Covert is 160/150mm no?

Having ridden neither (but similar bikes) I don’t know that that is true.
The Covert I would think will be more capable on the downs
Though if you stick a travel adjustable 140mm fork on the ASR5 (one with a setting in between 100 and 140mm) then I guess you’ll notice the difference more when the lighter more agile asr has the advantage? Though it’ll very much depend what terrain you ride, how you ride it, what you ride now etc etc ..

“All part’s are all hope and race face”
Excepting the Fox fork/shock and ‘hyrolic’ seatpost mentioned that’d be true apart from the Thomson, Easton, Shimano, SRAM, WTB, Mavic, Maxxis, ODI bits?

“people like to call a faux bar a four bar, even though its not”

Unhelpfully I think this also includes Kona, or at least their marketing/advertising department

quite terrible at keeping secrets?

Go on tell us. At least for those of us stupid enough not to have got it already, which country is it in?

I think I managed one mountain this year, though plus some much more mountainous terrain than usual. Still need to ride a LOT more proper stuff after seeing this thread (and the linked 2010 one, and sanny’s one and .. )

Mt.Snowdon?

How about both? Then you’ll know for yourself

Snowdon depends on if there is snow up there
I went up late march this year (the day before the train opened for the year) and was very little snow about. Was great
I’ve walked up in previous years in late march and its been too snowy from just past the halfway house

Else Ocotber-ish

Else push/carry up within ban season and ride down as the clock strikes 5pm?

Do you use the boardman FS?

If a scandal 29er seems to do the job the boardman does for you well enough, then you could sell it on then?

“maybe its becasue im a poor student, but i cant understand why people would want more than one type of bike, ie. two ‘different’ mountain bikes”

Its becayse there is more than one type of mountain biking, hence more than one type of mountain bike
However, it reality (not in marketing jargon) there is probably more than one type of mountain bike and hence (in marketting jargon) there is more the one type of mountain biking?

Anyhoo, I have 4* mountain bikes. They all differ to one another and as such suit different types of terrain in different ways. Plus I have spares for when others break down
*None of which are enduro/freeride/downhill bikes. ‘Need’ to fill in those gaps ..

1.4lb pedals? Sounds like something to upgrade upto the level of the rest of the bike?

I’ve usually sewn mine back up again. I knew humvees were weak (being thin) but I didn’t know Singletracks gave up the ghost that easily. Mine haven’t yet. I’ve had them about 3.5years now, not ridden all the time though

My dark peak book is the older edition, am guessing from your description that they’ve played about with it a little (mine goes clockwise, ie down jacobs ladder)
Apart from one time I ride it clockwise also (with one or two personal revisions)

Kinder Plateau I believe is completely off limits, not 100% sure why, though much of it is peat bog
The mass trespass happened there which granted walkers the right to footpaths etc in the first place .. but thats another story

Chapel Gate was levelled earlier this year, the water run off was getting pretty ridic, walkers were avoiding the actual path, 4x4s and motorbikes were using it a lot (legally)
Looked something like this:

Riding anticlockwise (up jacobs) I reckon you’d be best to carry on east (past chapel gate turn), along the ridge (rushop edge). Where the road crosses the ridge carry on eastward just the north side of the peak (mam tor) until you descend to hollins cross. Then drop on either bridlway (westerly or north east), though the one NE doesn’t hold up as well if its wet IME

Jacobs climb uses the zigzag bridlway to start, not the footpath (though I reckon it’d make a good down .. )

Got any pics of the bike? How older frame is it?

Else what tyres (and size) have you got on it?
I’m guessing 160mm fork?
How much does the headset stick out of the frame (At the bottom?)
What shock have you (any dimensions?) got on it?

16″ BB height?
Ellsworth site claims 14″ with a static fork length of 560mm? (Fox 36 or RS Lyrik/Domain are 545mm at 160mm (Wotans @ 160mm = 540mm)

I can’t see anything on headtube internal diameters, or shock stroke on there either

Just thinking a combination/choice of angle slackening headset*, if possible a shorter i2i shock with the same stroke, maybe some offset shock bushings depending on shock axle diameters might help to drop the BB enough (though also slackening so udge your saddle forward a bit) to make it feel more normal?

*maybe something by works components would be much much cheaper than a cane creek

Hmm, didn’t realise how bigger drop it is on tarmac (430m and down .. )
I’v eonly ever done it from capel curig so the tarmac hasn’t bothered me quite so much

Maybe trying finding something here? 1:50k has that wood as Forestry Comission so maybe less of issue?

