Well, I wasn’t expecting this… (New bike content)

So I flogged the Yeti 575, bought a Spesh Pitch Pro for £998 delivered and pocketed a few hundred quid.

I’d had an 04 Stumpy FSR before the Yeti and loved it. I could give it it a right old ragging and hoped the Yeti would be more of the same, but better in every way.
Now granted, the Yeti was a lovely bike but it always felt a bit, err, ‘remote’ to me, like I was never quite in charge. I also found the suspension a bit wallowy sometimes, and I never got full travel. ‘Twas superb on the Trans Wales, mind…
In the end I put most of the problems down to the flexy (carbon) rear end I’d opted for…..

So anyway, I buys me a Pitch.

Now taking out the box I can see it’s a heavy, slack ol’ beast and I wasn’t expecting it to climb all that well. And faffing about on the road outside I reckon the seat’s a bit nasty, the bars a tad narrow and the (coil) forks a bit undersprung for my weight: Too much sag for my liking.

Today I went out for a ride, and sure enough, I was right. It goes up, but that’s it really. It’s a bit heavy and slack and feels a bit slow on the flat. The bars are a bit narrow. The fork is a bit soft.
"It’s a new bike, I’ll get used to it"

I did a longish ride, 25 miles or so, and took in some swoopy, bermy singletrack in Swinley and the bike starts to come out of it’s shell a little bit, I could see the potential emerging, even in the mud… So on the way home I took in a section of trail known locally as ‘Fenceline’. It’s very rooty in places. There are drop offs. (Usually a foot or so)

And basically, all hell broke loose!

There’s a couple of bits where the trail has cut down into the ground from the flat, leaving ‘shoulders’ on each side. I’ve never even looked at them before. Not ever. But on my first run down I spotted one to my left, very close to the fence, and just jumped it. It’s probably 2ft…
I went absolutely hammering down, laughing like a loon. I hit the roots faster than I ever have dared before (They come all together) then spotted another ,much larger, shoulder further down and looked at it as I shot past.
2nd run I jumped it. The bike just hits the floor smoothly, no wobbling, no bouncing, no rattles and soaks it up so you can look for the next one.

One word – Astonishing.

Now I’ve ridden a few bikes in my time, but this is the best by far. Not just the best for the money. Just THE BEST. It blows the Yeti into the weeds.
All the little things like the forks and the bars disappear when you point it downhill. They simply don’t figure. The suspension is perfect: So controlled, so well damped, not harsh, not ‘plush’ – Taut. Exact. Unobtrusive.
It does what it says on the tin, and then some….

This is what I wanted, my old Stumpy, just more of it.

🙂
🙂

Nice!
I felt the same about my new Enduro. It’s way faster than I should go!

How do you not get full travel on a 575?? It’s one bike that gives it up very willingly due to the falling rate linkage. If anything, I’d say my old 575 was guilty of blowing through it’s travel too easily.

Spesh are the Nissan of the bike world, they just get on with it. i loved mine

Nissan make the GT-R…. 😉

i thought Trek were nissan….or is it toyota?

Peter…where did you get her at that price?

thats the most disgusting thing I’ve ever read Peter,

can I please have a go! 😀

I’m loving my Enduro SL, a big change from my Yeti ASR-sl 🙂 The Pitch & the Enduro have the same suspension setup don’t they (apart from the E150 on the Enduro)?

Where’d you get the bike for £998 delivered from, and do they have any more? 😕

How do you not get full travel on a 575?? It’s one bike that gives it up very willingly due to the falling rate linkage. If anything, I’d say my old 575 was guilty of blowing through it’s travel too easily.

I totally agree with your 2nd point. They do blow through it too fast, hence me describing it as ‘wallowy’ above.

I checked the travel by letting all the air out of the shock and compressing the suspension to see where the O ring ended up, but in use said O ring never got within 5mm or so of the same position. That’s how I came to that reasoning, rightly or wrongly.
🙂

Where’d you get the bike for £998 delivered from, and do they have any more?

Cyclestore.co.uk
And no, my brother bought their last one about 3 days ago.
He also went into a Spesh Concept store and apparently Spesh UK have run out and won’t be getting any more…..

Yet another Pitch convert, you knows it ‘s the way forward.

I’ve had mine since the week they were released over here, what a bike 😈

Steve – They came out not long after I bought my Yeti and I realised then that it was the bike I’d been looking for…..

It would have been too much travel, it would have been too much travel, it would have been too much travel, it would…oh bollocks.

Why the f did I cancel my order…and I paid less than you. FFS.

I reckon the seat’s a bit nasty, the bars a tad narrow and the (coil) forks a bit undersprung for my weight

Sounds bang on what the ST review said. Easy enough upgrades though. One of the reason that was putting me off was, although obviously all the bits are good enough to be ridden out of the box, I figure the frame & shock were the only bits I’d probably wouldn’t end up changing

how much do they weigh?

