KSi900 I’ve had it for 12+ months 2010 model no problems, it was a bit slow when we had the -5- to -15 degs etc weather, 5 degs and above no problems :D I ride 2-3 times a week, and use it all of the time,the remote on the bars is awesome, just replaces the lock ring on your lock on grips. I had a hard fall on the Marin trail a couple of weeks back and hit the deck so hard :oops: ,some how the saddle took the impact and since then I have a very small amount of play in the seat post, I was going flat out so it was quite a hard hit to the post the saddle had rotated and slackned the top of the post where the saddle clamps to, I banged it back into place and its been ok, except for the slight play, I will have to send the post off maybe.
I find it hard going back to a standard post the saddle seems to be in the way all of the time, once you get used to just pushing it down,
the bikes handling is much improved with the saddle down, all the die hards who see no use for one , must be a much better rider than me.

Normaly in the middle ring position, works fine,and a chain device , :-)

the sheep cough on my night ride route, they sound almost human in the dark, :D lots of eyes looking at you..

Orange should make these frames as an AM option, I’m 5’9″ and mine is a good fit. 16″ seat tube Top tube of a 18″, 50mm stem.

+1 Five spot is correct :-)

HansRey, I bought 3 bikes for my two daughters and my wife, my wife and younger daughter had a good fit on standard (mens) bikes a Meta 5.5 in medium and a Sc Heckler in Medium, and my eldest daughter fitted a Ladies Kona Four Lisa in a 17″ , she found the other bikes to be totaly uncomfortable, my friends wife rides a 16″ Orange 5 she didn’t get on with the Diva 5 , so I’d try as many as you can. :-) forgot to mention the saddle makes a huge difference to the ladies :D so my wife tells me.. :D

10mm bolt in made quite a difference to my Heckler, the Hope one is two bolts with Allen key heads, no spanners req’d and I hade a 10mm bolt through on my Nomad and used a DT swiss Qr more convenient but more likely to get damaged, couldn’t really notice on that bike the difference between a standard QR and the 10mm, I have a Maxle on my Orange Strange 5 and I would say the rear is very stiff no flex , feels stiffer than the Nomad. I’m running Hope Hoops on it at the moment with DT 4.2 rims and I can hear the rims and spokes making all sorts of noise, I will be putting my Hope Hoop with Stans Flows back on very soon, so I think the wheel build also makes a difference, you just move one weakness to another area :D

Santa Cruz Heckler or Orange 5 with a ladies saddle

Great Bike, ride best with a coil shock, I had a 2007 with a DHX-5 coil shock, tried the Float RP23 never felt as good, even climbing was better on the coil shock. I started out with a Pike coil fork , ended up with a Coil Lyric, 140mm is quite steep head angle compared to the frames of today 69degs I think it slacks out to 68 with the 160mm Lyric.
Not ridden the Butcher so can’t comment although it is a slacker frame, which is good for the downs :D

Orange P7, great trail bike.

Thanks Ahwiles , I’m riding an Orange Strange 5 at the moment and that is 73degs 67deg head angle, I notice the Alpine 160 is 74degs and 66.5degs so it seems to me slacker the head angle , you need to keep the seat tube steeper, so Mega is 75degs and 66degs head angle, then the 224 is 72degs and 64 degs but DH geometry is for a different type of riding .
Too much for a Sunday morning :D No got that wrong ST4 is 74degs and 68degs I give up leave it to people who know..

Just trying to get my head round the seat tube angles , the Mega is 75degs will this make you more centred on the bike standing up and put your legs in a good position for efficient peddling for the climbs,
or is it a slight compromise for efficiency,but improved handling down hill, am I on the right track ? :?:

Floating Rotors would not fit my Avid Code 5’s, the discs hit the mounts,

Standard Hope sawtooth rotors 183mm on my daughters bike using Hope mounts and Juicy 7’s work fine.

I’m 5′ 9″ riding an 18″ Orange Five 50mm stem and V1 711 bars feels fine, but sometimes I’d like a shorter frame 23″ TT instaed of 24″ but still with the 50mm stem.

Brant do you have any pics of the Mega in Yellow, hope to order mine in two weeks, fingers crossed, :D

XT or 990 , my SLX cut into the free hub, new XT is fine.

Are there any photos of a yellow one ??

Advantage front 2.25 and Crossmark rear 2.25 nice quick set up.

What size steerer tube 1 1/8″ or Taper or 1 1/5″ CRC have some Lyrics but seem mainly in 1 1/5″ or £475 for a 170mm Lyric

I’m 15+ stone and most bikes feel slightly noodly out back, but my 5 with maxle is solid , my Nomad was also solid out back with standard drop outs, Heckler before that was flexy, improved it with a 10mm bolt in Hope hub. Tried an original ST4 changed gear and rubbed the brake when I stood up to pedal :D Meta 5 was the same til I put a 12mm axle on it.

