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So which one, any pics
Can't recomend my 08 Hemlock highly enough. Question, have you compared the BB heights, thought the Pace was quite high but i might be wrong..
Thats what I was thinking. What arm are you running.
4" Rocker with 36 talas up front, i have the 6" rocker but the only place i might have needed it was the Fort Bill black and it wouldn't have made any difference to my already pumped up arms..
I bought it because of the 4" rear. I wanted the Slack head angle and lowish BB with the UK thang. I can climb most stuff without dropping the forks although it does no harm if your gonna be climbing a while.
130mm forks would leave you with a lot of pedal striking, 140 would be fine, i imagine the newer 150's would be sweet but i'm not swapping my 36's for anything.
Nearly 12 months and no issue's (ex demo, rear and Pearl shock with new front).
At some point i'll treat her to a Fox shock (can't help myself..) even though i've no probs with the Pearl.
As a bit of a bike tart i occasionally think what if about other bikes (Orange Blood) but unless you are an actual full blooded freerider you will not need a stronger/heavier bike.
In the last year mine has done Stainburn, Lakes/Peaks/Howgills/, Whinlatter, Dalbeattie, Inners, Lee Quarry, Gisburn, Fort Bill red & black (slowly), Laggan, Learnie, Kyle of Sutherland, Golspie and miles of local stuff including one or two 6' drops.
All without bumping into another one!
I'll try and take a photo or two tomorrow.
Whats Golspie like.
Its my new favourite trail, shame its 9 hrs away!
The best techy climb of any trail centre i've ridden, 2 or 3 shortcuts so you can tailor your ride time.
If you take the shortcut at the top of Lactic Ladder it then contours across some huge rollers/drops while keeping its height before you make your way along a section with a wicked combination of technical conundrums which can largely be bypassed if your ass nips easily.
from here its downhill all the way, 2 or 3 sections packed with berms/drops and jumps.
And if thats not enough its got log rides to finish.. Superb.
sweet! It will be about 9hrs for me.
We did it as a 9 night camping trip.
4 nights at Glen Coe - Fort Bill & Laggan
5 nights at Dornoch - Kyle/Golspie/Learnie
Defo worth it.
Make sure its been very dry if you go to Learnie as the stone is treachorous on the black although the Orange bike park is great fun.
Camping somewhere between Laggan and Fort Bill would have mean't less driving but we wanted to go To Oban (never made it).
Hemlock here - no experience of the Pace. Love the Hemlock so far, though I've not had it long at all (well, not built up anyway!). It's almost exactly the bike I was dreaming in my head about 3 or 4 years ago - slightly slack angles, lowish bb, long top tube, LOADS of standover clearance. Previous full sus bikes I'd ridden left me feeling like I was on stilts, kind of tall and short, but the Hemlock feels really planted and like you're at one with the bike (could be lucky on my sizing, dunno). I run a 60mm stem and wide 2" riser on-one bars, size large. I'm a nats over 6ft.
I have an 08 frame, 08 chain/seat stays and 09 rocker plate, with the Pearl Shock off the 08 model. This rocker plate and shock gives 105mm travel. It's really stable when pedaling uphill, flat, tarmac etc.. , but show it some rocky rooty singletrack and it just flies!
It's prob best to get a demo of them both, but I do really really like the Hemlock 🙂
who has a demo bike of the hemlock round the East/North Yorkshire. I should get a demo of the pace at big bear.
I tested both and bought a 08 turner 5 spot in the sale, but I had always wanted one so that may have clouded my judgement a bit.
what did you think of the other two
Thought the pace was a nice bike a good climber and good on the twisty stuff, the hemlock was setup with 6" and felt it was better on the downhills but and a bit stiffer on the back end also its a local bike to me, but the whole cracking swingarm stories ruled it out in my mind, although this seams to have been sorted and warranty is good. Got my 08 5 spot for £1100 which for me offered the best of both worlds. Stiff back end , relitively good climber and not to steep head angle for the twisty stuff.
need to get a test ride
Sweet, what size is it looks like a med. whats it climb like
I'll try and get a pic of mine later - size large with Fox 32 TALAS. Climbs a dream. Bizzarely I ended up doing a multisport race on mine last weekend, so it's got some semi-slicks on at the mo, and it did about 75 miles of road riding! Which amazingly it coped with really really well! forks at 100mm, it fair old flew along 🙂
Need to get some copter tap on it to get rid of the blue leccy tape i've got protecting the anodising!
