Built up at the weekend and christened at Bushcombe on Sunday:

First time I’ve bought a properly ‘new’ frame for myself since 2006!

Most of the bits are from my old shape 575 which is currently being rebuilt as a super light xc/trail muncher. Saddle and post are temporary, pending the arrival of a Reverb and a WTB silverado. For additional orangeness that you can’t see in this pic, the bars are easton havocs in ano orange 🙂

Dave

😯 😀

Thats real nice, good choice of fork too.

Cool. I’m a picky ****, but there isn’t really anything I’d have done differently.

Love it….orange is very 2012!

Very smartly specced, not sure about saddle angle though.

How’re the tyres?

That’s lovely.

+1 for bright orange here (Marin Wolf Ridge).

That looks ace with those forks!

Just because its an “orange bike” doesn`t mean it has to come from Halifax! 😀
Nice one. Rode a similar specced one on Monday….

not sure about saddle angle though.

saddle and post borrowed off a different bike; didn’t bother changing the angle.

tyres are wire bead and were £15 each from next day tyres – I wanted to try out the tread and size without shelling out £45 for the folding version!! pretty impressed with them in the claggy clay of bushcombe – they cleared very well and gave a lot of grip even when leaning over quite hard. Bit small volume though, smaller than a 2.35 highroller (which I wasn’t expecting given maxxis’ weird small sizing).

Dave

oh, and the brakes are a bit of a result too… I had some old (4 years) XTs to use… one of the calipers had sprung a leak, so I’d replaced it with an SLX caliper.

Didn’t want the old style levers (being a tart), but also didn’t want to shell out for new brakes.

I managed to buy a pair of the new style SLX levers for £30; plumbed them in, bled them with the new bleed funnel thingy and they work a treat… no need to buy new shape brake pads, and loads of power from the servo wave lever… happy days 😀

Dave

that is a thing of beauty ..

+1 for bright orange (neon 5 )

Continentals are nearly always small sized – just watch out for wet roots/rocks! 😉

Cool bike!

Nicest Orange bike I’ve seen in ages 🙂

Very nice, welcome to the club!

Out of interest what pressure are you running in the rear shock? I’m 13 stone with kit on and finding 210psi about right but in my head it seems too high.

Also I’d helitape it – paint rubs off fairly easily.

To be perfectly honest, I haven’t changed the shock pressure from stock – it felt perfect, so I left it alone (assisted by the fact that I couldn’t find my shock pump 😆 )

I have helitaped the crap out of it already – might put a bit more on the seat stays – I like the color too much to let it suffer heel rub 🙂

Dave

like it 😀

Speaking of helitape, keep an eye on where the rear derailleur and rear brake cables route underneath the BB pivot, I’ve noticed that if they’re pulled too tight they can bind underneath here.

Really nice. Be interested to know how it compares with the 575. The Covert is the only bike that has interested me since I got my 575 in ’06!

keep an eye on where the rear derailleur and rear brake cables route underneath the BB pivot, I’ve noticed that if they’re pulled too tight they can bind underneath here.

I took mine over the BB, seemed to route quite nicely that way – the chainguide keeps the rear mech cable well away from the chainring.

Dave

You shouldnt route the cables under the bottom bracket, the back brake should go straight down the left side, and the rear derailleur should go down the right and down the side of the seat tube behind the crank, it sits tight to the chain stay as there is a hole for a zip tie to keep it there away from the chain ring etc.
(Transition Dealer – built a few in the last couple of years)

Love the bike…..enjoy getting it dirty!!

nice, one of my riding buddies (occasional poster Trimix) loves his and I’m always surprised how svelte the frame looks for the type.

How do you like the forks? I got some ’10 RC3Tis earlier this year but still haven’t got around to fitting them (to my orange Orange!).

One of the nicest Coverts I’ve seen, looks awesome in that colour/

The forks are without a doubt, the best forks I have ever ridden. I bought them off a friend, who leant me them to use in the alps this summer (on my 575) – brilliant, brilliant forks – ridiculously smooth, great on the little stuff and excellent on the big stuff. can’t fault them in any way.

Dave

Ive got a custom painted Green(metalic flake)2011 frame for sale if anyone is interested.

Im now building my new 2012 frame up in black. For rear shock pressue I weigh 13 stone and run 210. Any less and the bike feels too slack.

Im about 13 and a half stone and run 190 and love it being slack, on the same token I run the forks soft so they dont upset the balance.

Sancho – Do you not feel like the shock will bottom out at that pressure? I think I have the high volume can and it seems softer compared the my old standard one.

very rarely bottom it out, it feels slack and dosent climb as well, but ultimately rarely bottoms out, i dont mind doing a few drops etc of a few feet, Im certainly no Whistler guru, but can ride Hamsterley etc with no worries on it in that set up.

I also had the shock tuned by Mojo so it works better than when I got it.

Goodun.

Bonus points for a single chainring with a proper chain device and also a proper length stem. The saddle looks horrid though, and I’d reomve the rim decals and possibly the fork decals for extra points in the looks department.

Looks great . . . and top marks for tyre logo/valve alignment/colour co-ordination! 😛