How capable are bikes like a pitch, or Heckler? And any opinions on either?

As above really, I currently have a marin quake, and trek fuel ex as my 2 full sus bikes. Wondering whether to reduce them to one all round full sus.Am i right in thinking that one of the above, built up with say fox 36’s/ lyrics, and lightwieght but sensible kit – eg pro 2’s on mavic xm819s, xt groupset? I guess weight could be around 31-32 pounds?

Are they really quite capable bikes? I’m also wondering if there would be any point in getting the Heckler or something for the same money as i could get a complete pitch? Any other suggestions? I couldnt spend more than a grand really on just a frame.

Pics please?

I had the first ride out on my new Orange Alpine 160 yesterday and was very impressed 😀 It seems to tick all the boxes you require, so I’d recommend you give it a try.

(Not sure how much the frame only costs, suspect more than a grand though)

lyons, two medium-kit bikes or one do-it-all flash kit bike? No brainer. If it was one full suss and one hardtail I could understand keeping them.

I’d say an air-shock 6.5lb frame with a windable travel air fork (say 36 TALAS).

yeah the alpine looks very very nice. Frame on its own is quite alot. Ive been lusting after one for a while. Have you ridden anything like a specialized sx trail? I know its not going to be as capable downhill, but any comments on how it compares?

yeah hora, that is what i was thinking, especially as next summer i’m hoping to spend some time somewhere abroad, and will only be able to take one bike with me… I do actaually have a scott scale as well.

Enduro?
Orange 5?

I had a Superlight and a Nomad (both L and for sale!) but have replaced them for a Heckler because neither felt right for the majority of my riding. Dunno if that helps. It’s built pretty much as you suggest but I don’t know it’s weight. I also have a hardtail and swap over the lighter wheels and fork for longer rides, races etc. Works for me.

id want something that was capable of some preety big jumps etc… As someone said once ‘ once you’ve ridden a DH bike, you’ll ride every bike like a dh bike’. I like a slack head angle, so was thinking a heckler etc, with talas or lyric 2 steps would be good.

cynic-al
I’m interested in yr nomad – will email you for details

Have you ridden anything like a specialized sx trail? I know its not going to be as capable downhill, but any comments on how it compares?

THey are two quite different suspesion systems, and the SX trail will be hard to build anywhere near 31 lb without going for silly light / expensive kit. The SX trail frame is about 9lb with a coil shock.

The Alpine is a single pivot so you get quite a bit of trail feedback throug the suspension, and the bike feels quite ‘snappy’ to accelerate. The SX trail is a four bar so it is a very supple ride but does tend to ‘wallow’ a bit when you pedal hard.

The alpine is a lot less maintenance as it only has two bearings, to the twelve or so in the sx trail swingarm.

An SX trail is an immensly capable bike down technical stuff, and I would have thought is slightly better downhill than an Alpine, but not by a hugh amount. The SX trail would be warranted for big drops/jumps, and I’m not sure if the Alpine is or not.

I’m selling my Reign this week to get a heckler on Thursday, it will come in between 30-30.5lbs with Lyrik 2-Steps, EX823/ProIIs, Elixir CR/Formula THE ONE, I-Beam, EA70/Thomson Stem, Conti Rubber Queen/High Roller, Tubeless, XT Cranks, Dual Ring.
My Reign was a great bike, just heavy, so loosing some weight going to a heckler and hoping it’ll take the hits pretty much the same at the back, I’m looking forward to it and hoping I won’t look back.

AS above, check an Enduro as well. Really good all rounder for almost anything. Surely if you’re at Heckley budget, you’d be better going for an Enduro over a Pitch.

Didnt DIRT really rate the prev Enduro DH?

Santa Cruz Heckler. Full XTR,FOX36s, Hope Pro2s..Hope M4s, Thomson stem etc, etc…

More Than capable for a full day out..

And great fun too.. 😆

Hi,

the hecklers look really good. I was suggesting the Pitch as i have better partsa that could go on it. It is mainly the frame i am interested in.

What are the new enduros like? I had a test ride once on the last version of the enduro and it was fantastic. Not too bad up hills, but a hell of a lot quicker down than my trek, and unless its really extreme, not far off the marin. Are the new ones similar?

cannondale prophet is better than a pitch and VERY similar to a heckler.

I’ve just bought a Pitch Comp and am inpressed so far. Fitted a lod of my own kit to the bike including Lyrik U Turns. I’ve been running the forks at 145mm ish for most stuff and it seems fine. I’m not convinced by the idea of 2 step type forks on a biek like this (Lyriks & Wotans) as for me a mid setting at around 140mm is more useful than a 120mm option so I’d suggest U Turn or Talas.

Just waiting on a second set of wheels to fit DH tyres to so that with a few minutes of faffing I can set the bike up for our local little DH trails.

Only thing I can fault is the X-Fusion shock which I will probably replace with an RP23 when funds allow.

Got my Pitch built up with 819/pro IIs w/ 2.5 tyres, short stem, wide bars – ready for the Alps/mega next week. It feels awesome downhill – don’t really do any huge jumps/drops but ride rocky stuff here in the Lakes fairly aggressively. Would ideally like some 160mm forks for the Alps but the Pikes are pretty good.

