Five, Bandit or Blur?

As above really. I have decided to buy a new frame, so out of the three frames above what would you recommend? I like the Five because it is simple and you can send it back to Orange easily for paint and bearings but both the Transition Bandit and Santa Cruz Blur Lt or Tr have their fans too! I would be using it mainly for local stuff (Greno/Wharncliffe), Derbyshire and trail centres. Of the 2013 Transition Bandit what colour looks best, Black or Orange? Any thoughts welcome!

Just finished building my bandit, got to wait until tomorrow to try it though

I would love to see a picture as I am definitely leaning to the Bandit and Si at 18bikes has given me a decent quote on building one. I just can’t decide on the pewter/black or orange, although I love my orange Soul.

Trevor.

Will see if i can get one tomorrow. Bike is in the car at the moment

Cheers!

Based on customer service I would highly recommend the Orange.

Depends on size. I’ve not tried the bandit, but when I was demo’ing bikes in 2008 my top two were the Five and Blur. I probably would have gone for the Blur but I’m right between the sizes and the Five was a better fit.

Based on warranty, I’d go for the Santa Cruz.

Really? Jungle were uncooperative and barefaced liars to me over my warranty, I had to contact SC usa who put them right. But seeing as the same bloke is there its put me off ever buying an SC frame.
Mind you I have two transitions and I remember the surf sales guy showing a v colourful side on here a couple of years ago…

Fair point, I’m not a jungle fan. It’s a shame that a great company like Santa Cruz are so poorly represented here.
Did the Americans sort you out though?

They did, essentially contradicting everything Jungle had told me, and they were dead nice and helpful. If they got rid of Jungle I probs would have bought Santa Cruz again. I’ve spent a shed load on my Transitions now, and I’ll probs be dead before I need another FS, so it might be too late.

Blur LT. (c)

Tried a 5 a LT and a Nomad c, the missus has the LTc. For me the LT won by a mile rode up better and down like the Nomad felt bottomless. 5 year warranty and lifetime on the bearings (send them back to SC and thy post you a new set so really just buy 1 spare set),

It’d be interesting to know more on this, we’ve found Jungle to be nothing less than awesome.

Isn’t the 5 getting a bit outdated?

Isn’t the 5 getting a bit outdated?

Isn’t that like saying the iPad 3 is out of date? It’s still great at what it does.

Runs for cover..

There’s a lot of love for the Five out there but from riding one, I’m not a fan. I’d probably quite like it if Orange put a decent shock tune on, but the 2012 and 2013 models I’ve had a ride on had no compression damping at all. So they blew through the travel when you want to pump a berm or a dip. I think Orange have gone for show room plushness rather than how well it actually rides and IMO, this is a massive mistake. Just my thoughts.

Each to the own and there is no reason why everyone has to like a Five, but surely shock tune is pretty easy to fix. Not sure I’d reject a £3K bike for the sake of a few quid extra to get the shock tuned how I want.

roverpig – Member
Each to the own and there is no reason why everyone has to like a Five, but surely shock tune is pretty easy to fix. Not sure I’d reject a £3K bike for the sake of a few quid extra to get the shock tuned how I want.

“I’d probably quite like it if Orange put a decent shock tune on”

Not sure I’d reject a £3K bike for the sake of a few quid extra to get the shock tuned how I want.

I’d probably buy something else rather than hoping I could get the shock tuned in a way that it would work better. Mostly why I like to demo bikes…

I have a 5 (3 years) and getonyourbike has a point, it can blow through the travel but maybe if that is a problem for you get your shock pushed and problem solved.
It’s really subjective…I get that, from my perspective I have never had a problem pumping a berm, dip or the lip of a jump. In fact it feels natural and progressive.

On the other hand that’s why I find demos to be of limited value 🙂 It’s so easy to change the way a bike rides with simple things like bars, stem, tyres, shock tune (even wheels I guess). If I pick the bike I like best from a set of demo rides I reckon there is a good chance that I’d just be picking the one with the best tyres!

