Cheers Steve :)

Totally agree about the Five, it really encourages me to go faster and harder whilst remaining confident that the bike is well within it’s comfort zone. I’m smashing all my technical and downhill PB’s since I bought the Five :)

Snap renton

Absolutely loving this bike and it’s completely changed my view of long travel bikes. I thought it would only come out when I was heading to a trail center but it’s a blast to ride everywhere and even climbs really well :)

Actually, could you do me a favour as your suspension setup is the same as mine? Could you ping me your shock ID Code as mine has lost its sticker? Many thanks :)

Andyjh…. interested to hear how you compare the hopes to the standard 5 29 wheelset if thats what you had!

Sorry Renton, I didn’t have a standard wheelset on there previously so I can’t comment.

Personally I found them quite easy to tape up and would be very surprised if the tape was going anywhere. Not aware of many wheels that are tubeless ready without tape although I do own one set myself.

Should work with anything from 2013 I understand. My BMC is 2013 and it’s fine with the forks and shock on this. The forks on the Orange have an ID code and it recognises this.

I’ve email both Orange and Mojo tonight to see if they can help.

As for where the bacteria comes from, my urologist told me it’s always in the urine so it’s not sterile. Leaving your bladder to fill allows the bacteria to multiply and start the infection once attached to the bladder wall. This is where the aforementioned DMannose helps. Btw, I also use the NOW foods version but capsule based and no I don’t work for a supplier, lol

I have just fitted a set to my Orange Five 29’er, so far so good. I wanted a good solid wheel that I could trust for BPW and Afan trips, fits the bill for me as I didn’t want to worry about carbon.

I have a OO Fatty with the carbon forks and love it. I mainly used it as a winter bike for low maintenance and keep the crap out of my full sus bearings. Did this job very well and added a load of fun to my winter riding. Weight wise it’s lighter than my Orange Five! So I would say the weight isn’t too bad, what you notice is the tyre drag more than weight. I still have Nates on mine and I really need to stop them out for something with less rolling resistance.

Most of the kit is fairly good to be honest although I’ve upgraded a fair bit to stuff I like. The only components I’m not sold on are the standard wheels. The ribs are a pig to get tyres to seat properly and the freehub has failed for a lot of people. If funds allow I will replace the wheels before next winter.

Not according to Hope’s site but granted there is only a few grams in it, not as much as I thought though.

Anyone? Surely I can’t be the only person out there without an ID code sticker on their shock?

Or for something inbetween, Hope Enduro wheelset :) Bit wider and sturdier than Arch bit not as heavy and robust as Flows I believe.

Having suffered from urine infections a lot over the last 20 years I have learnt prevention is the best cure. Basically for an infection to take hold you need to allow the bacteria in your bladder to firstly multiple and secondly attached to the bladder wall in order for an infection to start. The best way to avoid this is to pee regularly, I was advised by my urologist to go no longer than 3 hours no matter if I wanted to or not. To resist the bacteria attaching the bladder wall I take a suppliment called D-Manosse which coats the bladder lining. Keep hydrated, this is key for me and I drink as regularly as I can during the day.

My issues are not caused by cycling and I’ve never had a link between time in saddle and infection starting but this is the basis of how an infection takes hold.

I think the benefits far outweigh the potential downsides. Take an average couch potato and what the total lack of exercise throughout their life does to them and I’d rather have a few knocks and bruises along with a healthy heart :)

I’m also with esure and policy cost about the same as mentioned above. Listed the bikes and all items over £1000, last renewal they were once again the cheapest for the amount of cover.

This is my newly acquired Five. Believe it’s a circa 2013 model and I’ve not seen the colour combo before

29er mate, still not converted to 650b :)

Well, I’m about to find out if an Orange Five is overkill as I just bought one!! :D Not considered one before and this was a real left field suggestion but what I considered to be a good deal was out there so went for it. Only one way to find out now and that’s ride it when it gets here.

Bit like when I bought a Fatbike eh Batman, lol. Btw, still got it and love it :)

Now the Orange Five has me thinking :) Always wanted an Orange but never really thought about them recently but already seen some good deals. Thanks for that suggestion.

Meta, another good idea. Will look into that one also. I think they have gone 650b only now but should be some good deals secondhand.

Rorschach, tried emailing you again mate. I am interested in your Codeine if you want to sell it.

Hi Rorschach, very interested in your Codeine mate, I emailed you a few days ago about it but haven’t heard back. Can you ping me an email with pics and details please? You had a few other bits in your original thread like Revs and Flows, are these still available?

More fun sounds ideal :) I think/hope both frames would be great for what I’m looking for.

I did exactly the same, bought an OO Fatty last year and rode it all through winter to keep my full sus in good condition. By the end of the winter I was loving how much confidence I had on slippy downhill sections. First ride out on my full sus over at Peaslake and I had an off on the slippy off camber roots! Some the Fatty would of just gripped easily on. Knocked my confidence in grip a little but generally I’ve smashed all my PB’s since being back on a lighter bike.

Thanks for this heads up, just reserved a set :)

Interesting, will have to look into this then as it might be the best solution. Thanks.

Ah, didn’t see this and I’ve just ordered some Nikwax fabric & leather proof to try. I’ll keep that in mind though if this doesn’t work, thanks.

Do you really think I could take them back, they are on their second winter? To be honest I haven’t been overly impressed with them, my feet get cold and now wet which is the two things these are supposed to stop! However I do appreciate things do wear out or at least become less effective and need some maintenance which is why I was thinking about reproofing them first.

I have spoken to the Spesh dealer I bought them from and they were just surprised and willing to sell me a new pair!