I’ve never quite liked the boggy/moorland climb from capel curig upto the resevior all that much as per the guidebooks so

How much would you get away with taking off the dropper post?
Maybe take the frame halfway to one of the more obscure sizes (not sure which actually exist but I imagine there is a 30.4 or 30.6 out there somewhere?)

Also if its the 27.2mm route, then you could always try lightly sticking the shim inside the frame somehow, keep the post/shim greased a little and it should stop there?

EDIT:
30.4mm posts if you wanted to ream halfway with the frame and want a normal seatpost for some reason. Would still need to take 0.25mm out the walls of a dropper post though

When it snows?

find/discover/build/upkeep some trails?

Spend time doing something else?

I too wish I could say the same, can’t be bothered with them atm. Keep telling myself I’ll sort what needs doing when it snows

“go Hope Pro 2 SP’s c/w Crests and run tubeless – plenty stiff enough”

I thought crests weren’t all that stiff?
If flows could be too much (for the OP rather than a pitch’s full potential downhill) then maybe consider Arch’s? (The new Arch EX should be the same width as a crest, but stiffer due to beefier cross section, weight wise in between crest and flow

Weigh your current wheels
Add up how much different new wheels claim to be. DT Swiss Spoke calculator includes the weight I think
JustRidingAlong.com have some spoke/rim/hub weights for a quicker (claimed) weight tot up
Take it from there

Quite probably in (not 100% on something else), though maybe not if its a foot+ under with snow or something

Could it be a bit earlier please? ..

“their rubbish”
their what is rubbish?
Sorry

I’ve some ’10 Rev Teams* (the blackbox one) which is the same as ’11/’12 RLT Ti damper wise. Now ’11/’12 RL and RLT models have dual flow rebound (half the blackbox bit) I’m not 100% sure I’d pay for the extra for RLT Ti tbh, especially some of the merlin deals I’ve seen

I limited myself by wanting the older U-turn travel as the 120 or 150mm dual position wouldn’t have worked as well with my frame.

*’10 SL/Race had the older/simpler rebound assembly which may be what all sectors have?

If you’re not really after the extra fine tuning of revealtions (+ve/-ve air, floodgate) and can’t really be bothered stumping out the extra for the dual flow rebound of a revelation RL or RLT, then get a sector, though I think I’ve read on here of people buying individual revelation internals for sectors, so maybe you might be able to buy the dual flow rebound or other parts if you want later on

I pretty much have set my current and my previous revelations at pretty the same +ve/-ve pressures (the solo air spring in a sector effectively does this for you) and I leave the floodgate so the locjout is at maximum locking out (ie what the lockout on a sector will do), really a revelation is wasted on me

“Wasn’t saying it to you though was he? Mong”

Nope, but I assumed this would be a fairly blanket reccomendation for anyone else looking into very similar bikes too
Are you ricky gervais?

I’m not questioning your opinion, I’m just trying to weigh it up against that that I’d read previously which had lead to the impression I had gained as to whether I should be considering one for myslef, which I still don’t really know ..

I realise the OP won’t want the same thing (though it seems he/she hasn’t quite nailed down what type of bike they are after? Just questioning the ‘the 5 is amazing’ thing, yes to my benefit, but perhaps to others/the OPs also
No I’ve not ridden a 5 beyond a car park, only got (mostly trusted?)singletrack mag reviews to go by. Despite the singletrack reccomended seal, they did pick up on a number of negatives too

“You have to try a Five, you will kick yourself if you don’t”

Really? The review in singletrack not that long ago told me it wouldn’t suit what I wanted it for?
That and the various negative bits and bobs I’ve read on here over time

I’m sure I can, but I don’t want to. I totted up just CRC quite some time ago and it scared me then .. especially having never bought anything big from them (bike, frame, forks, wheels etc etc)

“to be honest the Reign is equivalent to the rest of the bikes you’ve listed”

which is not the same as a Reign X if it crops up btw

“I’d avoid carbon for loose rocky descents”
Treks have ‘carbon armour’
Even without, my ’07 Spesh SJer downtube has taken loads of loose rock strikes. The paint/lacquer may be suffering (has a bit of helitape, though that won’t do much), but the carbon has yet to give (Specialized have inspected it for impact damage elsewhere and said it was fine (rockers snapped off, seat stays hit back of seattube ‘shock hole’ struts)

“Also looking at a Trek Top Fuel 9.9 and the EX9. How would you compare these to the Remedy?”
Very roughly:

Giant anthem ~= Trek Top Fuel (~= Spesh Epic)
Giant Trance X ~= Trek Fuel EX ~= Scott Spark ’12 (~= Spesh Camber)
Giant Reign ~= Trek Remedy ~= Scott Genius ~= Orange5 (~=Spesh S’J’er FSR (evo or not?)

