already.[url= http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/bikes/mountain/full-suspension/product/review-lapierre-zesty-514-13-47164 ] Lapierre Zesty 514[/url]
Whose the Distributor, advertise much do they? 😉
Whyte T129 won it though, Zesty came third.
it says the shocks are rubbish.
How'd it get 4.5/5 then ?
Don't get me wrong I like Zestys
For a best of the best, and given that trail bikes are much of a muchness, there are a lot of negatives in that article!
I thought that. seemed a bit critical.
but I think its all wrong and bollox as mine wasn't in the top three. 😆
There will be a lot of orange fanbois that are going to be a little miffed.... 😈
already.
To be fair, 2013 kit was launched around August/September last year, so they have had a while to make their minds up.
LoCo - MemberWhose the Distributor, advertise much do they?
The Whyte won- definitely not a top advertiser (and Nukeproof/Hotlines, Specialized and Orange, much bigger advertisers, didn't win) But hey.
bigrich - Memberit says the shocks are rubbish.
It says they set it up wrong and it didn't work too well, so they fixed it. More an observation that it's sensitive to setup than a major criticism, I reckon?
So, it was badly set up and got battered and punctured, has a twangy fork and plastic tyres, narrow bars and over-long stem, is crying out for a shock and tyre upgrade, had brakes only suitable for big hands and despite the 3100 quid price tag doesn't have a dropper, yet still makes it onto the podium? Right.
Test fail. My bike was not on the list of tested bikes. I guess it's too boutique. If it was it would have won I sure 😉
bit of a short long list.... missing Blur TR(c), Rocky's and a heap more. Must be hard to be a test riding journo these days.
But seriously isn't bike radar one of the weird ones we normally laugh at?
Dont they have those stupid push fit BB that give up after a few months ?
That was the worst test i have ever read In my life.. it made me make a very big error..
I read the results, sold my 2012 Orange Five black gold for £2000.00 and bought a new Whyte T129S all in the space of a week.
I can confirm that the Orange was a really great bike and the Whyte is a load of shit.
That was the worst test i have ever read In my life.. it made me make a very big error..
I read the results, sold my 2012 Orange Five black gold for £2000.00 and bought a new Whyte T129S all in the space of a week.
I can confirm that the Orange was a really great bike and the Whyte is a load of shit.
Don't buy a bike without a test ride?
I know i have learnt the hard way and i really really miss my orange
tbh, i don't think a 150mm Zesty is really a "trail" bike these days. yes, you CAN use it as a trail bike, but nothing they rode in those videos needed 150mm of travel. So i agree, as a "trail" bik, the T-129 is "better" Add in the higher price and it's even further behind.
But, if you wanted a bike that you could say also take to the alps once a year, then it would clearly be a much better proposition that either of the other two.
But its not 650b so by defintion is now so last season!
These 'of the year' tests just crack me up. They now just remind me of Harry Hill and his comedy 'of the week' sketches - like 'Over-ambitious cucumber fold-over of the week' (check it out on youtube) and therefore I can't take them seriously any more.
Like we've all been sat here on the edge of our seats, biting our nails awaiting the outcome of a test conducted by a group of riders, probably not that different to a lot of us on here, to see what their opinion is of a selection of bikes that they deem worthy of entering the competition. The test is tosh, ignore it and buy the bike that looks the best, they're all good these days.
SC Tallboy LTc is the only bike in the test to get 5/5 yet it doesn't win 'Trail Bike of the Year'... hmmm.
I have a lot of respect for bike companies who don't do annual changes/releases "look at how we made what you bought look like dog eggs" make properly, release for 2/3 years with running gear upgrades then make the next one better. A bike doesn't become bad on the 31st December it panders to the "Bike is Good on Paper" crowd who frankly talk a bad game and play a bad game 🙂
I tend to treat these with an enormous amount of skepticism. If I'm in the market for a new bike/frame then I'll ask around and take a test ride.