Still I can’t think of a better way either.

I’ve got a 2005 five and the only other FS bike i’ve ever ridden properly is DH bikes i’ve hired abroad. But I think my bike is the best bike in the world, end of……….. 😀

Still I can’t think of a better way either.

Yep after that it’s down to the colour really…..

Most of the demo’s I have seen recently have all had decent Maxxis tyres on (mostly the same) I reckon I’ve ridden enough bikes to see beyond some of the components. Recent demo’s have been a good 2 hr ride and I did am/pm ones so did the same route back to back with a different bike.

Fair enough. I’m not saying that demos are useless and I don’t doubt that some people can see past the components. It’s just that I can’t 😳 I’ve been playing with a 2012 Trance and a 2006 Five this year. I’ve had months of riding these back to back over the same routes and I still can’t work out which I prefer. Well I can, but then I switch the bars and stem or the wheels or add offset bushings or an angle changing headset or change the forks etc and everything changes. It’s all good fun though.

In the end I started to learn some tricks to demo/setting up my bikes where I try and get a whole year of riding into a couple of hours 🙂 (it’s not actually possible) but it normally involves a lot of hard accelerating, stamping the pedals, riding badly, taking inappropriate lines etc. and trying to gauge how the bike is performing. It’s nowhere near enough but it’s a start.

Can’t comment on the other 2 but my Blur LTc is one of those bikes you throw a leg over and it just feels right straight away. Had a few quality full sus bikes and aside from a Horst Link 5 spot I’ve not found a better bike.

Really? Jungle were uncooperative and barefaced liars to me over my warranty, I had to contact SC usa who put them right. But seeing as the same bloke is there its put me off ever buying an SC frame.
Mind you I have two transitions and I remember the surf sales guy showing a v colourful side on here a couple of years ago…

Zero problems with Jungle, I have a SC Blur XC (which I’d bought in the US) & I snapped a stay on the rear triangle & they replaced it quite happily..

Had my LBS build up a 17″ 2012 Five with some choice components and it’s an absolute joy to ride, much, much better than the Pro I tested. Had a long service recently and LBS lent me a Whyte 29c whilst works were carried out, nice as that was climbing back on my Five reminded me just why testing is so important. Bloody lovely…

Never tried the other two but was torn between the Covert and Five after several rest rides. Really liked the Covert and as such would consider Transition for any future purchase. Can’t go wrong with those three but make sure you test.

Had a blur lt for nearly 4 years now and love it. Climbs like a goat and haven’t found its limits on the downs yet (probably says more about me!). Bearings excellent and dealings with jungle all good. Never ridden the others but the blur puts a smile on my face every time I ride it – usual riding is Peak, rivelin valley, trips to Wales and Scotland.

i have never test ridden a bike i have bought 🙂
every bike feels different to me and i’ll end up just getting whatever felt like what i already had 😀

Wise words there Jedi 🙂

Ask1974, you see to be saying that the Five you bought was much better (i.e. different) to the one that you tested, but the test still helped. Fair enough.

Personally I think there is a decision to be made regarding wheel size as that can’t really be changed after the event and there are clear pros and cons from larger wheels. But there are hardly any bad bikes out there.

I’ve come to the conclusion that, for me at least, all that really matters is fit then geometry and even geometry only has to be roughly right. In fact, if I’m honest, my ability to get up or down anything depends on my fitness, skill and confidence, the amount of enjoyment I get from a ride depends on the trail, the conditions and my mood. The bike comes pretty low down either list and most of the differences we obsess about matter not one jot in practice.

Personally, of the three, I’d pick the Orange, because I like the way they look, I like their design philosophy, I like the fact they are made here and I like their simplicity. But I wouldn’t pretend that they are any better than any of the others and in practice I’d be happy on any of them as long as the top tube was close to 61cm.