Shame my rapid-rise rear mech knocks on the chainstay on every tiny bump, but I've got a shadow mech from my other bike which will go on soon.
Mugboo - what are you using as a chainstay protector? Is it some cloth bar tape? I used this a few years ago - you've just reminded me how well it worked!
Roughneck - I went through the same thought process. In the end I went for the Hemlock, mainly because I was inbetween small and medium on the Pace but the small hemlock was perfect. Really enjoy it. Excellent bike all round.
cp - I've got a shadow mech that knocks on the chainstay too. Really annoying. Any idea how to fix it? Wondered if my chain is too short?
Thoughts any other Hemlock owners?
OP - sorry for the Hijack!
arse - the shadow one knowcks aswell?! Looks like it was going to drop nicely out of the way 🙁
The rapid-rise one I have at the moment... is currently sporting a small piece of rag leccy taped in place to act as a cushion! taped the the mech not the frame. quietens things down, but the knocking is there on rocky bits in the higher gears on the rear.
Here's a pic of my Hemlock during my Lake Garda trip.
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/16752939@N06/3758791758/in/set-72157621841387968/ ]Hemlock Pic[/url]
Just got my 2010 Hemlock built up, so somewhat biased new-bike syndrome review...
No pictures as yet as I couldn't stand the riddicule! (odd brake levers and steerer needs trimmed).
It's a large (I'm about 6 foot-ish, 6'2" on a good day!), currently in short set up (125mm) although I built it up with the long rocker on so my hose and cable are long enough for a quick and easy swap. I've also spent quite a bit of time setting it up as quiet as possible ( following Dirt/Sam Hills example) and it is impressive how quiet it is, possibly quieter than my hardtail was! 140mm Pikes on the front.
I LOVES it! 😀 Major grin inducing stuff! Seems to climb well, although that may be thanks to the pro-pedal on the RP23? Descending is an absolute riot, I don't think I've ridden anything else quite as fast down a hill!
It feels like a really good fit to me too, I think my 18" 456 was possibly a little short in the top tube. It feels a lot more like I'm sitting in teh bike rather than on it too. So I do think part of my love for it is to do with teh geometry suiting me better. Having said that, when I test rode the medium it was great fun too, I just don't think I would have been as comfortable on longer runs.
Off to Fort William this weekend for a dosee of 'proper' Scottish mountainbiking, will see if I still love it as much after two big days in the hills, I've a strange feeling I will!
Go for I doubt you'll regret it and I think the Pace sussers are fugly!
Haha, I've written an essay again and it's probably gibberish!
I like.
140 fork ace
160 fork ace
[url= http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2438/3687100064_60f9acfde2_b.jp g" target="_blank">
Shadow doesn't appear to knock on mine. The old rapid rise one did.
i'm falling in love with my hemlock again.
it's not for everyone. the head angle is a touch slacker than some xc boys may be used to, but as a retired old Dh'er i think it's ace.
(it's not a chopper, it's just reassuringly slack when the trail points down - even with short forks)
it's got a mediumish length top tube (my large Hemlock is shorter than my 18" inbred), so i can keep the front nicely weighted on the climbs.
(edit: they're the same length, that's weird, the inbred feels long, the hemlock feels right...)
it's definitely worth getting both rockers - if you ever get bored with the bike, a quick switch of rockers/forks and suddenly you're riding a different bike.
you can tell Cy rides in the peak, the BB height is perfect, it feels low, but seems to dodge all the pedal-strikes.
and it's a proper 4-bar, so the suspension works even when the rear brake is on - i couldn't ride a single pivot bike now. yeurgh.
a friend of mine has the 506, it's a great bike, but just a touch longer/steeper. it's probably a bit faster round a trail center because of this, but i always feel like i'm about to crash over the bars when i ride it.
(edit - no knocking from a SRAM mech)
ahwiles - that's weird, I was convinced the Hemlock was longer than my 18" 456. Either way it is defo more comfortable! 🙂
yeah, the horiz tt on a hemlock is longer than an 18" 456 (my other bike, now in winter training/commute/etc... mode). I've got a nice short stem on mine which keeps the steering nice and interesting but the slack angle keeps things very stable. It really is very good!
there you go roughneck, there's a good reason to buy a hemlock, to help us work out why the top-tube feels right.
