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[Closed] the best all-mountain bike and why?

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Um.. think you'll actually find shorter travel forks and a hardtail frame are both stiffer than DH frames/forks never mind "all-mincer" ones.

lol really? i think you might generalising a little there!

there is no way my mates float 32's with qr15's are as stiff as my current lyriks, nor his on-one as stiff as my supreme. im sure there are plenty of stiff hardtails out there but thats not what im after. out of interest, what was the last 'all-mincer' you rode? the ones of ridden in anger (1/2 dozen different brands) exhibited verly little flex, though a five AM and a commy 66 were slightly more flexible than the others.

cheers all for your comments, helpful or otherwise! like i said the bike is now chosen so feel free to tell me how wrong i am


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 1:30 pm
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I've ripped the piss out of Orange and their never changing 5 in the past, then I rode one at Glentress (a brand spanker 2011 with RP23) and it was awesome. Had ridden for 3 days prior, including 'The 'Tress' on my Inbred with High Rollers on and I definitely enjoyed the 5 much more.

Buy one, they're ace


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 1:56 pm
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Now you have decided I am safe to post this...

[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 2:14 pm
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Good choice Slowrider. Got a spicy 316 myself, great bike.


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 4:37 pm
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Sounds like you got a great deal, as a happy Zesty owner the Spicy would haver been top of my list.

Show us some pics when it's finished.


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 4:40 pm
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horst link turner 5spot, best bike ive owned easy, climbs well, geometrys sorted, rear end tracks perfect (maybe too perfect come to think of it) and the bushes make it last forever........ with a little grease.


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 4:53 pm
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Nomad owner here.

Brought it to Afan and did skyline and the rest on 1x9 setup (without pushing). Ride uplift in southern sweden with it all summer. LOTS of roots and fairly rocky. Super versatile. Have thought of buying a full on dh bike but coudnt bring that to wales and similar places. Tried it with a coil this weekend doing lifts and I think thats the way ahead for me. Ride it with a 36 talas and vind it down going up hills though. Does help alot. Ohh and brought it down to switchbacks winter dh in malaga last year and it coped well amongst the trek 88s, demo 9s and so on. With some limitations obviously.
Hope it was helpfull..


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 5:59 pm
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Note: Read the end of the thread even though its long..


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 6:06 pm
 GW
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lol [b]really?[/b] i think you might generalising a little there!

Yes, shorten the travel on any fork and it instantly becomes stiffer.

lol indeed 🙄


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 6:18 pm
 Rik
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ive had bikes from the 'trail' genre before and whilst great bikes they dont have sufficient skill compensation for the kind of riding i like to do.

Great riders are fast no matter what they ride.

Maybe you should have stuck with one of the bikes you used to own and just get better at riding them, rather than thinking a different bike will make you better/ride faster.

(not having a go at you or anybody else, or being petty or saying you are a bad rider, before somebody comes in with the usual STW comments)


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 6:30 pm
 hora
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Rik, slowriders a pretty nippy rider though. I think hes one of those that loves to ride but also wants to ride everything 😉


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 7:05 pm
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So a reba is stiffer than a pike?
****.


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 7:15 pm
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Blur LT


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 7:39 pm
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lol hora, takes one to know one!

whilst i have flogged a couple of bikes just i wanted a new one ive also had a couple nicked, not to mention a forced change of the kind of riding i do following breaking my spine a few years back. i now cant really do long days in the saddle without a lot of pain for some time afterwards so i try to ride for 2-3 hours and cram in as much fun as possible rather than distance.

and by the way rik, im no great rider! almost blind in one eye and clumsy as you like, so ill take all the skill compensation i can get, ta! im not really after a new bike to make me better or faster either, its because my current bike is a 37lb mini dh bike so im looking for something more all-round really. if speed or skill comes as a by-product of being less shattered then lucky me.

Yes, shorten the travel on any fork and it instantly becomes stiffer.

lol indeed

im no engineer or owt but wouldnt manufactures ahve thought of this and increased the strength of longer travel forks to take in to account the extra forces they are subject to? or do you mean buy some forks and run them wound down to increase the overlap? im not lolling anymore, im genuinely baffled!