Roverpig, it’s an interesting point but IME components define and tune a bikes performance whereas the frame sets the ride characteristics. What appealed to me about the Five was the way it felt when attacking decents; close to the feeling you get when snowboarding in powder 😀

I’ve riden various [2012 Five] builds and the ride or ‘feel’ of the bike is the same. When building mine I used XTR for chainset and gears, XT brakes (203mm discs front and rear), Crossmax ST wheels (currently with specialised 2.3 Clutch and Maxxis 2.3 Ardent) plus kasima RP23 and Float 34. It still feels every bit as great when flying down singletrack but just does it better. Astonishing brakes, superiour suspension, light build and wheels that want to just turn faster…

As such IME you demo a bike to find out if it feels right under you, then tune with components to meet your requirements. As an example I don’t believe there is any way you could make a Yeti ASR5 ride like a Five. Tested both, loved both, but very different bikes.

I too had a similar dilemma that I mulled over for a few months; build a Yeti or Five around existing components that I’ve got? But eventually found an easy solution to the problem – a 26″ Orange Five being discounted by a grand in the January sales. Resolved any wheel size, or frame design issues for me 😀

Thanks ask1974.

Tested both, loved both, but very different bikes.

You see, there’s the nub of the problem for me. It’s not that I can’t tell the difference, it’s that I can’t decide which I prefer. There is clearly a difference between the Trance and the Five (the two that I’ve spent most time with). Even swapping components over doesn’t change that. The problem is that I love them both. There are bits of the trail where one bike is better than the other (interestingly it is the way the Five climbs short steep and loose stuff that I really like), but no one bike is better than the other overall. Swapping components about I can alter which bike feels best on some parts of the trail. But I always come back to the same conclusion. They are both great bikes and how much enjoyment I get from the ride has nothing to do with which bike I’m riding. I suspect that the same would hold true for pretty much any half decent bike on the market as long as I could get it to fit and even there I’m not too sensitive.

If you are a racer then life is easy. You just do timed rides over set courses and pick the fastest. But for the rest of us, for whom fun is as important as speed, it all gets a bit complicated. Or easy I suppose. I mean, if there are no bad bikes you can always just pick whichever one you fancy and just ride the damn thing 🙂

I’m with roverpig, as much as my limited bike experience allows any way.

My Five is OLD now but i still love it, everyone says that the manitou swinger shock is aweful but having nothing really to compare it to i think it’s fine. I ride al sorts of different trails on the 5 but i’ve ridden pretty much all the same trails, even DH stuff, on my even older GT Avalache (which has now been retired for a 29er HT). 2 completely different bikes, same trails, both gave me massive smiles.

I think people can think too much about the technicalities (sp) rather than just getting on with riding. I’m not saying all bikes are the same as some just might not fit someone, but most bikes in a given catagory are probably very similar.

I think people can think too much about the technicalities (sp) rather than just getting on with riding

Here? On STW? Nah never 😀

at the end of the day what a great dilemna to have, choosing between good bikes with sorted geometry. I had a 5 for four years and loved it .The one thing you can say about fives is they are fun to ride and stable.When it was time to look for a replacement I initially considered another but for me the level of running gear on the bike does not justify the price tag. After looking for alternatives I have opted for a Blur lt .The main difference in riding is the vpp suspension which makes the bike much stiffer on climbs and more agile. I think the issue with the five is that , due to the simplicity of the frame design it is very dependant on the functioning of the shock unit.Hope that helps

Lots of interesting points, seems the Five has it’s lovers but fair share of haters as well! It’s down to the Five and Bandit I think as the Blur is quite a bit more money for the frame only. I am going to try them both first, although I’m not sure Je James will let me ride a Five (LBS). Eighteen have a demo Bandit I can try I think.

I ran a Blur 4X (which I ‘think’ has similar’ish angles to a TR?) for 3 years. It was an awesome bike. But trying a Five was an itch I had to scratch and I’m glad I did. Believe the hype (or at least get a good test ride of one) – they’re as good as (most) people say they are!