brilliant bikes.

There are so many good bikes out there. It’s very hard to choose between so many. I think the Oranges (Alpine and Five) are always worth a demo though. I’ve had new and second hand. Both great. Easy to maintain.

I’m going to practice standing climbing more, see if it can make a difference on long rides.

I’m a seated climber when on the MTB

is the proliferation of FS creating a generation/wave of riders who almost never stand up while climbing? On your feet is the best place to be when it gets steep and/or technical, especially “traction limited” climbs. Sitting down is just the default save some energy position (and now a stop your FS bike bobbing about like a cork position) obviously on HT you have to stand up for better traction but even on FS you get a lot more traction/control when stood up and have your weight in the right place – it just knackers you out quicker (ht or fs).

see if it can make a difference on long rides.

like I said can be more tiring but good for stretching your legs/back using different muscles for a while.

While the subject of single pivots is in full swing and 5’s etc…
It appears there’s a new orange coming out, the guys clearly on a 5, but what’s the long one on the right? 😀

Currently have a newish Five.
Have owned an older SWorks Enduro & a couple of Ventana’s.

Five climbs ok.
Needs a posh shock though.

I’ve got a 2012 Alpine. It’s set up with a CCDB coil and it did have an RP23 (that I later got Pushed). Never used the Pro Pedal lever and haven’t got loads of compression dialled into the CCDB. I’m running 1×10 (32t chainring), flat pedals (although have also happily run clips, it’s just I have 2 pairs of flat shoes as 5-10s take ages to dry in winter).

I’m not the smoothest rider (or fittest at the mo), there’s a lot of pedal mashing and standing up on climbs and even at 35lbs it still climbs well. But it’s bloody amazing downhill. I’d just like my next bike to be a bit longer.

If I was buying again I’d get a Five without hesitation as I love how the Oranges ride. There’s more to making a good climbing bike than the number of pivots. All suspension designs are a compromise and all will bob when climbing or lose traction if your technique doesn’t match the bike. You just learn to ride your bike.

Tom KP

My five climbs better than my anthem..
Five has a CCDB CS from tftuned..
Anthem has a fox float BV CTD from tftuned..

So…how about a Santa Cruz Superlight? Presumably very similar climbing to a Gyro or Segment?