These are the ones;

Defrosters

Don’t think they are real leather like the Lakes? So not sure if the Nikwax cream will work?

As a lot of people have mentioned, a road bike will open up a new love of cycling. I did this last winter when I got fed up with the cleaning, not the actual riding. This winter I also bought a Fatbike so now my nice full sus Carbon MTB stays at home and I either take the Fatbike out in the mud and have a laugh or take the road bike out and do some miles.

The FatBike is great for me as you know you’re going to be slower overal so you just enjoy it more. The tyres give loads of confidence on the slippy roots, rocks, downhill sections but also provides a great winter training aid as it is no doubt harder to ride uphill.

I’m happy to go out on my own on either bike but it does make it so much more enjoyable to go out with others so I ride with my lbs club and there is normally someone to share the ride with.

Found myself in a similar position with my road bike. Bought it last year as a taster to Roadie life and avoiding hours of cleaning after every ride. Turns out I really enjoy so started thinking about wheels and groupset upgrades. LBS talked me out of that and advised to save the money and put towards a decent new bike for the summer. So all I’ve done is change tyres and ride it :)

I’m looking for some new boots as my feet get painfully cold after and hour or so out on the bike at night. I bought a pair of defrosters last winter and they really haven’t helped which I’m a bit disappointed with. I think it must be the fit as with a pair of thick Sealskin socks on they are slightly snug. I bought them the same size as my summer shoes on recomendation that Specialized do internally size up on their winter boots and in the shop they felt ok with some wooly socks on.

I also ride clipped in so my feet aren’t moving much during the ride, not sure if this is a factor also and if flats are better during the winter?

So do I get a size larger defrosters and hope it’s just a sizing issue or go for a pair of Lake 303’s as my next choice of winter boot?

I have gone from a 3×9 to 2×10 to 1×10 and then 1×11, the 1xX gearing is the best mod I’ve done and it’s now the standard for anything I would buy in the future. I live on the South Downs so most of my riding is about either going up or coming back down again :D When I first converted from 2X10 to 1×10 I made sure the low gearing was pretty much the same so I was confident in climbing my local hills, this ended up with a 30t chainring and I have stuck with this. It does mean that on my 1×10 bike I spin out on the downhill sections but I’m fine with that and happy to let gravity do its thang. I’ve been over to Afan for a weekend when my bike was 1×10 and had no problem with the climbing or decents there!

Personally I wouldn’t go back to 2×10

Twice now my Maxx-D mk7 has done the same with the charge percentage dropping rapidly with no use so I would be interested to hear the resolution to the problem. Once it caught me out and I almost ran out of light on the way home but now I check it regularly to make sure I top it up before riding again.

I have a Shimano 16T in my XT cassette and I was surprised as to how poor the shifting is across this ring. Most of the time I have to double tap and go into a bigger ring as it just won’t change up onto this ring. Disappointed and I might swap it out and try the One-up free one to see if it’s any different.

It was a bit muddy out there today

I moved from a bike with 3×9 to one with 2×10 last winter and loved it. During the summer I converted it to 1×10 using a 30T n/w front ring and a OneUp 42T expander ring. I used the above mentioned Sheldon site to work out the closest equivalent bottom ratio to ensure I could get up the same hills. Basically I think it’s the best mod I’ve ever done. The low end is perfect and I don’t miss anything from the 2×10 setup and it’s great not having a front mech. My new FatBike was 1×10 from the off and again used the 42T expander with 30T front. Would only change it for 1X11 now just to try it but not that worried about the top end.

I bought mine as I was looking for a winter bike to stop my full sus bearings getting destroyed in the mud. Wasn’t really looking for a Fatbike, in fact I hadn’t seen the point of them either. However went for a ride with a couple of guys on theirs and they were having a ball in the mud and muck so I got me thinking. Saw one come up secondhand near me so went for it thinking I could always sell it if I didn’t get on with it. It’s been a great bike for me and the analogy of an old LandRover is exactly how I had summed it up, it just keeps going no matter what you put in the way.

I like the fact that is makes some of my ride harder as it is draggy due to those big tyres running low pressure, I want to keep fit during my winter riding and single speed is a step to far for me. This was perfect for me as I work harder on the climbs but I have a laugh when it comes to the most atrocious mud that others are swearing at. It’s great fun at trail centres but really, it’s just a different dimension to riding. Same reason as I have a road bike, to experience a different style of riding, the Fatbike is totally different to my XC bike. No right or wrong here.

Picked this up from a forum member last weekend;

Most of the running gear has been upgraded from the stock On-One stuff and all I have left to do is start cutting holes in the rims!

Personally I love the orange but I think that puts me in a minority, Lol.

I use a Garmin 800 with the free OSM maps with good results. Remember though that you won’t get turn by turn directions off road so you just have to keep an eye on the map constantly.

Not yet :( Got to do some price negotiations :)

I had heard he had left Kinesis recently. Will be interesting to see what they do without him plus as you say, what he comes up with. Thanks for the reminder, I will keep an eye on that.

^ lol

Hmm, lovely gratuitous bike pics in this thread now :)

@mboy, many thanks for that Sync feedback. I would say with that and Jim’s input I am fairly safe going for a Sync with the type of riding and location I ride in. Add in the 140mm fork option to slacken off the angles and it could turn out to be very interesting. @matt, I’ll let you know if I go this way and you can swing a leg over :)

That Kona Ti frame looks very nice as well, will do a bit more investigation of that one. Not so sure on the Honza frame though, seems very heavy from everything I’ve read.

Decisions decisions :)