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It's replacing a Cove Hustler BTW. 😉
Another +1 for the mega. I've got one, with Coil-U turn Lyrics....built to 31.5 lbs for 2400 quid. As I said earlier it will ride fine at 150mm, there's a guy on here who runs one with revelations.
It's slacker and longer than the 5, more stable at high speed. Depends what you want.
creamegg, i have a mega.
i run it single ring 34 tooth. no front mech for delamere mud too destroy. straitline silent guide all the way. best component i have owned to date.
sure it's more than i need for most of my riding, but I regularly do peaks/north wales where it's stiffness and climbing prowess (for a big bike) come into it's own.
ok, as a comparison my Five is a shade under 34lbs but is built quite burly with CCDB, Hope V2's 203 front and back, Reverb, fox 140 forks, straitline pedals and gamut aluminium chain device
IMO if you are concerned about weight, why would you buy a mega frame, its kinda missing the point
If you are settled on the forks for whatever reason, buy the frame to suit.
if you buy the mega, you will want to upgrade to 55s/36s/Lyrics as they suit better.
agree with several posters who point out that a more apt comparison would be Alpine 160 vs Mega. You are stuck with the 5 and i cant suggest a comparable frame that falls into the bargain price range which is attracting you
I agree about the mega and alpine 160 being a better comparison. I sold my alpine 160 at the back end of 2010 and have since been riding a Bfe but wanted another full suss so bought a mega which arrived yesterday.
As much as i loved the alpine 160 it did not do anything better than the mega and at more than twice the price of what i paid for the mega it was not worth it to me.
PolisherMan - Member
Recommendations so far...11 ish for the 5. 4 ish for the Mega.
Well, this STW afterall.. 😉
Cannot see th fork being the issue its 10mm the diffirence between running a external cup. I cannot see that you would notice that...
Whatever you get you always think what if? But thats just the way we are once you have the new bike though im sure you will enjoy .
I just got a Five and i can say that it is amazing!! best bike i have ever ridden goes up hills with ease and you would not beleive how good it is riding downhill. AMAZING
tony24 - the travel difference is 10mm but the axle to crown distance between a Rev and Lyrik is more due to chunkier crown.
It's not just angles though, the frame is built to take more abuse so a Lyrik would maximise its descending ability. Running a Revelation would limit what you can dish out.
I'm having a similar dilemma - just bought some RLT Tis but fancy a Mega. Trying to decide if I can live with the weight for the performance gain.
A mate (ex DH racer) has just gone from a 5 to a Mega and loves it. Slightly slower up, much faster down. Depends what you want to do really.
For the cost of the Orange frame, he could probably sell his 44's and pick up that Medium frame from Rutland Cycles and a pair of 2011 66's or Lyriks on sale. ****ing love mine, the headtube is so short I can run the bars at the same height my old mans Nomad's bars could be run if he was using 140mm forks on it. When I slam the bars down low it wanders around much less on climbs than any other 160mm bike I've tried.
I'm only running 2.2 tyres at the moment but it corners harder than anything I've ridden except DH bikes. Doesn't have as much pop off jumps as a sub 30lb bike though. I might spend the money and get mine down to 30lb, but I can't decide whether I want to run a coil or a vivid air on it.
Save up some more money and buy an Ibis,
What, like two/three times as much? Why? The Nomad Carbons a better bike anyway. The frames only about 600-700 grams lighter (The HD 160 is about 6.05 lb right?)...... for about 1200 quid more. That's way way over the 1 gram per 1£ rule. Could save more weight buying lighter parts.
If I was going to spend 4k/5k on a build I'd still buy a Mega/YT/Titus/Butcher and just put lot's of really ****ing bling components on it. Bos suspension, R0 brakes, KCNC seatpost, Selle Italia carbon seats, full XTR/XX, Enve wheels, ti bolts, tune bottom bracket etc.....you know saving weight where it actually matters.... unsprung weight at either end of the bike....keeping the heaviest components the budget dictates centralised.
