Hi guys and girls,

Just testing the water realy, but been thinking about an upgrade to my ride.

currently riding a 2011 orange crush.

had it for just over a year and ride quite regualy at uk trail centres. I do like it and enjoy riding it but find it sometimes hard to stick with my riding partners, one of which has a stumpjumper FSR and the other has a full sus santa cruz.

not going to upgrade till proberly around september time but will be looking for a reasonable/capable full sus of my own.

at the moment i am hovering around either a orange alpine 160, but i think its too much bike for what i ride, and a orange five AM.

so realy i am just looking for your thorghts, comments and general advice on the matter.

chris

I’d work out whether you want a 140mm 5pro or the 160mm alpine and not bother with 160mm 5am. Reason being the 5am has a slacker head angle than the alpine. I have an alpine with ccdb and love it, dont find it too much even when riding xc but fantastic on dh runs at trail centres with a 1×9 setup.

If you think the alpine is too much the 5pro is nice but personally I’d miss the 36’s up front. Either way 5 or alpine go for ccdb.

Sorry to be a noob, but what is ccdb? (crane creak double barrel?)

Orange 5 or an Alpine are both to much bike for a UK trail centre.

Keeping up with riding partners around UK trail centres is down to fitness and skill rather than the bike you riding.

Spend your money on a skills day with Jedi off this forum.

It’s not the bike that holding you back.

But get the five anyway. They’re ace.

Sure is, its a fantastic upgrade to any bikes

Orange 5 or an Alpine are both to much bike for a UK trail centre.

Keeping up with riding partners around UK trail centres is down to fitness and skill rather than the bike you riding.

Spend your money on a skills day with Jedi off this forum

This^
but, get a 5 as well.

ok, so i just need to practice realy.

what sort of things do you get upto on these skill days?

is there a link or post about it?

Crush,

In what way are you not keeping up?

Is it the climbs?
Is it the jumps and bumps going down?
Is it the corners?
Does it really matter that you dont keep up if you are still enjoying yourself?

Have you ridden a full susser on the trails you go to?

They are different beasts to a hardtail and my personal feeling is that they can dull and dampen the trail in some respects. Yes, you may go faster over the bumps but I sometimes find that makes the riding a little less tactical. i.e. rather than an accurate line, you razz it over the obstacle and let the suspension do the work.

I’d personally try an FS first via hiring or borrowing from a friend.

hi fisha,

i dont struggle so much with the fitness aspect of climbs its more the technical bits. Eg i struggle on a few sections on the initial climb at Cwmcarn but get there in the end,

jumps wise i am not confident to get the bike off the ground so much and try to keep it on the deck if i can.

im quite a chunky fella ( not fat lol) so sometime struggle with balance on slow 180 swichbacks, even taking it wide in,hitting the apex and taking it wide out.

just read the post back and i sound like i am a right noob lol. maybe i should upgrade to a trike haha

Get the Five. Who gives a hoot if its too much bike. It will be a laugh. Go on.

Skills course (or maybe decent skills book (or video?) and put some time into getting what they’re on about, try putting stuff into practice and going back to said resource)

Also try building up your fitness?

“find it sometimes hard to stick with my riding partners, one of which has a stumpjumper FSR and the other has a full sus santa cruz”
“am hovering around either a orange alpine 160, but i think its too much bike for what i ride, and a orange five AM”

If you decide you want to go down the full suss route, you ought to try a few first and then don’t ‘over-suss’ yourself (too much). You say you want to keep up with your mates, a ‘bigger’/burlier bike isn’t going to help you go quicker on stuff thats up or anything too pedally?
I’d have thought the obvious would be to go something similar to a stumpjumper or santa cruz (which one is it?). So 140/150mm?

Given the build of your crush, could you hunt down a not ridiculously pricey full suss frame to go with that build, 140mm taper forks? (maybe even ebay something?)

Jedi’s courses. Must say I’ve never heard anything but glowing praise from those who have invested.

crush83 – Sounds like it’s just a question of skills. That said, MOST bike upgrades are not a case of need, they’re a case of want. If you want a 5 then get one. Although obviously you’ll have to put up with the people who say they look like they’ve been made from old filing cabinets.

Two very good points above. I have a 2012 Five and love it, but I wouldn’t want to add more travel. I weigh 16st and whilst I’ve not taken it to a trail Center (yet) I’ve not found anything to challenge 140mm. Constantly amazed at how competent the Five is and it rides fast… The geometry is so well balanced I’d not change it. Climbing is just OK but the front does get light on really steep stuff. Haven’t tried the Alpine but seems the obvious choice if you want more travel.

One of the biggest improvements to my riding has been flicking through the pages of…

Mountain bike skills 2nd issue

Especially the section on pedalling. A few rides concentrating on this and I’m able to ride much faster, for longer and my fitness and strength is up as well. It’s amazing how lazily I was peddling before and how inefficient it was. I suspect lots of people would benefit from this simple change.

So, buy a five and get some skill (Jedi or book), you’ll be flying past your mates in no time. 😀

Jedi will fix your riding but not your fitness tho 😉

Do both- I did a skills day with Dirt School in Innerleithen and it’s the best £80 I’ve ever spent on riding. Better than any bit of kit.

But a full sus bike is a laugh, it’s nice to have both. The 5 AM and Alpine are both a bit much I reckon- I’d look at a 5 Pro. I have a 5 with 160mm Lyrik forks and it’s for really big mountain riding, I’d not take it to a trail centre.

Just keep the hardtail and dont worry about nuthin’.

ok,

supose i had done some skills training and i still fancied an upgrade to a full sus. what bikes are comparable to the five?