Nomad has the edge but for me the sizing of the Nomad is better, 16″ Orange is a bit short and an 18″ is too long, Nomad sort of falls inbetween and does climb better than the 5, my new 5 has maxle and 36’s up front and is stiff and does go well, the Nomad goes well with a coil shock and my Nomad also had a Lyric up front, I changed from Nomad to 5 , but would go back next time I change, 5 is great but for me the Nomad has the edge, Alpine just felt like a heavy 5..

sorry juiced couldn’t get back on the site to answer, kept timing out :(

softer spring in the Alps let the wheel track the ground better, no pedal strikes, chair lift up , roll down as fast as you can :D
still pedals fine with more sag, just gave the shock a couple of clicks of pro pedal and away you go, just left one click on when going down hill.

Lyric was awesome, it took a real hammering in the Alps, did blow a valve , but when I had the fork serviced it was replaced with a moded version, the older valve was prone to blowing, don’t know what it was but TFT fixed them good, they where a 2008 model.

The guys at TFT advised me to run the spring softer 400lb and for general XC stuff I had the 450lb, the Lyrics I had a medium and firm spring.

I run a Vanilla R Coil Push’d on my Orange 5 it is such a good improvment over the air shock, with a Float 36 up front reduced to 140mm, :D

I used to have two springs one gave about 20-25% sag the other about 35-40% , DH in the Alps I used the softer spring , general trail riding I used the harder one. I was running a DHX-5 coil Push’d great shock.
Lyric coil up front. 2007 frame.

I used to have two springs one gave about 20-25% sag the other about 35-40% , DH in the Alps I used the softer spring , general trail riding I used the harder one. I was running a DHX-5 coil Push’d great shock.
Lyric coil up front.

I had the 2010 P7 rode it far more than my 5 loved it to pieces, had to sell it when I lost my job, sad day, rides great as said a little on the heavy side, only noticed on really long climbs the rest of the time it was awesome, I had a 17″ in white with 140mm Revs 20mm maxle…31lb
I would 100% have another one…probably my most fav bike. :D

I have a lizard skin one, fit great

The adapter won’t work with Hope floating discs, I have the exact same adapters and 203 Floating disc, they didn’t fit correctly because of the alloy carrier the Hope disc has.

E-13 SRS is agood option not the cheapest but my chain has never come off, I use a single ring with no ramps.

CRC have some Fox Floats RL’s for about £260 140mm but you can reduce the travel with a spacer to 120mm

Very slow for me and looses connection, thought it was my internet but every other site is fine. need more coal on the fire :-)

Rockshox Recon /Solo Air Forks 100mm bought a mint set of these off ebay for my friends bike, they ride great paid about £90, they had remote lock out and where as new condition, and in white , they looked nice with the white frame he had.

From my experience air shocks are great but, then you put a coil shock on and the ride becomes so much more controlled, the coil shock holds the bike up more in its travel, with out blowing through the midstroke,
The extremes of hot and cold have less effect, and braking is improved, to me the bike has a more planted feel as if the rear wheel tracks the ground more. Put a good coil fork on and its great. :D
The penalty is usally a couple or 3 pounds in extra weight 8O

I’m 5″ 9″ , changed to a medium Nomad, swopped all the bits straight off the Heckler , had the rear shock serviced and tweaked for the Nomad set up, made a huge difference to the way I ride, still inept but not as much :D

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/MTB++Parts/Bars++Stems/Bar+Stem++Seatpost+Packs/Race+Face+Deus+XC+Bar+Stem++Seatpost_1498.htm

I fitted this set to my daughters bike last year looks nice and is fairly light, matched set :D

Coil Back end is a must, its a different bike with the coil out back, I had the DHX-5 from new and had it Push’d awesome. the Lyric coil matched nicely to the DHX, superb ride. Only sold the bike because it was too big , didn’t realise until I rode a medium, made a huge difference to me.

My 2007 Heckler, had it for two years, nice bike, started with a Pike but liked the slacker feel of the Lyric, had it painted yellow, the original paint was aweful.Sold it last year :cry:

XTR find them on ebay new for £20 strong and last ages,

I used a 60a on the rear for 18 months just changed it for an Ardent.
Nice fast tyre gripped better than I thught it would run it tubless with Stans, burped it at Kielder on a drop off :-)

I tried a Talas 36 on my daughters Meta 5 , trundled round at 130 , flipped them out to 160mm for the down hill bits, felt great. :D

I’m 5′ 9″ and want to get a medium. I had a medium Nomad and that was great for me similar tope tube length to the Mega..