Over the last few years there have been certain marques that have been "en-vogue" so to speak who win lots of group tests, but then twelve months later disappear into obscurity. I'm sorry, but things don't move along THAT fast, especially not with the recent price hikes we've all had to deal with.
And back to the test, what about the Saracen? A £2,800 bike with a Turn Key damper? I'd happily swap Kashima shininess for a plain Evolution shock and MoCo up front.
🙄 @ bolo
I've just re-read the review of the Boardman Team FS I have that was also in this years list
"You won’t find a better full-sus bike under a grand. It’s hard to think how we’d improve it"
I've changed; brakes, tyres, handlebar and stem, saddle, grips, crankset, bottom bracket, pedals, added a dropper post...
I love my bike but it's taken a bit of effort to get it right. Still I've only spent £1,300 all in so far on it and would have a right weapon if i had the balls to ride it properly
It says they set it up wrong and it didn't work too well, so they fixed it. More an observation that it's sensitive to setup than a major criticism, I reckon?
"The main culprit was the basic ‘Evolution’ damper in the rear shock, but excess dive and twang under braking from the 150mm travel Fox 32 forks really didn’t help."
sounds rubbish to me.
Whyte is a load of shit
@bolo please substantiate, nowt wrong with a forthright opinion but it's good to back it up with a 'why'.
I have a Whyte and like it (because I think it's great VFM, it's a bit Britishly idiosyncratic, I like the way the slack HA buys me a little reaction time and the way the 120mm forks soak up a lot of the rooty trails I ride), but I didn't ride much else to compare it with.
bigrich - Member"The main culprit was the basic ‘Evolution’ damper in the rear shock, but excess dive and twang under braking from the 150mm travel Fox 32 forks really didn’t help."
sounds rubbish to me.
Meaningless without context- many of the other bikes in the test were also on 32s.
Meaningless without context
the context is that when you ride them off road, they twang and dive and the rear doesn't track.
I think you mean in comparison; in order to come third, all the other shocks below it must also be rubbish.
Didn't the same mag rate the Trance 29 as its favourite 29 trail bike and unstoppable when compared with anthem. Then include the anthem (XC?) as #2 in trail bike of the year. Bizarre IMO
[quote The test is tosh, ignore it and buy the bike that looks the best, they're all good these days.
The tests aren't targeted at STW readers who probably have up to seven bikes in their lairs, they are designed food people with an interest in MTB,s who would like advice on a good bike to buy. the clue is in the title 'what mountain bike' it ain't no oracle and doesn't pretend to be
Mattgj
when i said the whyte is a load if shit I wrote it because i am seriously gutted with it. it is no where near as good to ride as my old Orange on my local trails. the orange was solid and the white just feels like it is going to fall apart and it dont jump like the orange either. One thing i will praise about the whyte is that it was awesome riding it on the road to work this moring really fast.. only problem i wanted a mountain bike not a road bike. only sold the orange because i fell out of love with it.. the cost of upkeep for that bike was unbelievable and i got it in my head i needed a new bike.
Eh? Not a 650b? Someone will get fired over that....
I bought the mag for the feature. Forgetting any bias/advertising type conspiracies the article did seem to contain a number of inconsistencies eg criticise one bike for its weight but not mention it for another of the same weight. Reading the whole mag brought more, particularly regarding the zesty, bike of the year versus 'our bikes'.
bigrich - MemberI think you mean in comparison; in order to come third, all the other shocks below it must also be rubbish.
Nope, because it's a bike test not a suspension test. And they make it pretty clear that they think the performance of the bike outweighs complaints on individual components.
The fact that the main issue with the shock was only bad setup on their part makes me wonder why they made such an issue of it- if I screw up setting up a bike I keep quiet, I don't blame the bike 😉 Bad reviewing IMO.
