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I have recently bought a new 5 pro and i have no confidence in the front of the bike. I went to Cannock Chase for my first time at the weekend and had no grip at all. I have changed my front Mountain King for a Maxxis Minion dhf in Maxpro compound, messed about with tyre pressures and a few different fork and shock settings. although it now feels a little better can anybody give me any advice on how there's is setup. I am around 11 1/2 stone by the way. CHEERS!!!!!!
Not much grip at Cannock in the dry, bizarrely it seems grippier when it is wet.
I put high rollers on the front of mine and advantage on the back.
I have no issues with grip, are your forks and rear shock set up right, silly question I know.
I'm not the most adventurous riser (some may say "jack right") but have had no issues.
Mark i was thinking maybe it was Cannock. Even though it was slippy it was a great place to ride. Better than my local which is Llandegla.
Lose the Mountain Kings, they have about as much grip as a freshly caught trout!
The Minion DHF you've got on there might be a bit draggy for XC, but should give you some grip.
Get some High Roller 2.35s on there, don't pump 'em up too hard and make sure your shock and fork pressures and rebound damping are set correctly, refer to the info you got with your bike, or take it into the shop you got it from and get them to do it, that's one of the reasons you threw a wad of cash at them.
And enjoy the Five.
Nevegaled the front, SM8ed the back, no grip problems.
I had all sorts of fun and games with the front end of mine, although lack of grip wasn't one, and settled on a 60mm stem, 690mm bars, layback seatpost, front forks firm and rear shock about 40-50% sag.
Rides like a total dream now.
Good luck!
Thanks for the replies i will take another look at shock settings etc and get a new rear tyre before i put my self in casualty.
Skills course...
+1 High roller front adavantage rear great combo. LUST = 25 psi each tubes 30 front maybe 35 rear.
Your issue maybe the bike setup. Sounds like the front is washing out. You need more weight over the front. You could be too far back. Seat forward a little may help.
I have used Maxxis larsen ust at cannock to good effect at 35psi
The Mountain Kings are Crap they might as well give you
£ 20 quid off the bike.
Dont put a lay back seat post on the bike
The Orange suspension is not designed for it Be a bad
mistake.
I ride with a 60mm sunline stem up front and that keeps my
wheight over the bars
Tyre pressure try around 34 psi on the dry stuff and a little less
on the mud But do try different pressures.
I used the sag guide as a starting point then ride over hard
and small bump to get the right feel on the fork.
And the same regarding rear shock and add rebound to taste.
"The Mountain Kings are Crap they might as well give you £ 20 quid off the bike."
Fact. They're not just horrible tyres, they're completely inappropriate horrible tyres. But, your Minion on the other hand should be spot on.
the minion should have made a big difference. I would say any other issues are down to setup. You didnt say exactly what was the problem apart from a lack of confidence in the front end, was it lack of grip, washing out, front end not tracking where you wanted etc, etc.
As a basic guide re-visit your fork setup, if i remember rightly i used to run 70psi with the fox 32's, you shoud need less being lighter, keep the rebound slightly on the quick side. For the rear try running around 30% sag (about 15mm) with the rebound set around 2 to 4 clicks from slowest (try each and see what feels best).
After this you can look at the cockpit setup, this will just be a matter of trial and error until you find what suits the best, but i think most people will tell you that they benefitted from a shorter stem and for sure wider bars.
The Five has a slacker head angle. try rotating your bars slightly away from you and what length stem is on there at the moment?
The slack head angle is one thing I didnt get on with.
I had a 2007 5 for a year and had no confidence in the front end at all.
Downhill straight line,no problem.But throw in bends,switchbacks and loose stuff and it felt like the front was going to wash out every time,and drifted in curves.Tried 3 different forks and 2 different shocks with only a small improvement.I came to the conclusion that the geometry was wrong with a high front end and slack seat angle putting more weight over the back wheel leaving the front light.Solved it by getting rid and buying a Reign.Far better balanced bike,front end grip restored and climbs brilliantly compared to the Orange.
joeegg, apperently the internet riding experts on here will say 'get training' 🙄
thats because its about the same price as a new set of tyres, significantly cheaper than swapping bikes/forks and far more effective....
I think the lack of grip is due to riding style / fork setup rather than just about tyres.
The slack head angle on the 5 is great if you ride it agressively with weight over the front end. Exactly like riding a downhill bike.
However, on the flat when seated and on climbs this can result in poor front end grip. Use some forks with travel adjust (I have revelation team u-turns on my 5) and keep them at about 100-120 on the flat / climbs. This steepens the head angle up. On downhills open them up to 5/6 inch and have fun.
Edit, also I forgot to say, I run low rise easton bars with a 70mm thomson stem which gives a nice low front end. This seems to work for me.
I run 2.4 mountain kings no problems. Loads of grip. Always with the tyres more rubber fetishists on here than some porn sites.
It's probably your forks, geometry, rear shock set up or some other [i]bike related problem[/i]
Or you just might need to get used to your new bike and a slacker front end.
+1 for mountain kings i like them!
Si from cotic did a good piece on his website a while back about how he sorted the handling on his Soul when using 140mm forks. Similar problems to yours; wandery front end without much confidence on tight corners.
iirc he sorted it by shoving the seat forward ~10mm, flipping the stem and rotating the riser bars forward a little. Cheaper than buying new kit too 🙂
You could also try getting a 10mm spacer from Mojo and reducing your fork to 130mm. Do you [i]really[/i] need 140mm 😉
If this helps. Whilst I had my Rockshox QC problem I ran longer forks on my blur4x....well I fell off a few times due to the front being too light.
Back to regular forks and not a chance of washing out....considering I run Ardents with their summer tread.
Thanks for all the comments i have moved my seat forward on its rails tonight and pumped a little air in my tyres to 35psi. I will also have another mess with my shock settings. Having come from a Trek topfuel maybe it is just the slacker angles on my five which may take a bit of adjusting too. My stem is the standard 80mm orange one which feels nice lenght wise, i am not sure if replaced it for a shorter one i would feel to cramped! although it is a good excuse to buy a thompson one. Thanks again.
[b]jordie wrote:[/b]
+1 for mountain kings i like them!
I do too!!
I know that in the wet they perform about as well as Whitney Houston in a recent tour but in all honesty there aren't that many tyres that do cope well in the wet.