I'm 6'1" and can't decide between a medium or a large Hemlock, I ride an 18" Orange 5 currently and that feels right, any tips? I used to have an 18" 456 too which was fine for me....
This thread's really interesting. I really fancy a hemlock but can't get a test ride. I'm 6'1" and torn between the medium and large frames. Would be running it with fox 36s so probabaly quite a short stem (50-60mm).
Riding is big scottish mountains, trail centres, and the mega next year.
Any advice?
ddmonkey - I have an 18" 456, am the same height as you (I have longish legs) and ride a Large Hemlock with 60mm stem. Perfect. the tt on the Large hemlock is only 10mm longer than an 18" Five, and on the mdeium hemlock is 10mm shorter than the 18" Five.
i'm 6'1"+ ish. i ride a large Hemlock, and an 18" inbred.
i've got long legs, and a short back, the hemlock and inbred feel spot-on.
the key thing for me is that usually i can never get the saddle high enough AND still reach the bars. so i end up fitting a short stem, and then fall off the back on climbs.
i'm not really sure what Cy has done, but with my saddle at a good height, i can reach the bars comfortably, with a nice shortish 70mm stem, and still ride up hills without the front wheel wandering like a drunken elk.
Ace thanks for the advice. Its gonna happen, only one Full Bounce bike in my garage woo hoo!
Anyone got any decent pics of large frame setups?
rockplough - will try and take some tonight
Cheers would really appreciate it. 🙂
Hemlock was the best bike I tried this year - I got my demo from 18Bikes at Hope but it was a medium and just a little short for me - personally I would rather get the length right than the height and fine tune with stem length.
Mustard - would love to see some pics of your 2010 - especially the new chain stays as me and the demo bike had a bit of an issue there!
DeeJay - so it was you?!
I'll see what I can do, maybe at the w/end tho, so at least my garden won't get ridiculed too 😳
Actually, I can mail you a crappy camera phone pic of the frame on my very tidy desk if you like, can't upload it from here though. New stays are suitably industrial looking, although most people are suprised that it doesn't weigh anywhere near as much as it looks like it should!
I'd maybe look at the Pace RC405 instead of the 506 if you're after a UK trail bike, has a reputation for being a more balanced ride. Stick a set of Pikes on the front and it'll cope with most things. I thought it felt livelier than the Hemlock I rode, but anyway, that's what test rides are for.
Mustard - yes please for the pic - email in profile
Some pics of the 2010 chainstays linked on the Cotic twitter.
[url= http://cotic.posterous.com/new-hemlock ]http://cotic.posterous.com/new-hemlock[/url]
Rock - thanks for that - they look huge, but it does'nt show the bearing area - hopefully mustard will get some good shots at the w/end
oi colman you off to the bill at w/e then. Give us a buzz when you get back as im up for getting back on the saddle.
any weights on your builds
Cp the stuff on the chainstay is called frame wrap i think and is like a rubber that sticks to itself, not bling but a very good solution.
http://www.biketart.com/products/framewrap
I noticed a solution for leaking pipes in Betterware that looks similar!
As for the mech knocking, very distracting, so i have used more frame wrap around the mech as after glueing the shimano one in place the chainstay ate through it in a couple of rides..
I've yet to use the longer rocker as i bought the bike because of the 100/160 thang.
I don't use any floodgate at all and there is no undue bobbing and the Pearl seems to take big hits/drops very well.
As for climbing, i run a Summer with 140 Vans so climbing on either is fine. If i want to drop the forks to make my life easy (Hemlock) then i can but slack angles just require a bit more effort (especially if your starting off on something steep). Its worth it when you get to the top..
Questions 1. if i put a shadow mech or Sram to stop the knocking, would i have to change to a longer cable if i wanted to put on the longer rocker?
2. My bike has the Pearl shock 08, has anybody ridden this bike with both the Pearl and Fox, worth upgrading?
3. Have you noticed that everybody who has a Hemlock has a 456 or Summer...
mugboo- ta for the info. In answer to your q's:-
1) The shadow mech uses much less cable anyway as the cable goes straight in from the front rather than looping round the back. you'll need a slightly longer cable with the long rocker as the 'seatstays' are pushed back slightly, but the reduced cable requirement of the shadow mech will more than compensate and you'll prob have to cut down still.
2) Only ridden with Pearl, so can't comment
3) Yep! Noticed that one too!