Test rode Santa cruz heckler and orange 5 at the weekend, I hoped I would have a clear winner and be able to order one straight away, but they were both excellent. So I am left with a dilema, which one should I order. Can anyone help in my decision making, I.e how do you get on with your 5 or heckler? Any good on long climbs?
All info is welcome
Ride wise for me it was a dead heat also, in the end it came down to price the Hecker I wanted came in at just under £2.5K where as the 5 pro came in at £1800 (about 4/5 Year ago) the 5 won plus brownie points with Domestic HQ
DOn't really mind long climbs as I'm never in a rush uphill I just spin away till it's time to go down
Same quandry here and I too demod them both at the weekend. I'm leaning towards the Heckler because it felt a little more refined. I do think that the 5 is starting to look it's age too. Compare it with the new kids on the block (Lapierre etc) and it's a bit agricultural.
Zesty 714 here, lighter, faster up and down 
Of course if you want to drive agricultural machinery............
Seriously its one efficient bike.
I prefer the 5 myself, for no other reason than it looks nicer. Though of course what you really want/need is a Chumba VF2, like a Zesty only better 
I rode those two back to back Saturday and Sunday round the same trails and much as Stif tried to tell me that I'd liked the Heckler better the Five was just more me.
So my advice - get a 456 while you're thinking about it.
so you rode 2 single pivot bikes with similar geometry, and couldn't really find much to separate them? funny that.
try something a bit different?* no? then buy the one you like the look of.
sorry, i've been drinking barnsley bitter, and it's left me a bit blunt.
(*a chumba, a specialized, a boardman, a vPP thingymajig from whoever, a kona, a giant, etc, etc.)
I've got an '07 heckler, its fab, but the slightly lower BB and slacker HA of the 5 really appeals. I bought the Heckler because it seems more geared up for some heavy duty abuse. Certainly its put up with my many repeated DH runs and short landings on some very sizable jumps.
The Five is pretty tough too. I frequently use it with both myself and my son on it (on a LOCT seat) - around 20st between us. And before you assume that's on canal towpaths, that includes a week in Les Gets like that. OK I was soaking the jumps, not getting air, but even on the red DH we were not being overtaken / holding anyone up.
The Five took that kind on punishment fine (albeit with Pikes on the front.
Just looked up the LOCT seats, they look 
as
Cheers, Rich
A friend of mine has a Heckler the only thing that goes
wrong with his, is that he likes to skid round tight corners
and the bolts on the rear swing arm keep snapping and
screwing his ride, but these are around £ 30 quid.
I do the same on my Orange 5 AM but not had any problems.
Regarding climbing just put a little bit more air in the shock of the five
or use the number 3 setting which is very close to lock out
but even better has the shock still has a little bit of movement
which allows the rear wheel to dig into the divots on the way up.
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