… Which is not to say that it isn’t an excellent bike, I love it for its predictability, its consistency and its reliability.

But it’s boring, for exactly the reasons I love it. I find myself choosing the hardtail (Decade Virsa)over the five every time.

So, I think I’m going to get a new frame, something that rewards good line choice and ****s you up if you get it wrong. A bike that can handle me having a go, not snapping at the first sign of a badly landed jump. A frame that you have to do a bit more than just pointing it down the hill and let go of the brakes.

I guess what I want is a FS bike that rides like my hardtail, is there such a thing?

one with much less travel, but then it might not be built as strong as youre into the light XC racer market not the trail market.

Sounds like you like HT more than FS. Why spend £££ on a new FS?

Ride your hardtail? Ride more demanding terrain?

Unless you go to fort William and inhospitable cycling holidays then orange 5 is dull. I find lots of people buy bikes they would love to ride rather than bikes they will ride. A little like a woman buying a dress she can’t fit into but promises herself she will get into it and go to the ball

If were honest most of use don’t use our full travel and could have lighter frames. Britain has some wonderful rides, just most of us don’t use them often enough to warrant an all mountain bike

For similar damage limitation to the Five, but with more zing and pop the new Cotic Rocket is getting very favourable initial feedback. Or get a burlier hardtail?

International Richard think you have hit it on the head, what did you get when you sold your five?

Bagstard, ride the hardtail all the time, I think its more the guilt f having a bike that I very rarely ride that bugs me.

Crashtestmonkey, your right there are plenty of lightweight 120mm bikes, but they are all fairly light weight. Why spend £££, well I have £££ worth of bike that I never ride so I guess thats why.

blue pig.

fast, simple and fun on the downs, but get loose and it gives you a good kicking without throwing you off.

perfect for me. best bike i’ve owned for exactly the reason you mention. got bored on FS.

oh and it cost me £150. and hasn’t broken.

value. simplicity. awesomeness.

Bagstard, ride the hardtail all the time, I think its more the guilt f having a bike that I very rarely ride that bugs me.

Same for me I think. I only really bought mine for a trip to Whistler but now feel like I should still be riding it! It does help with confidence but there’s not much use for 7″ of travel when all you ride (apart from special trips away) is Woburn.

I bought a Blood instead of a Five, haven’t looked back. Let my heart rule my head, fantastic decision 🙂

what colour brake levers to go with blue pig? 😀

tracknicko, sounds like the Decade Virsa I have, perhaps I should get rid of it and get something more boring, so I enjoy the five more…

I’ve just swopped my 5 for a santa Cruz Butcher , climbs well and doesn’t feel too big a bike, but will be more maintenace in the end 8 bearings instead of 2 but I wanted to change after 2 years on a 5 ,
you can still xc on a big bike just needs a bit more effort.

Ride some more technical terrain!

Agreed with International Richard. Had a Five, great bike, perfect for me on my annual trip to the alps but took a lot of the difficulty out of the trails where i do 99% of my riding so back on a hardtail. You get more beaten up but its easier to achieve that sketchy on the edge of control feeling more frequently and that is where the fun is for me.

I disagree that big bikes like the 5 are dull on tamer trails, and think its a hoary old myth, but if you (and IR) don’t enjoy the experience of the 5 and enjoy the HT, sounds like you should consider selling the 5 and either banking the money, or upgrading your HT.

I have a Dialled Alpine which is an absolute hoot and brings out the 12yr old in me. I also have an Orange Alpine 160 which is bigger than the 5. It comes into its own on big holidays (Alps, Rockies, Spain, India…) but I also enjoy riding around my local trails (Chilterns, Woburn etc) and dont think it feels remote or sterilised. As you disagree it sounds like big FS isnt for you. Sell it, end the guilt and celebrate the HT!

I sold my Five on the basis I preferred my blue pig!

before you throw a load of money at a frame try some different tyres. On less demanding terain my transition bandit is fantastic with a pair of specialised renegade 1.9s. sooooo fast and looooooose. If not the frame you want is the transition double.

Buy a penny farthing or move to the lake district

IMHO, the Five is perhaps the perfect bike for the technical terrain from whence it cometh. (eg “sweary northerners” Calderdale slow-tech stuff).
If I was planning to ride a moorland singletrack, I’d leave my Five at home and take the Rockhopper out instead.
As ^^^ they’ve said, why not find some more challenging terrain to appreciate why predicatable and reliable are good qualities.

I guess I’m suffering from a combination of bike and location disillusionment. Having lived in North Wales last year, and moved back down south in September.

I need to move house, not change the bike…

It does seem an odd statement by the OP. Why would you want an unpredictable bike? 😯 It’s about the type of terrain you ride and you don’t have to go to the Lakes or scotland to find difficult to ride places. Try finding more challenging lines/obstacles locally? 😀 (edit..think I’ve just repeated what folk have already said..sorry)

OP, I know exactly where you are coming from.

Bought a Five two years ago and it has been great for the Alps and trips to Scotland.

I love riding it and think its a great bike, but when I take it to the Surrey Hills/Swinley etc, it is just too easy to ride, and as you say you can just let go of the brakes and it takes care of itself.

So i switched back to a hardtail (BFe) for local rides. Much more engaging and requires me to think more, so seems more satisfying to ride and more on the edge.

Can relate to the guilt. Five just sits in the garage gathering dust for 51 weeks of the year. Seems a complete waste.

Am tempted by the Rocket, but think that it will also see limited use. I just live somewhere where its too flat to justify a FS these days.

However, if I lived somewhere like the Lakes/Wales Im sure it would be my first choice everytime.

I can somewhat relate to the OP.