“Stumpy Evo, and coil shock Enduros covering both ends of what the Pitch used to do”
“so I guess it’s just the enduro in the AM category”

Thats the thing though, now that they’ve dropped the pitch and the ‘normal’ Enduro from the UK there seems to be a slight gap for an ‘all mountain’ bike

The Stumpjumper Evo is 150/150 though 32mm stantion forks, 20mm axle on comp, but only 15mm on expert carbon evo
The Enduro Evo (170/160mm coil/coil, 750mm bars) is a bit too downhill orientated?

Niether have adjustable travel forks for climbing, only the 170mm coil forked enduro evos have 35/36mm* stantioned forks

*am guessing the Xfusions are similar to Fox 36/RS Lyrik?

“Reduced 2010 Turner Flux or FiveSpot from CRC. Hope Hoops with Flow rims, XT Groupset, Revs or Rebas, RF Deus post/stem/bar from Merlin, Tyres from On-one and a Charge Spoon. It would be awesome”

A flux with Flows?

“we cause just as much errosion as they do at the end of the day”
On stanage I’d think it could be less, walkers walking around the (lower, plantation) slabs, (many?) mountain bikers trying to ride all the slabs?

“I’m missing something here – where’s the bit in the video where the runner has a go at the riders? “
I thought the first (quite muffled) line of conversation/insult was the runner, though I could well be wrong?

I’ve walked down the middle-ish bit of the video before thinking to myself how would I ride this? How bigger bike would I ‘need’? Now I know how its done (by others)
I enjoyed the watch

What is it with Stanage plantation Bridleway and getting ‘told off’ for being there?
I’ve been told off by a peak park ranger (before I showed him how to use his map) and I remember a few other threads on here of bike riders getting told they’re not allowed on this footpath

Not sure I agree with the having a go at the runner though (Yes, I know it was partly banter on the riders side). Pointing out the bridlway sign, him apologising was as far as it needed to go IMO, the smug/stupid feeling factor from that should do enough I’d think personally

EDIT: just rewatched the start, didn’t pick up on the initial ‘rude’ greeting of the runner first time around. I take some of what I said back

I think the 110mm one is 5bolt and the 104mm one is 4bolt chainset

I’m guessing your 2011 Five (do check) has ISCG 05 mounts only*?

Both of those are listed as ISCG old (sometimes known as ISCG or ISCG 03) so I’m guessing its a frame fit issue

*I’ve seen some bikes that have 2 sets of ISCG holes though (Scott Voltage FR for one) that let you fit ISCG 05 or ISCG/ISCG 03/ISCG old

“i think the general consensus is they’re not far off being strong as flows when built properly, but lighter with a narrower ID”
“I am trying to decide between crests and flows”
etc

Has nobody come across the arch (And arch EX)?

Stans/ZTR website has some use descriptions and cross sections here:
http://www.notubes.com/ZTR-Rims-C18.aspx
(if you click on each rim they have some other descrition)
JustRidingAlong also have some descriptions on each rim

Bear in mind the 21mmID 400g Arch EX is on its way to replace the 19mmID 420g Arch which should sit better between the 21mmID 340g Crest and the (perhaps? due a revamp for 2013?*) 22.6ID 470g Flow

I’m waiting on the Arch EX’s (currently on Mavic XM719, hoping the little extra width should be spot on for me (width being my only real niggle with the mavics)

My interpretation (on trying to decide which to get) was that:
Crests are fine for wheels on the ground stuff and light jumps and/or light riders
(So long as you’re not tw*tting them into everything)

Arch(/Arch EX should) have extra stiffness due to ‘braced’ cross section, will take some abuse

Flow more stiffness, will take plenty more abuse. Extra internal diameter for really fat tyres (less ‘needed’ for many perhaps? now Arch EX is going upto same width as Easton Haven for eg)

*Purely guessing going by alpine, crest, arch EX all coming out to replace others

“To a certain extent i agree with GW, a longer fork (using all of its travel) usually makes for an unstable front end on a hardtail… “

tbh, I think I also agree with this

By no means am I suggesting not to do so, as the results still mean much fun riding

How high were the stems up the steerer tubes? Some new bikes can have the stems quite high up, it could make it feel quite short?

I like my BBB one. The supplied allen key heads (and Torx25) all seem much better fit than any other tools I’ve tried (including park tool)

“Meaning I coudn’t ride my bike the whole summer!