If it helps I have just bought a Mega from JE James £728! And it doesn't look cheap, it looks really good quality. 🙂
No idea what it rides like though 🙁
Have fun Mugboo, it will ride fine. Is it the 2011 or 2012 model? If you have a 2011 model.... ring the shop. You are entitled to the updated rear chainstay.
bwaarp - MemberThe HD 160 is about 6.05 lb right?
6.5, according to Ibis.
So that's even less value for money then, must have been thinking about the Nomad C. If you really must have bling... the Alu Nomad cost's less and weighs the same as the HD160. Also prefer the trail feedback you get with aluminium frames..... but that's just me...apparently feeling the "buzz" of a trail is a bad thing *laughs at the thinking of roadies who become mtbers*.
I've had a Five (2008) and now own a Mega. The Mega (imo) defecates from a great height all over the Five. The Mega is stiffer, more stable at speed, more balanced when the wheels leave the ground, better at climbing.... all round I find it a much more capable bike. The only down side is the Monarch shock, I've swapped it for a DHX4 coil and its transformed the bike.
The Mega just seems to inspire confidence and for the money, gives you so much more bike than the Five. I'm going to stick a set of Totems on mine with one of those headset slacker jobies and I've got a decent mini downhill bike!
If I was in your position I would try and test both, but the Mega is where my money would be going
Ta
Mark
I've got a mega and as Brant says it great for 'all round gonzo badness'. It's a brilliant bike.
However I've never ridden a Five. There won't be many who've ridden both and those who have certainly aren't you, with your style of riding. The only way to figure it out is to ride each one.
Then you can decide, but avoid the 'it's-all-about-the-kit' pitfalls this sport has embraced over recent years: if it rides well for you who cares how much it cost or the name on the frame?
'it's-all-about-the-kit' pitfalls this sport has embraced over recent years
💡 8)
Demo'd a 5, Alpine and Mega. Bought the Mega. Absolutely no regrets. Beats a 5 on the downs, matches the Alpine on the downs and way better on the ups.
Scary Carey, so you reckon a coil is worth it on the mega then? This is my first air shock and although I love the propedal lever, I want more midrange support as I tend to straight line everything not caring about what's in the way.
I'm loathe to increase it's weight though, it's great for getting out there and building trails or finding new ones. Do you think a vivid air would solve my woes or would I be better off going with a coil vivid, if so which tune?
Quite simply, get the Mega and stick a coil on it!!! As much as i like Orange,(local firm to me) I rode a Five and just didnt get on with it, altho i did love the Blood which is sadly no more.
Bwaarp you sound like you ride like me so i would defo recomend a coil. I may if had a duff shock
but i just couldnt get it to feel right. I understand the weight thing but the performance of the coil
will more than make up for the weight sacrifice. Not sure about the Vivid shock, the guys at NP are
very helpful and are probably the best people to advize on which tune.
Yeah I'll give them a ring man, I've been impressed with the sensitivity of monarch for trail riding but uhhh for hucking, downhill tracks and general sillyness I want more compression support. Thx.
Time for a CCDB muohahah
also if you really really want one bike to do everything, get two sets of wheels. One pair with some really light trail centre rim (eg crests) and 2.2 tyres....then spec the other set with heavier duty rims (eg flows/521's/5.1s/6.1s) and high rollers or 2.4 all-mountain type tyres. Again, that's something to factor in when thinking about the cost of a frame.
Wheel weight makes a lot more difference to climbing than frame weight.
Made my choice. There was a late charge for the pro Mega gang. But with better warranty, more compatable fork size and gut feeling, it's gonna be a 17" 5 in black (white forks) with maxle rear end and Hope reducer headset.
Thanks for the great response!!
Where's me coat and van keys....?
PS. There'll be a 17" Cove Hustler resprayed with RP23 on the classifieds soon (Orange? may be a while!)
Very cheap!!!
