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.

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!

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”………. 😉

I’ll stick with my “soldered-girders-from-Halifax” steed, thanks.

boloclips, let me be the 1st to make an offer…2p and a old fag butt?

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 worry about it. Just enjoy the mystery of life 🙂

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.

Awww a happy ending. 😉