I don’t believe anyone who calls themselves an MTB’er would let this stop them riding. How much is a BB? Should have bought another one and kept the one fom CRC as a spare for when yours wore out”

+1

If it was something more pricey, its all the more reason to have a spare bike too

“Bolt through/Maxle? 12mm seems to be the way forward but I’m a bit lost as to what the difference is between the two…”
Aren’t they the same thing?
(Maxle being 12mm-135mm)

Then there is the Syntace 12mm-142mm bolt through axle (no idea if this even goes with a Commencal, probably not?)

“bolt in” or bolt up being something else (but uses normal QR dropouts)

’10mm thru’ axle something else again (again uses normal QR dropouts)

At least this was the impression I was under ..

Oh and then theres nutted/threaded axle (like on really cheap bikes, and some others)

“No they don’t, the XT (6-bolt) freehub has 16 points of engagement!”

The XT 6-bolt hub is 8 (model) years old (2004 groupset IIRC)

2009 SLX has 32 engagement points/revolution, 2008 XT and 2007 XTR have 36

With a little playing with the axle spacers and a touch of wheel dishing an SLX freehub will fit onto a 2004 XT 6-bolt hub if you want. Else a centrelock to 6-bolt adaptor on a 6-bolt hub if you want to use 6-bolt rotors and keep costs down below cartidge beaing hubs

“Spicy climbs well “
If you are genuiely happy with how it/you go uphill (and wouldn’t think, what if this was a zesty etc? .. ) then why not?

Though AFAIK Lapierre are getting failry pricey. There must be plenty of similar-ish bikes out there less expensive

“I love my 2.25 nobby nic on the front, tubeless and snakeskin and no problems whatsoever. I bought a 2.25 advantage to try on the front but it ain’t as big as the nobby nic “

Really?
My 2.25″ Advantage is noticably bigger than my schwalbe 2.25″ albert )I thought schwalbe sizing was pretty consistent? Maybe not then?

I realise that. 2.5″ maxxis for eg ..

I was thinking about getting some 2.3″ eskars to replace my 2.25″ advantages (which I thought were big for a 2.25″) until I wheeled my bike upto an eskar’d enduro. Way bigger
Admitedly the 2.3″ eskars would have been on slightly wider rims but even so

“Specialized’s Eskar is fairly similiar”
I’d have thought (from my armchair) they’re more like fat alberts(/2.4″ alberts?). The shear size (massive 2.3″) could catch you out if dont’ have lots of frame clearance (or wide-ish rims)

I’m guessing you’ve not got ‘snakeskin’ versions. IIRC Schwalbe only offer snakeskin on Nobby Nics in 2.4″
If you want to go a touch chunkier tread, snakeskin, but not have to go above 2.25, I’ve got on really well with Schwalbe Alberts this year. On-one hasn’t got any of the dual compound ones left somewhat less than RRP.
Having said that I think I’m probably overdue putting mud tyres on (though its only the almost bald rear thats making me think I should – the front has been pretty good for a non mud tyre)

As above, If I can I’ll go bottom swing as although the distance between cage pivots is much shorter (ought to be less stiff), it doesn’t build up mud like top swings do so should last longer too and keep away the slop/play used mechs can get.
You’re much less likely to get the big mud build up around the chainstays too without a mech mechanism there too IME

Personally wouldn’t go above SLX, if it wasn’t for the main bike would probably just go deore or alivio (not got a proper reason not to go deore/alivio on the main bike but .. )

“Once was on a dark and snowy ride when the free hub packed in completely so I had no power. That was a nice walk home

At least a Hope free hub can easily be taken apart and put back together”

Could/would you have taken apart a hope in that circumstance? ie dark/snowy ride?

You can replace the ball bearings and cone nuts easily, the race inside the freehub you may well end up swapping when you replace the freehub. Its just a shame the one on the non-drive side is part of the hub (At least I think it is?)

“Just get cartridge bearing ones and change the bearings every few years with lovely friction and faff free running”
The cartridge bearings in hubs I’ve had don’t last that long?

“agree the hope hubs are better”
SLX/XT/XTR hubs have faster pickup though, run ‘free’ almost silent for anything really cheeky, where at least the previous non evo pro II had the hub body cracking problem, that noise, bearings can be stiff from new, freehubs won’t take standard SS sprockets and cost £££

“Shimano freehubs don’t seem to be as good as they once were”
Indeed, shimano freehubs can go free or lockup much more suddenly than cartridge beaings can get rough

“I was forever having problems with faffy cup and cone bearings in my Shimano hubs”
Likely worn bearing races, cone nuts and/or ball bearings IME