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Looking at changing my frame and looking for some help, currently using an orange alpine 160
What kind of riding do you do for a start, where do you ride and may potentially ride in the future, do you prefer slack or racy bikes, do you have a preference for suspension design, big or small wheels?... etc.
And budget?
Reasonably slack but a good climber. Quite light. I live on west coast scotland so all mountain riding and some enduro races. £1500 mark roughly.
Cotic Rocket?
Knolly Chilcotin. I'm biased because I have one and I think it's amazing. There's a box fresh large frame on eBay ending in a couple hours... http://bit.ly/1eHyLUD
EDIT: light, not so much. Slack and seemingly bomb proof though.
I had a look at the cotic on the net at the weekend. Do u have one?
New Alpine 160?
Would love an orange alpine
Transition Covert ?
Enduro 29".
Why do you want to change from the Alpine? Weight? Geometry?
Some more info would help as many frames eg 2013 Nukeproof Megas, Transitions, Cotics etc won't be a significant upgrade.
Mega, Mythic, Knolly....
Just fancy a change. Wouldn't mind something a bit lighter and something that climbs better.
Mojo HD. In typical STW fashion im recommending the bike I have just bought but honestly:
Light as it gets
Strong and stiff
Mine has a 140 RP23 and a 160mm coil interchangeable
It's as good a climber as the stumpy I had before and far better than the pitch before that
You know it makes sense.
Carbon, I thought al ibis models were carbon.
Banshee rune? I've had fives, a nukeproof mega and coverts (alloy and carbon). My banshee is pretty sweet, nice and slack but climbs well. Very good value for money with a CCDB air too. You can run it in both 650b and 26" and adjust the geometry via the extra chips included.
So far i'm pretty pleased with mine!
+1 for a Rocket
Nice and slack with a 160mm fork, very agile and chuck able and climb well also.
Can be built up to around 30lbs and would probably stand up to west coast terrain better than a carbon frame IMHO.
I had a look at the cotic on the net at the weekend. Do u have one?
Not yet, but I will do once the frames come in. Cotic let me borrow one and ride it around some of the Peak District, and it was fantastic.
Sounds good.
@hugh b is the banshee quite light, looks the part.
another vote for the Covert, especially in Carbon, but the new Kona Process seems to be ticking all the right boxes
My banshee seems fairly light yes, i don't have any scales though! Mine is built up with full xtr, hope hoops/flows, CCDB air, renthal bars, burgtec stem and bos devilles and it's great on the ups and downs.
I've always been sold on single pivots so was a little dubious but found the linkage works to my liking with the db air. (you'll be able to tune it how you like with that shock anyway as it's soooo adjustable!).
As I say i'm pretty happy with mine. When i first had it, i had different bars fitted (burgtec) which didn't suit me at all and it didn't feel comfortable. I've used renthals since they were released so went back to a set of them and it transformed it into the bike i wanted it to be! Didn't think 2 degrees difference in back sweep would make that much difference but it did!
I've got a large 2013 mojo hd in vit p with ctd factory kashima, works -1 headset and downtube gaurd.
Literally has had 3 hours use and is in prefect condition.
£1950 posted.
Third vote for Covert, personally I'd say Alu vs Carbon though as I really don't see the point for Carbon frames for most of us ... it should tick the boxes for you climbing better but still descending well
The Banshee Rune is a brilliant frame for that kind of money. Such a nice looking and riding frame.
+1 for the new Orange Alpine. All the best bits of the older one, just lighter, more versatile and better geometry. Amazing bike, reviewed in a recent issue of Singletrack. Pretty sure it's a lighter frame than the Banshee Rune, too. It's certainly a bit more chuckable and better in tight stuff IMO.
I have a Covert, love it, but it's not the lightest thing to climb on, and gets a bit wandery with 160mm forks. Coming down however it's a lunatic 😀
New Kona Process 153 worth a look, that'd be near the top of my list.
Rune tested in Singletrack was a £5k carbon-rich build and still weighed in around 32lb, if I remember rightly. Orange Alpine weighed the same for a lot less money, and had very well sorted angles for climbing despite a lovely slack front end.
Pivot Mach 5.7 or the new Mach 6 if you feel the need for 650b!
The mrs and a few friends have Coverts and they seem to be a good all round bike. Climb well and descend well. It certainly wasn't holding her back in the Alps this year as she blasted past all the French Big boys hogging Les Gets Red run 😉 (there's nothing quite like being harassed/overtaken by an English girl on an AM bike to upset our macho French neighbours on DH bikes).
I would say that the Alpine is a better descender (probably the best in its class when pointed downhill) but the Covert certainly climbs better and is no slouch DH or in the air.
Tom kP.
veru impressed with my Trek Remedy. Std. air shock for UK and a coil for the Alps.
Reckon a new Alpine will out-climb a Covert. Revised seat angle is very much a winner in terms of climbing, as is the frame's reduced weight.
Covert!
Just picked up a new 2013 frame and built it up, first ride was sweet! With a 160 Float up front and a 1x9 set up climbing was a little tough going, but I put this down to not riding properly for 7 weeks, I had the same set up on my Enduro and no issues.
Felt stiff as hell on the descents!
Good price too, I picked my frame up for £1260 from my LBS, online they still seem to be £1450.
I plumped for ally as on a bike like this i'd feel funny with carbon.
cheers for the input. I have read a few covert reviews and they seem good, most of them saying that the climbing position feels a bit too high. Has anyone got any experience with the yeti sb66?
Another vote for the Rune - I love mine.
Large, with 36 Van RC2's, Reverb, XT brakes, Easton Havoc wheels, Hans Dampf tyres, CCDBa, Atlas cranks, X9 1x10 etc it weighs in at 33lbs on the nose. It genuinely doesn't feel like a heavy bike to ride and climbs far better than it should but is definitely a bike that prefers the downs to the ups.
The CCDBa is pretty damn good although there is the opportunity to make it ride horribly by fiddling too much as I did. I've just reduced the air volume and gone back to the base settings and its much better (although I still prefer my rebound slightly slower than recomended).
The only thing that I have found is that it can be a bit of a handful on really tight corners due to it being pretty slack and long. I run mine in the neutral setting (65.5 degree head angle).
I also looked at the Covert and liked it, but the medium was too small and I didn't like the look of the large. I know I'll probably get flamed for saying that but this was the most that I have ever spent on a bike and I wanted something that rode well and I liked the look of. The Covert felt a bit more playful due to being a tad shorter and steeper but not quite as good on the steep or fast stuff.
To be honest, all of the bikes listed are really good. It comes down to how much you want to spend and what you like the look of I guess.
We've got several customers who have the Carbon Covert and they absolutely rave about them.
One of them had a custom built 5 as well as the Covert and he has been blown away at the responsiveness and grip of the bike during trips down several mountains in Wales and Scotland.
Apart from anything else, I'm sure they like to be able to tell their wives they've started a Covert love affair......safely! 😉
I've ridden a SB66 and preferred the Remedy.
Here's a pick of one of the Coverts in action:
[url= https://twitter.com/BikeS****y/status/379979793237692417/photo/1 ]Carbon Covert[/url]