Glad you love it.
I reckoned they were the bargain of the century at that price.
I’d debated selling my 04 SWorks Enduro to get one, but couldn’t afford it.
Imagine how much fun it would be in the Alps…!!!

Fenceline is a great run to take that down. Glad you are pleased. 😀

Sounds bang on what the ST review said. Easy enough upgrades though. One of the reason that was putting me off was, although obviously all the bits are good enough to be ridden out of the box, I figure the frame & shock were the only bits I’d probably wouldn’t end up changing

Honestly they aren’t worth bothering about. I’m a bit heavier than most so the forks will be better for more average riders anyway. I might change the saddle for a Spoon, and fit a bashguard, but I reckon the rest is fine when all is said and done

Imagine how much fun it would be in the Alps…!!!

That’s where it’s going in June…..
🙂

Fenceline is a great run to take that down. Glad you are pleased.

It’s about the gnarliest thing round here isn’t it? Did some of the bigger drop ins on Drop in Surgery, too…. Including one I’ve never done before 😀

Bring her down to Dorset now PP – you can really stretch her legs!

DrP

So controlled, so well damped, not harsh, not ‘plush’ – Taut. Exact. Unobtrusive

This is a pushbike you’re talking about ? Right ? 😉

so where’s fenceline? most likely I know the trail by another name but just in case I’m missing a great local trail.

Cheers

Jay

Fenceline runs right next to the fence (Spookily…. :o) that skirts the clay shooting range on Tunnel Hill

DrP – I think I shall, just need clearance from "mission control" 🙂

Looks like a glittery poo… Like if you’d inadvertently swallowed a load of Christmas decoration glitter.

RB – Thankyou. I appreciate your input and shall get it resprayed immediately. What colour do you suggest, smart a**e?

😛

Ha!

What about a nice shade of Turquoise?

Or, with me in mind, perhaps, a nice shade of Envy…

It does look like a glittery poo, though.

come on, lets see some more pictures, oh and please tell me you’ve not put those bar ends on! 😆

Bar ends? Eh? Dunno what you’re blithering on about there, matey…

Bog-stock-standard apart from some brown lock-on grips I had lying around

Peter, mate, no wonder it was so cheap…

…they’ve sold you a bent one! Bastards! Want me to go and sort ’em out for you?

Do you know much about bent stuff then?

the cable routing? why do they do that? still ignoring that tis a lovely looking frame, v. nice lines, does it weigh much?

What size did you go for PP?

I seem to remember reading something very similar about your Yeti when you 1st got it 🙂

I don’t think people reviewing there own bikes after 1 ride are really worth the paper they are written on personally.

Bike is 30lb 4oz without pedals on my scales, which is fairly hefty. I could spend money and lighten it up by 1lb or so fairly easil I reckon, but that would be defeating the object. I can’t see me spending any more than £50 on mods because it really doesn’t need them. Sure, it’s be NICE, it always is….. But pointless IMO. Everything works fine, even the tyres are pretty good.

And what’s up with the cable routing?
That’s the best place IMO, all out of the way in full length outers…
🙂

Same thing happened when I got my Pitch – looked at trails in a whole different way.

BTW I have changed the shifters, seat, grips, and got a heftier spring – bike feels perfect now – I love it.

I don’t think people reviewing there own bikes after 1 ride are really worth the paper they are written on personally.

It’s not written on paper; it’s in electronic form. 😉

Knowing Peter, and his understanding of things mechanical, I’m inclined to trust his judgement. He spent 30 seconds looking at HackneyRider’s fork, to reveal it was borked. Led to HR getting a new fork under warranty, where he may not have known about the fault for some time (and it was only a couple of weeks still inside the warranty period!). And if you’re out on the trail, there is possibly no better fettler. Peter seems to instinctively what is wrong, and how to fix it.

I’d be more inclined to trust his review of a bike, than most bike mags journo’s.

Same thing happened when I got my Pitch – looked at trails in a whole different way.

Yeah I guess you’re right there, chap. I’m generally a wheels on, or near, the ground sort of rider. It’s odd that I was attemping such sillyness, especially on the first ride on a new bike.
😀

just watch out for the seat stay brace bashing the seat tube. spesh apparently know about it but ignoring problem. suspect will only affect big huckers.

The only bike reviews you can trust on here are the one’s written after the owner has sold it.

anything else is basically written "head-in-the-sand-my-new-bike-is-great".
as for

Taut. Exact. Unobtrusive.

– is it describing a bike or a dildo?

exactly what I was thinking, only trust a review of a bike someone has owned (and ridden at lot) for a year to 18 months or has just sold.

especially on here, as there are an awful lot of armchair experts