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 8:30 pm
 hora
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Blur LT2? I'd love one of those. Natural progression from a Blur4x- too expensive though


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 8:40 pm
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Slowrider - have we met before? Just what you said there about having broken your spine and the fact that Hora knows you makes me think we met once quite a few years back on a ride in the Peak District with Julian, Jane and MartynS. I'm pretty sure that I met Hora on that ride also? Would have been around 2005 and we rode over Peep O Day, New Mills allotments etc. I was the chap who killed the bunny if you remember that!


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 9:07 pm
 hora
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I remember the broken-legged bunny. You bunny murderer 😀 . One lad said 'we have to take it to a vets' and nbt said 'its a wild animal'.

I looked to you, then made a nodding motion towards a big rock (half-jokingly actually), you nodded, walked away from the trail a metre or so and rung its neck (all I saw was a its little legs kick away) and I said 'I was only joking!!!!' 😆

Not too long ago on Rivi on the road climb back up and round to the ice cream run I came across a dazed duck with a deep graze on its head wandering around the road, flagged down a car and asked the bloke to 'despatch it' with his car.

'No ****ing way'.
What shall we do?
dunno.
A couple more cars turn up and (all blokes) stood there wondering what to do with the Duck who was stood there looking back at us. In the end one picked it up and placed it in the undergrowth.

None of us had the guts to ring its neck (or run it over)


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 9:13 pm
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Hora it was one of those 'moments' really that sort of go down in folk lore 😆 I distinctly remember the rest of you being unable to make eye contact with me for quite a while after!

BTW, NBT and I have kept in touch and we're planning a ride with Mrs NBT in the Peak on October 9th if you're around. Would be really good to see you again and I promise I won't kill any more bunnies!


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 9:21 pm
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Blur ltc?

I like mine, I had a 2009 (slacker) 5am with Talas 36's & a 2010 Mojo SL with 'big' forks. The blur is in a different league. For 'bigger' days I put on a coil shock and flat pedals, feels like a mini-DH bike 😀


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 9:23 pm
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I used to have a "trail" bike and now I have an "all mountain" bike apparently. I don't know how, it's the same ****ing bike!
The manufacturer decided to reclassify it to make way for a new "cross country" bike. Just shows what a load of crap the classifications are IMO.


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 9:28 pm
 hora
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Should be ok for that/in the diary.


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 9:41 pm
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I know you have chosen a bike but i have another suggestion= scott Genius? I loved my demo, but it made me feel sad because i know i can't have one 🙁 Geetee1972, that ride may well be invitation only, and fair enough, but it could also turn into a non-Pook Peak Pootle? Just a suggestion 🙂


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 9:44 pm
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geetee, nope i dont think so. ive only been on a couple of peaks rides where i met hora and the gang.

sambob, i looked at them but was a bit put off by a shock that i didnt think i could srvice myself. bit fussy aint i?


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 9:53 pm
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Sambob - I will check with the others. I'm very happy for it to become that. It would be easy pace up and we all wait at the bottom etc.


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 9:55 pm
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That's what a pootle is anyway, and usually a wait at the top aswell 🙂


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 9:57 pm
 GW
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backhander - Member
So a reba is stiffer than a pike?
****.

No, of course not but I'll use your stupidity as an example to help slowrider understand what I meant.

a 100mm Reba would nowhere near as stiff if the same chassis was used but stanchions and spring/damping rods were lengthened to give 140mm, Just as a Pike is a stiffer fork wound down to 95mm than wound right out to 140mm.


 
Posted : 13/09/2010 11:08 pm
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After reading the dirt article mentioned at the beginning of the thread i'm struggling with my next/dream/ideal bike frame. all the other parts are chosen but do I go all the way with a last or join the masses with a 5/zesty! Worried that a last would take over some of the duties of my spesh demo 7 - making it almost obsolete...


 
Posted : 14/09/2010 12:26 am
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So what you're saying GW is that short ones are stiffer?
I'll have to remember that excuse next time I'm on the pull..


