Alpine owners – Tell me what I need to know.

Calling all Alpine 160 owners…

I’m currently pondering bike choice for my new steed. I ride a 2013 Five just now and having bought my daughter a new model Five I can see the benefits of lower, longer and slacker. It’s not just about bigger wheels!

I remain a BIG Orange fan so my problem is this… Five or Alpine?

I know many of you will tell me it depends on how/where I like to ride. I realise this but my take on the Alpine is that it might be tempt me to push a bit harder, inspire a bit more confidence when jumping, etc.

Thoughts?

I recently went through this debate and thought the five was the bike for me. Hence I ordered one.

Mines the MK2 650b frame and I’ll be sticking 150mm pikes or Yari upfront.

140mm is plenty for where I ride if I’m totally honest with myself.

If you’re going to be riding a lot of big, rough, steep stuff or DH then I’d go for the Alpine (mine has a CCDB and it is unstoppable downhill, it also pedals pretty well), but if you’re only going to do that now and again then I’d go for a Five as its more than capable for most things and the odd trip abroad.
You need to be honest about what you ride. Next time I’ll probably get a 650b Five with 150 forks and either a CCDB, Kirk or Fox X2.

Cheers – Definitely going 150mm up front if I go Five. Like you two, I think the Alpine might be overkill for what I usually ride. Local trails around Calderdale, Whinlatter, Llandegla, etc.

I was looking at an Alpine but went with the Five with 140 Pikes, had a 26″ wheeled Mega before with 150 Pikes. I’m spending more time playing with suspension set up on the Five, balancing front and back, bottomless tokens, volume reducers in the shock and all that. Can’t say I’m missing any extra travel although am statring to get drawn into setup obsession!

I’ve a new trek remedy (basically the same as a 5) with 150mm pikes, and had a weekend on the top spec Alpine 160 the other month.

For me, it’s the shorter travel all the way. I have a hardtail for xc (on-one 456c), so I use the 140mm remedy for trail centres and essentially as my mini downhill bike (plenty of uplift days and a few weeks in the alps).
The 160 was obviously great downhill, but for anything other than downhill didn’t feel right- I definitely wouldn’t want to pedal it round a trail centre all day. 140mm you can ride all day on, downhill on, jump on, and do whatever you want. But the 160 felt just too downhilly, I thought if I’m going to get this then I might as well just get a downhill bike.
If you still want to ride trail centres etc and have more fun, I’d go for the 5, with high spec fork and shock (the fox x2 on the 160 was incredible) to make it a bit more fun descending on downhill days. You can push a 140mm bike pretty damn hard (the trek enduro world race team use the remedy rather than the 160mm slash)- unless you’re pushing the current bike to its limits then getting more travel isn’t really necessary, is it?

edit: i spent a lot of time debating the same thing: 140mm or 160mm. I’m more about downhilling now than trails, but am still glad I went for 140mm as it really is an all rounder, and still fantastic jumping and descending

I’d just like to add that I ride my Alpine everywhere as it’s my only MTB, I don’t feel it holds me back on climbs (mine is 35lbs with coil shock, forks and 32 x 11-36 gearing), absolutely shreds on the downhill (both trail centres and natural tech stuff) and pedals well even on flatter trails. Obviously a lighter bike would probably be easier on the climbs but it suits me. It’s previous lighter spec was 31lbs and I don’t notice the extra weight, but boy does it descend better now.

I’d probably go for a Five next time as the two has almost caught up with how I’m running my Alpine (64* head angle, lowered BB, etc) and I don’t go as big or ride as much out and out DH as I used to.
I’d probably run 150mm forks and the Fox X2 (as it’s an amazing shock and I don’t really need a lockout for climbing) and slacken the head angle out to 64* with either a new headset and/or offset bushings) to get it running how I like it

Tom KP

I have an Alpine 160, and I’ve ridden the Five, albeit not for an extended time, just a demo loop.

There are so many pros and cons to either option but essentially, the Alpine gives you the option of having one bike that absolutely will do anything and everything. I’m not suggesting the Five won’t do that but the Alpine is subtly different.

I don’t think it is massively more difficult to use an Alpine round a trail centre. Setup right, it’s pretty efficient and although heavy, I’d say (guessing) build for build on each model there would be 1kg or so in it weight wise. Mine is 14kg bang on with Hope Enduro tubeless, dropper and pedals.

What the Alpine does do is go downhill very fast. Again, I am sure the Five would do similar but the Alpine is pretty much as capable as a DH bike.

Both bikes are very good and very capable. If you like downhill and would appreciate a bike that can cope with pretty much any UK DH track with performance to spare but is also usable day to day, go with the Alpine. If you’d prefer to sacrifice that last 10-20% of DH performance for slightly lower weight and marginally better usability, get the Five.

It’s win-win either way, and a demo on both would be the best option. Why not speak to One Planet Adventure, Llandegla and demo them both; they have both in stock.

Thanks again guys – A demo at OPA is on the cards I reckon.

I think the main weight differences between the Five and Alpine are due to running things like longer, butler forks, shock, etc. You can get the Alpine quite light without compromise if you go for an air fork and shock and don’t over build it. The Five frame is a bit lighter than an Alpine.

I think you’re absolutely spot on about the Alpine making you push harder and inspiring extra confidence. That’s exactly what it does for me.

I bought mine to do just that knowing the bike could definitely do everything I’d ever come to… I would just have to man up. Still doing that but I’ve definitely become a better rider from it. Bigger jumps, bigger drops, steeper DH tracks, etc.

I have since gone and bought a 2013 Five S to replace an older XC bike and partner the 2014 Alpine and they’re a great double act. I do keep my Alpine for “best rides/races” and use the Five as the mid week / winter bike. I now find I’ll do things on the Five that I’d have only attempted on the Alpine in the past. The old Five is more nimble for sure and so easy to lift the front wheel.

I will say this though… the 2015/6 Alpine is even longer than the 2014 Alpine I have… which is in geo actually kind of similar to the 2015/6 Five Mk2.

When demoing the 2015 Alpine / Five back to back at OPA I could feel the Alpine’s extra stability on jumps and drops over the new Five still.

I just have the older 26 inch combo and they’re a lot of fun.

Have fun demoing them.

Don’t rule out an Alpine 5 or Segment. I went from a 26″ 5 to A5 and think it’s great. Hugely capable bike so well worth a demo.

Can’t go wrong with either but I think you’d be surprised just how capable the Five is downhill – it’s still pretty long, low and slack, and the travel feels more than 140mm – reckon you’ll struggle to bottom it out unless you do big drops etc. I’m in Calderdale and I’ve ridden both, and personally I’d probably choose the lower weight of the Five for 90% of my rides. Five would be fine in the Lakes and Alps too, although the Alpine is a bit more geared to the biggest rocks and steepest descents, and still pedals well. Both fantastic bikes, especially for year-round riding in the UK north. You could always try a demo bike from Blazing Saddles in Hebden – think they have both in.