I have a 6″ bike, ride the peaks, it’s only when im proper DHing, the alps, wharnecliffe, uplift days and proper DH spots that i get any excitement on it now. On peaks loops, i ride 99% of the time with forks wound down to 115mm, rear shock on firmest compression setting to get any excitement on your typical peaks loops.

Just debating picking up a 100mm hardtail (charge blender) with a poor spec to make the peaks jaunts more exciting.

It’s all well and good telling the OP to ride more technical stuff, but generally, rides that encompass the really technical stuff either discriminates people from the ride or doesn’t form a good loop. But it is all down to location of course. Sometimes you want to cover ground and have excitement, the two don’t always go together.

To the OP, there are a variety of full sus slopestyle frames out there, 100mm of form suspension, however they normally have short seat tubes and poor in the saddle geo.

A trek fuel ex is a robust bike, that maybe a good option?

Old style Trance frame is what you need. 100mm travel in a frame that is heavily overbuilt & rides lovely with a 140mm fork up front.

Old style Trance frame is what you need. 100mm travel in a frame that is heavily overbuilt & rides lovely with a 140mm fork up front.

that’s exactly what i had before the blue pig! (trances mk1+mk2/pikes)

was sodding ace, but whilst the frames lasted, the bearings, bushings and shocks did not.

I think what’s becoming clear is not that the Five is boring (which what I understood the OP to mean) but that his local riding is relatively tame and no challenge for the Five. It’s merely a case of horses for courses. Could just stick a bit more air in rear shock and put propedal on max and perhaps lower forks/firm them up.
For maximum unpredictability stick the stock moutain king tyres back on! 😆

I think what’s becoming clear is not that the Five is boring (which what I understood the OP to mean) but that his local riding is relatively tame and no challenge for the Five. It’s merely a case of horses for courses.
Exactly that. I’ll never get shot of my HT but nowadays I only use it on local rides (which are pretty tame) I’ve used it in the Alps years ago & looking back I wonder how I survived! Ok, my 5’s a lot more capable than I’ll ever be now but It’s sooo comfy & at my age I need some cushioning! 😉

Unless you go to fort William and inhospitable cycling holidays then orange 5 is dull

International Richard think you have hit it on the head

Nah, I reckon he slipped and skelped his thumb good and hard with that comment. Theres far more gnarlier places in Scotland than fort flippin william!

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omAwEPbHmV0[/video]

I guess what I want is a FS bike that rides like my hardtail, is there such a thing?

Take the wheels and drive train of your 5, buy a cotic BFE (or a soul maybe) sell the 5 frame and fork. build up your cotic out of parts from the 5 and a new fork.

That makes no sense to me,mucky. I drive something that is like a golf,built like a golf,has so many parts the same as a golf and its lasted 3 times longer than the golfs on the road today!

Skoda?

Just that daveagiles is asking for a bike that rides like a HT but is an FS, just get a HT.

A bike that can handle me having a go, not snapping at the first sign of a badly landed jump.

well then a BFE on 120s

Just sell the 5 and ride your HT. Or ride the 5 and ride it faster! Also this:

For maximum unpredictability stick the stock moutain king tyres back on!

I have a 5 and a Soul, ride mostly Swinley, and love them both! Mind you, I’m a bit crap so need the surety of the 5.

The full sus I had the most fun on was my 2007 Commencal Meta4, I think it was the combination of it’s travel, all 100mm of it, the frame robustness (not super light weight as the travel might suggest) and geometry – didn’t feel it was too much bike for tamer trails or all dayers, but when the terrain got more serious it made for a lively ride.

Commencal Meta 4X looks like an absolute hoot if you can find one.

hmmm. i live in the centre of what you might consider decent riding and still find my HT a whole lot more fun than my FS.

i tend to most enjoy trails that are so technical i can barely clean them on a dry day, and tend to fall off about once every 2 rides, primarily as a result of sketchy terrain/over enthusiasm.

just sell the sodding thing!

I’ve also retired my prophet frame and am considering selling (although not sure I really want to). I don’t think it’s about how hard the trails I ride are, but how fast they are. A lot of what we ride is relatively slow and steep, so the suspension felt not very useful. On faster, rocky open stuff it’s great (although the HT with a 2.4 advantage on the back is pretty damn fun too), but I don’t ride that stuff as often and it’s hard to justify a whole bike for a handful of rides a year when the HT actually isn’t that much of a compromise on those trails anyway.

Can’t believe no-one’s suggested an Anthem…

The bike shouldn’t matter too much – where you ride it is more important

Commencal Meta 4X looks like an absolute hoot if you can find one.

Yep, although apparently not great on longer rides, can’t put the seat up far enough etc.

I had exactly the same debate as the OP when I went for a new frame. More travel makes downhills more boring, and uphills harder work. If you’re someone like me that doesn’t mind a bit of climbing but really lives for the downhills, then my theory is that a lighter, less-travel full sus is faster on the way up (less pain) and more exciting on the way down.

I love my ASR-5 for this reason. At 127mm, I know it’s not ‘short travel’ compared with what we’re used to, but it definitely is compared to most current ‘trail’ bikes. It’s lightweight and it’s firm, but it’s also stiff and slack so it’ll go exactly where you stick it. Yeti call it their cheater bike – it’s a whippet uphill but you can thrash it downhill. It’s not got all the travel in the world so you can end up getting caught out if you get a line wrong. Not a particularly cheap option but riding isn’t a cheap sport.

Buy a bike for the trails you ride 90% of the time. Buying a bike that’s overkill for your local trails but would be a bit better if you go to the alps is stupid IMO (buy a separate DH bike).