Ok, good reasons for the decision. But promise, and I MEAN promise that whenever you get it built and take lovely pictures of it in your garden, don't post them with a thread title like "WARNING Orange 5 content!!!" Absolutely natural to want to show the forum your shiny new thing, but these 'warnings' really boil my urine!
Enjoy the new thing!
I have a Covert which I love but if I were you I'd get the Mega then spend the money saved on trying out different suspension. First port of call would be some 160mm forks but you'll have more fun trying out rear shocks, I've had a 2011 rp23, monarch plus rc3 and ccdb on my Covert, the ccdb is amazing but the Monarch even moreso when you consider the price.
I have never tried a Mega so can comment on it but I absolutely love my Five, cannot see how you will be disappointed. If you can stretch the budget look at the ccdb option.
The UK made thing did influence my purchase, not because it’s necessarily better but at times when the economy is on its arse surely my money is better spent supporting British manufacturing, hence spec’ing as much Hope kit as I could afford as well
Colour choice sounds good 😀
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Nice five, but you could have warned us! 😈
I was sorely tempted but thought better of it 😉
whoops double bubble
yeah i do like that. nearly as nice as mine! 😆
need some orange pedals though to match the orange bits! and a seatpost clamp
I'm sure you wouldn't have been disappointed with either option but the Five is a good if expensive choice. I've got a 2012 17" Five with maxle rear, didn't realise at the time of ordering that the rear shock that comes as standard has been down specced to a float rl this year but after initial issues this is working fine now - i initially found that, as with the rp23 on my old Five if i ran the right amount of sag, on bigger compressions it would blow through it's travel too easily and bottom out, especially on drops but if i ran more air pressure it didn't track as well. A quick call to Mojo and they recommended i fit a medium spacer from the air volume tuning kit http://www.mojostore.co.uk/acatalog/Air_Spring_Volume_Tuning_Kit.html
Since then i've been able to run my desired sag (about 30%) without bottoming out, even on bigger drops. I'm 14st kitted up so if your a lighter rider you may not have any issues.
ferrit32 - making me wish i'd gone for black instead of red seeing pics of yours, looks even nicer with the CCDB.
creamegg - Member
yeah i do like that. nearly as nice as mine!need some orange pedals though to match the orange bits! and a seatpost clamp
I didn’t want to over egg the pudding with the orange bits to be fair. The seat post has been switched to a Hope Eternity now and managed to blag a pair of black On One thinnies the other day during the half price feeding frenzy.
I am toying with having the forks sprayed black to match the frame and switching cables outers and hoses to black/carbon to stealthy it up a little bit more.
I know some people think the above Guy Martin factory tour video doesn’t show the quality of engineering in its best light but I personally think it shows that the guys building these have a real passion for what they do.
I didn’t want to over egg the pudding with the orange bits to be fair
yeah there is a danger of that I guess. does look nice though!
CCDB on the five is awesome, try and ride a five with one fitted.
I had the factory RP23 (loved the propedal) but it never felt quite right.
The CCDB transformed the bike. First ride out after fitting it was a revelation, on rocky climbs I was loosing no traction at all, no noticable pedal bob. Then on the descents it's just rediculous I was looking for bigger and bigger stuff to launch off as nothing seemed to phase it.
Epic
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Bwaarp
Surely they changed the chainstays
if they were snapping?
It's up to the bikeshop to swap the chainstay with the redesigned 2012 one on the 2011 models. Just make sure they have.
Now you've gone and got me thinking about CCDB's 😯
Here's mine. Honestly can't say that I really need a new shock though, right now I can't see how this bike could be any better/more fun to ride... Off to Afan in April and starting to worry that it'll break me.
Pretty in Chrome with nice shiny XTR bits...
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Looks sweet, I only went 160 and CCDB for my alps trips this year. Was the same set up as yours before.
I'm tempted to go xtr shifters, front and rear mechs and double crankset + cassette. What sizes have you gone for?
Cheers bwaarp, i'll get on it.