Right-o-then Proflex fans/curious/returnees….They are back sort off – I have not any of them tested in STW/WMB and the manuala first language is Spanish then English then French! Proflex seem to sponsor Spanish riders too! I tell you what though to spaniards must be bloody fit -its a right tank!
It arrived today box fresh from Wheelies Direct – I think they have a few more left!
When I lifted it out of the box I nearly gave myself a double hernia – I had forgotten what 32lbs felt like. either that or my body has wasted away pushing a biro at a desk all day long? any way onto the scales it goes and yes 32lbs dead!
Anyhoo I quickly started to firk through my spare odds and ends thinking that I must have some lighter kit to fit on, than it came with?
This is what got swapped out:
50mm riser bar for 21mm FSA 282
No brand 120mm stem for Cannondale 110mm
Seat post for Thomson 410 (its a 27.2 BTW)
Rear wheel for 819/Pro2/M580 cassette/ nobby nic UST
LX mech for XT rapido rise.
Plus I fitted time atacs
Net result = 32lbs !!!!argh !!! All that I ended up saving was the weight of the pedals!
I think the front wheel and brakes will be next to go, the whole bike feels lighter at the back than the front now- which is wrong!!
As for the rear suspension – what a revelation – no matter how hard I stomped or bounced on the pedals there was no squat or bobbing – I think it is just as good if not better than VPP! there is no lockout on the shock – but I dont think I need it! the only down size is that it is no lightweight, I reckon with a decent front wheel and mid range brakes it should scrape 30lb
yeah rear mud clearance is crap but ok for summer fire trails – when I have built a 819/pro2 front wheel I will stick the Nobby 2.2 on the front and wack a bonty mud X 2.0 on the rear – that should sort it out
Rear wheel complete 2800g, replacement complete is 2300g (with nobby nic and cheapo HG50-9 450g cassette)this will drop by 600g with mud X and XT M770 11-32, Making it one of my lightest rear wheels.
Front wheel complete (WTB Laserdisc/WTB Weirwolf 2.1/ plain gauge spokes/proflex hub)is 2150g (more than most of my rears!)
the WTB tires are 750g
the Cheng shin 19.-2.1 tubes are a whopping 175g
the deore brakes are 300g for a lever/caliper each
hows the proflex??i got mine 5 days ago from pauls cycles
not the best start
arrived with a big scratch
gear cables needed replacing
and the brakes are laaaaaame…even with new pads.
getting some hope minis on it
race face evolve stem and bars
tyres are tubless too
didnt realise that
only paid £760 for it
taking it to coed y brenin in wales for a dam good thrashing..
review to follow
i got a large
im 6ft2
fits fine
got some carbon shims for the head set too
took it to wales this weekend had a blast found i could a lot fast than when i went on a hardtail
hitting jumps and stuff
was a lot off fun altough i did notice the xtra weight on some mega hard fire road climbs
still good for the money i reckon
jc
I got fed up with having to tighten the bottom suspention mounts every five mins as they kept coming loose (even with half a tube of thred lock on it)so i changed for normal bolts and nuts to lock (this helped alot)
platform is ok but rear movement of the chain in the suspention cycle can be a major pain in slow tech single track
i have got the it down to apx 12.9kg by changing the rubbish and creakie fsa gammer drive to a slx with no bash gard and a mrp x1 and putting pike airs
i got mine throw wheelies direct and am a bit upset that they said it would replace my norco fluid as this does not come close so i now am going back to a hard tail (on one 456) because i hate the 768
has anybody found the frame as flexy and off putting as well as the short top tube and long chainstays calsing it to be unstable at times
yup as r3trodisco says got to be 1lb in that crankset, worth burning it out during winter though as 1lb isnt a saving worth spending loads for and outing something that works..
yes the standard chainset is very heavy, it makes the XT feel feather weight.
even after all this, it is still 29.2lbs (with home made mud gaurd), but some how this weight feels just right, it feels supercharged and effortless on long climbs, goes in and out of ruts like a Range Rover. and is rock steady and predictable on fast technical decents.
I think the frame and forks are heavy, but with that comes the rock solid handling
my only gripe is that if you are slightly off with rear mech indexing, then rear suspension will causing gear shifts, which is a nightmare, but if indexing is ok, then no problemo
Remember its your new toy so enjoy
ok the bike is cheap (no bad thing) but by the time you take all the cheap heavey not so good parts of and start throwing on good old tried and trusted lighter parts then the price is possibly not so good. Still not a proflex the K2 now that was a proflex
Chainslap – lovin the animal!
My mate had that, another had the 856 with girvin forks, same basically. I had the 856 frame with flexible manitou 4's then replaced with judy's.
Was it 2.5 or 3" travel?
after 3 months of easyish riding i cracked the top tube between the words pro and flex where the cable mount is under the top tube apx 2 inches long abound the tube.
got in contact with suplyer and after 3 MONTHS!!! got a replacement from proflex that looked like it came from a skip, it had piss poor paint work and the welds looked like a monkey had been let loose on it,
got back in contact and sent it back, proflex offered me the 2010 model but i would have to wait 4 months for it (told them to shove it)
in the end i settled at £350 trade on anouther brand and the shop came up with a commencal meta 55 frame brand new for that price for me.
if you are thinking of buying DONT BOTHER and if you got one HOWS THE FELXY FRAME the rear end has so much flex side to side at the rear wheel is like riding jelly, its far to hevey and breaks easy,the paintwork is rubbish along with the kids graphics, the whole thing is cheep and poorley made.
I could point you in the direction of my mate Neil. His third commencal frame in less than a year should be arriving shortly. His first one cracked. His second one cracked. Both Meta's.
Cheep ( Cheap ) and Poorley (poorly) made, maybe . Could be a friday afternoon version. I think i will stick to my '99 proflex tho .
have same problem…its an "all mountain bike" so i was usuing it in wales and my frames cracked too.
waiting to hear from pauls cycles as to what to do next…..frames got a life time guarantee apparently though…fingers crossedcrack crack
got a new frame sent to me today…took two weeks all in all…plus pauls cycles sent me a proflex 778 frame not the 768…. its exactly the same frame just different colour.they put my monarch 2.1 shock on it, not the 3.3 it should come with…not too sure why they sent me that fame…but at least i can get back out on the trails…fingers crossed this wont FAIL….POW!!!
Posted 14 years ago
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