I have a heckler with 819s, long 160mm marz forks and a 50mm stem, its very good DH but it has lost some versatility, will put a 60/70 mm stem back on and adjustable forks then it will be as capable DH and much better along / up. Previously had pikes on it which made the bike great in twisties & long days with climbing but a bit twitchy on steeper downs and messing about.

I’ve got a Patriot 66: v. similar (but a bit heavier I think) than the Alpine. Built with coil Lyriks, coil shock and some strong but lightish stuff: Stan’s Flow tubeless wheels, XT, Ibeam, stinger chainguide, heavy Saint rear mech etc. Its about 35lbs with DH tyres. I’ve a hardtail as well but it only ever gets ridden at the jumps or bmx track.

Single pivot is virtually maintenance free, goes great up or down, U-turn forks do help with steep climbs. Great for tech xc or DH.

I think either a Heckler or Pitch would be similar. I’d bet you’d find an ‘all-rounder’ as good going down as the Quake, but not quite as quick in xc mode as the Fuel.

cannondale prophet is better than a pitch and VERY similar to a heckler.

Er, apart from Phophets cracking with alarming ease. Face it, Cannondale are utter sh1te. Walleaters front end broke JRA first ride, he hadnt even got to the mountains.

an entire brand is rubbish on the basis of one failure?

You looked at the giant reign x? Lots of travel and very capable. Got a Heckler myself with coil shock and wotan’s. A very capable bike both DH and for longer rides.

DeeW doubt a heckler and pitch would perform the same, you’re comparing a single pivot and specialised’s decent linkage system. I’ve tried a pitch, mate had one till it got pinched, nice bike, he loved it for all day stuff and ragged it down.
I’ve currently got a Reign X as said previously and switching to heckler, whilst the Reign X is a scream on the DH, it’s a slog up, this might change if you pop a RP23 on it instead of the DHX Air 4 that comes stock, but you can feel it’s near 10lbs in weight making it a bit stodgy, this all might change with ’10 though and the dropping of a load of weigh off of the Reign.

an entire brand is rubbish on the basis of one failure?

Must admit, when was the last time you ‘drooled’ over a Cannondale mountain bike? Abit ‘Kona’ IMO. 🙄

I like the look of their carbon rush and it seems good for the money, but more a practical bike than bling, that’s left down to lapierre 😉

I got a Pitch Comp a few months back for £950 with £100 worth of kit vouchers. I’ve subsequently added Pro II/321’s front and rear, SLX cranks and some Vanilla 36’s. With the lighter Eskers that it came with it sits just over 32lbs, with 2 ply minions it’s about 33.5lbs. Current build cost £1600.

The bike feels much better with the 160mm forks, it always felt a little steep with the Pikes. The longer forks have the other added bonus (to me at least) of raising the BB height slightly. It still climbs very well.

It is a VERY capable bike, I have ridden everything at Ae and Innerleithen on it, then with the same set up done a 45km day out in the hills. I plan to ride the Selkirk Merida on it in August. The only thing I may change in the future is swapping the X-fusion to an RP23 though to be honest I don’t know if it would make £350 worth of differance.

For the money I don’t think it can be beat.

Tom

NO offense but I would expect many 5″ bikes would do OK in that spectrum of riding tomcrow99.

Hmm, ive looked at the reign x’s… they do look good. What is the difference compared to the standard riegn? IS it just component choice?

I have a heckler,sx, a mate has a pitch and i’ve ridden a quake.

Heckler is a good do everything bike, and the bearings last a long time. Feels a lot shorter and more manoeuvrable than the pitch. Heckler has lyriks, 70mm stem, coil shock, 14.1kg.

SX is a pig to pedal up hills. much better for Dh stuff than a heckler.

Just got a blur 4x and its more fun than any of them. Bit wee for long days and i wouldn’t want to ride it down Fort William DH.

Another mate has an 08 enduro, despite it looking wrong its a very nice bike, if a little long.

Yet another has an 06 enduro. Its really good too.

Sorry, should have clarified that as the DH tracks. All step downs on the Matador, gap jumps and super steeps. Big step down and new road gap at Ae, bike handled all of it with aplomb with out feeling out of it’s depth.

Reign X has slacker geometry and is heavier than the standard reign.

Having ridden a few different linkage types, quite a lot of how a bike feels & performs is down to how the rider has set it up initially. So I wouldn’t go on first impressions unless the rider knows whats what, take time to set a bike up and it will pay dividends. Here’s my heckler, love it to bits and saved my arse a few times too! It’s way more capable than I am.

I’m constantly in a similar dilemma. I have a Heckler and have always loved it as a do everything bike. I just feel I want more on DH days and quite a bit less to hoik about on big days out. Having said that, I’ve used it happily for both and it has been very capable all round. Great fun in the peaks, it was. Went up and down anything that my legs could manage with aplomb – all day Jacob’s ladders / Cut Gate circuits or DH jump & drop sessions in Wharncliffe. In that sense, as Konastoner says, its probably way more capable than I am.

I just fancy a 5 spot but wouldn’t want to take it on Innerleithen uplift days or Fort Bill DH, which I would the Heckler. In terms of travel, though, they’re about the same.

Garrrr, I could chase myself round in circles all night – and have done.

To few post’s above, Reign normal has 6″s travel (think), Reign X is more beefed up with 6.7″ travel, maybe a different shock from stock possibly, and I guess the angles are more al day than FR which is what the X was designed for.