3100 pounds for a bike with poor forks and cheapo rear shock - yet rated the third best bike made this year.
that's why
Why was cost of upkeep of a 5 'unbelievable' ?
bigrich3100 pounds for a bike with poor forks and cheapo rear shock - yet rated the third best bike made this year.
You do understand the difference between relative and absolute measurement don't you?
boloclips - that is surprising, I haven't found mine feeling like it is going to fall apart (and I weigh 18 stone and ride in the Lakes). It feels a lot more sorted than the Yeti 575 I had previously!
I do agree it is fast tough 😉
boloclips: Sorry to hear that you are not loving the new bike, but I'd be fascinated to hear more. It is so rare to hear a negative review of a new bike that somebody has just bought(assuming you are not just winding us all up).
In what way does it feel like it will fall apart? Is it just flexing more. I've just been testing an Orange Gyro having spent a while riding an (older) Five and had the opposite feeling, with the Gyro feeling noticeably stiffer than the Five. Could it just be flex in the wheels?
Jumping is an alien world to me, but I wonder in what way it can be harder to jump. The overall weight of the bike (plus you of course) can't be significantly different to the Five. So, if you launch if off the same slope it should go as far. Is it just the suspension not giving you the same "pop"?
bigrich - Member3100 pounds for a bike with poor forks and cheapo rear shock - yet rated the third best bike made this year.
Eh, most people wouldn't consider a 32 to be a poor fork even in Evo spec, people queue up to buy 'em (I wouldn't!). And the shock apparently performed fine once they fixed their mistake.
You wouldn't want a bike with really nice parts that rides like crap to win just because it's good value, would you? Just the other side of the same coin- having individual lacklustre parts could drag a bike down but if it's still great to ride then that's what really counts.
iainc
it was not so much the Orange but all the parts, it was costing me about £150 per month for the last 4 months on parts and servicing the forks. really done my head in. I was constantly thinking about purchasing new forks but more basic ones that did not need servicing so much. After just 1 year of riding the bike that cost me 3.5k i had spent a extra £700 just maintaining it plus the forks needed another service and it needed new headset when i sold it. it was just one thing after another and i snapped fell out of love with it and needed it gone.
Capt.Kronos and roverpig
Like you i am a hefty lump. 17 stone. it could be the wheels flexing?? or that the forks are not a good as my old foxes.. it seems to twang down the trail not in a good way.. when i rode it on Monday down a basic bit of singletrack it felt like the back end was flexing out when I cornered it?? never felt any thing like it before and did not like it. going out for a ride tonight so we will see what happens. as for jumping well the orange just did it so well and the whyte is not the orange.
On the plus point the whyte is quick on the trails i have ridden it on. guess it just needs getting use to. it dose roll over stuff rather than popping of it which is a bit boring.
iainc
it was not so much the Orange but all the parts, it was costing me about £150 per month for the last 4 months on parts and servicing the forks. really done my head in. I was constantly thinking about purchasing new forks but more basic ones that did not need servicing so much. After just 1 year of riding the bike that cost me 3.5k i had spent a extra £700 just maintaining it plus the forks needed another service and it needed new headset when i sold it. it was just one thing after another and i snapped fell out of love with it and needed it gone.
wow, that is a lot of cost. My 5 hasn't cost any more than any other of my decent bikes to upkeep, although I have sent the suspension to TF once a year for servicing, so I guess that's double vs. a hardtail.
I'm around the 17stone mark too and have had that feeling of rear end flex in a few bikes. One I cured it by going to a Maxle upgrade and stronger wheels but on others it couldn't be helped and I ended up selling. Sorry-might not be what you want to hear!
The Zestys a top example of a bike that rapidly improves every year.
Back in 2007-2010 they were quite long.
2011 they shrank the top tube and chainstays, offering fantastic "chuckability".
2013 they extended the top tube and chainstay length, the stability and speed downhill has been massively increased.
Evolution at work chaps.