 
Posted : 14/09/2010 3:35 am
 nbt
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geetee1972 - Member
I promise I won't kill any more bunnies!

Never make a promise you can't keep.

Will start a new thread to set up the ride


 
Posted : 14/09/2010 8:48 am
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I'll use your stupidity

Irony in motion.


 
Posted : 14/09/2010 8:54 am
 hora
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Its too early to argue. If you insist I shall visit the forum with my borrowed sledgehammer 😯


 
Posted : 14/09/2010 8:57 am
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borrowed sledgehammer ?....we all need a permanent sledgehammer on ere 😉


 
Posted : 14/09/2010 9:00 am
 nbt
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[url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stw-northern-peaks-chapter-pootle-marple-sat-9th-oct?replies=1#post-1804161 ]New thread started[/url]. Anyone playing out?


 
Posted : 14/09/2010 8:43 pm
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wheels came today. other bits come tomorrow then the bike arrives thursday. hoping i can get it built up quick cos after thursday my next day off is tuesday!


 
Posted : 14/09/2010 8:59 pm
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Never been a fan of Specialized but this seems pretty spot-on for the money. Was gonna get a new 2011 5 Spot when it comes out but for £2900 think i'm gonna give one of these a go

[img] [/img]

[url= http://www.specialized.com/gb/en/bc/SBCProduct.jsp?spid=52818&scid=1000&scname=Mountain ]Specialized[/url]


 
Posted : 18/09/2010 7:36 am
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Zesty 714


 
Posted : 18/09/2010 7:41 am
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Slowrider my spicy 316 puts a smile on my face every time I ride it - even though there's not much std kit left on it, you'll enjoy it.....


 
Posted : 18/09/2010 8:51 am
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started changing it already...

[url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/my-new-dandyhorse?replies=25 ]here[/url]


 
Posted : 18/09/2010 10:07 am
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I still stand by my recommendation. A 5 AM is all most of us will ever need.
Rowan looks smooth on camera, but you only see the edited footage, and when he really sends it, he lands freakin hard. His skill means he's hitting everything twice as hard as us regular joes on a regular basis. He spends maybe half an hour's footage (about 20 runs) hitting cutties to get the perfect shot, and that puts a lot of lateral stress on the wheels and frame. And when he does crash, it's a lot bigger than you or me dropping it.
Bike parts get more of a thrashing at 40+mph than they do at the 32mph I can safely manage on my runs down trail centre runs, but the package holds up even under these extremely demanding conditions.


 
Posted : 26/09/2010 11:39 pm
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Last thing I want or need is an Orange 5.


 
Posted : 26/09/2010 11:41 pm
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Love my Foes XCT-5. The suspension is so tuneable with the turn of a dial and it climbs really well. It's certainly not light, but nor does it flex in any way. Someone's [url= http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Foes-XCT-5-Top-Spec-Carbon-XTR-Easton-Hope-Formula-ORO-/260667166682?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item3cb0f94fda ]selling one on ebay[/url] for what's currently looking like a bargain. Not sure what the "Ti upgrade" that's referred to on an Air Curnutt but looks like a good deal on a rare bike. (no connection whatsoever).


 
Posted : 27/09/2010 12:14 am
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Last thing I want or need is an Orange 5.

Ok, don't buy one.
They're not everyone's cup of tea, I agree.
You can always go to starbucks and get blinded by the choice and then shafted on the price of a cup of coffee though.


 
Posted : 27/09/2010 1:44 am
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Cheers, I had a 5 am but it never felt balanced in either the 160 or 130 travel settings. Switching the fork to a 150 rev improved it's balance even on the downs


 
Posted : 27/09/2010 9:04 am
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Last thing I want or need is an Orange 5.

The last thing I want or need is anyone telling me what I want or need (although the OP did ask for recommendations.)

Rowan looks smooth on camera, but you only see the edited footage...

Does Rowan pay full retail price for his bikes or does he get given them by Orange?


 
Posted : 27/09/2010 9:23 am
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I quite like the look of the Knolly Endorphin


 
Posted : 27/09/2010 9:50 am
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