Looking forward to the 2014 revision with a shorter top tube and chainstays, I'd imagine it'll increase the chuckability no end.
In the Zesty case, the bike i think suffers from now being the same frame geo as the Spicy. Before, when they were different, the Spicy could be lower/longer/slacker and the Zesty could be taller/shorter/steeper. In that way you could choose the Zesty to "pop" around on, or choose the Spicy to just "roll over" anything in your way. Now the frames are the same they just oscillate between minor changes here and there (no doubt driven by reviews that say "i wish the Spicy was a bit more gnarr" and "i wish the Zesty was a bit poppier".......... 😉
it seems to twang down the trail not in a good way
Sounds as though it could be flex that's the problem then. I remember going from a 2012 Trance to a 2006 Five and being shocked at the flex in the Five. With time I got used to it, learnt to trust that the wheels weren't going to go off in different directions and it started to feel natural. Until I jumped back on to the Trance and realized how much more secure you can feel on a stiffer bike.
It's interesting that you are finding the Whyte more flexible than the Five though. That suggests, to me, that the newer Fives are a lot stiffer than my old 2006 model. Did your Five have the Maxle rear end? Mind you the Whyte has this too. So, unless there is a lot of flex in their multi-bar suspension (which is unlikely) I'd be looking at the wheels.
I'll stick with my "soldered-girders-from-Halifax" steed, thanks.
I've not had the feeling the Whyte is 'about to fall to bits' or that it's boring, I don't really jump tho and I am 30kg lighter than boloclips!
boloclips, let me be the 1st to make an offer...2p and a old fag butt?
it's a fair point though that the magazine testers are usually skinny pinchy-faced whippets who ride every day, the typical customer isn't!
Given the weight difference between a £2500 lean full carbon trail bike frame and a hefty Sheffield girder trail bike frame is about 1.5 pounds. The same as 5% the weight of a bike, or 0.7% the weight of me.
I think I'll just stick with the girder bike, ta!
Don't really understand why folks still buy orange 5,s ??
Far better bikes with better rear suspension designs & less weight for similar money IMO
Don't really understand why folks still buy orange 5,s ??
Don't worry about it. Just enjoy the mystery of life 🙂
Toasty - MemberGiven the weight difference between a £2500 lean full carbon trail bike frame and a hefty Sheffield girder trail bike frame is about 1.5 pounds. The same as 5% the weight of a bike, or 0.7% the weight of me.
Not just weight though- the carbon bike won't be as bendy as a plastic ruler like a Five is 😉
(and I mean that with great affection- my 224 is about as stiff as my Soda and I quite like it. But most people like stiff.)
Hi everyone.. its now time to eat my words.. I went out for a ride last night with my normal group of 7.. they were all on 26ers. As i turned up they all asked how my new bike was and my response was that I hated my new bike. I had only ridden it a couple of times and since the first rides which I hated I have put on a shorter stem and a SDG saddle. Anyway as we set of on our normal 10 mile loop which I normally sit at the back of the pack and struggle to keep up I made an instant note that i was in front and after the 1st mile of uphill riding to the woods i was riding on my own well out in front.. I could not believe it.. I the started to think that my new bike was actually quite good and decided to give it some on the downs.. (the first time I rode it I was crap could not jump at all) this time with a shorter stem the bike was alive.. it flow over the jumps it felt really fun and i jumped further than ever before. I could not believe it. When riding single track it flew along and if i was behind a 26er I could just free wheel and watch my mate peddling like hell to try and get away from me.. HA HA.. TBH I was amazed how good the bike is.. It does flex a little on the rear but i just need to adjust my riding style a little to compensate it. I am now a 29er and will prob never go back to 26er as the 29er just feels great, perfect and fun.. rode my mates 26er to the pub and it felt like a lego bike. I love my Whyte T129S trail bike of the year.
Glad you now like it, I love mine done a couple of hundred miles on it and it seems to just get better 🙂
Awww a happy ending. 😉