Going to look into getting a couple of tokens and experimenting. I’m on ride 4 now and I think they’re definitely improving.

Thanks for all that advice everyone. Good to know that the cheaper model I have can still be tweaked with the tokens then. Looks like I have some experimentation to do. Will also play with the top compression dial to stop the diving too. Currently I use it fully one way and click-click-click all the way around to lock them out for the odd Tarmac road climbs that are needed to link trails. Will try the top dial somewhere in between with a lesser air pressure.

Cheers but there’s not much room in a Whyte T-129 or Yelli Screamy triangle for anything more than a 750ml bottle. As it is I have to use a side mount cage. May give the squidgy bottle a go.

Nobeerinthefridge – thanks for Evans link. Can’t believe I didn’t look at one of the most obvious places. May order in to a local store and take a look / feel. I can cancel and get money back if no good.

IA – squishy bottle looks like an idea too, can use it as a refill to the main bottle once that’s gone. Thanks.

Hmmm, wingnut looks interesting.

Any ideas on where you can actually see Race Face stuff rather than having to order blind through Silverfish?

Yeah, I wouldn’t use it to carry a standard watter bottle like that, I would insert a proper bladder into the pocket on the upper back part.

Nope. Maybe we could crowd source the funding to help her out with the taxes and build the World’s finest bike park?

Couple of cheeky ones down the Plough in Coldharbour, Mount Leith. I have a 2 hour pass – woohoo.

Contacted DABS and they confirm that theirs are absolutely genuine so that is a bargain at £27 (RRP £50 from Griffin).

Thanks for the tip “cf”, wouldn’t have though to look at DABS.

Cheers.

Tescos do seem to sell them for £40, thanks stevenmenmuir – may go with that for peace of mind.

I would like to think that Dabs are reputable as have bought lots of stuff from them in the past, £27 seems too cheap? Hmmmm.

Cheers for all that, Tony – just wrote on your for sale thread too. I want to get my bike to Whistler in one piece so was looking at this box but may just hire one for £70 for the week instead.

I hadn’t realised you had to strip it down so much to fit in the box. Agreed, way too much faff to consider it for day to day use getting a bike around on UK roads, cheers anyway.

The question I guess is will I fit an Alpine 160 18″ frame into one of these boxes even if I take pedals off, bars etc..?

Diggerb – ouch! Sorry to hear that, hope you’re mending. The mail didn’t bounce so not sure what happened there. I actually took scottchegg’s advice and looked at the one on the Orange website offers page.

Cut a long story short I’ve bought it. A 1 1/2 year old ex demo bike that they said barely went out. It’s got the tapered head tube and 30.9 seat tube. They serviced the shock and bearings and it’s been resprayed neon yellow. The colour is extremely “wow” but seemingly quite IN at the moment? I’m getting used to it…

Immaculate condition, like a brand new bike – even the Fox Van RC shock is spotless and the maxle lever looks new.

Not bad for £1200 which is £500 off new?

Just need some 160 forks now!

@diggerb – have emailed you as suggested. Hope you are repaired and atleast riding. Let me know re the possible sale, cheers.

@dan45a I’m definitely an 18″ frame with Oranges (had an ST4 and a P7 before) at 6 foot, cheers anyway.

@ScottChegg – I’ll have a look at their web site a little closer, thanks.

I like the warship look. I am in the market for a 160mm AM type bike at the moment and suddenly this is at the top of my list.

Other threads that talk about the Alpine seem to indicate that a reasonable build comes in at around 31-32 lbs even with a dropper post. This seems reasonable? All the reviews also seem to say that it climbs (relatively) pretty well too. I haven’t read a bad review to be honest.

I’m off to Whistler at the end of June leaving me with less than 2 months. Anyone know when this new 2014 model actually comes out? What is the supposed difference this year?

What do I do? I can’t even find a new (or used) medium sized “old” Alpine for sale.

WANT ONE!

feelgood82 – cheers for that link but unless I’m missing something, it’s written in Italian? I’m not sure if there’s a way of translating it within the site or whether google could attempt to do something.

Yep, I’ve just seen that Nirvana have one as a demo. I’ll try and take it out. I guess the best review will be from myself. Would still be good to hear some positive feedback from the STW collective.

Anyone?

Shortcut – those without jobs don’t count! 😉

I’ve been riding Leith Hill all week and it’s steadily been getting better and better (amazing what happens when it STOPS RAINING FOR FIVE MINUTES!!!).

Rode this morning and it’s running pretty well now, the mud is that thick porridge like consistency which although slow in places atleast flicks back of the bike and doesn’t stick. The drivetrain was fine after a two hour ride and my clothes were mostly clean. That’s kind of success bearing in mind the constant rain and snow melt of just a week ago I think?

Good riding at the moment especially if you pick the right trails. Chocolate Jesus and the trails around the tower are still bad but Summer Lightning is very fast with no standing water anywhere at the moment.

I rode Leith today, truly disgusting mud at the moment, when will it finally dry up!?

HeiHei, I live near Coldharbour so only one hill away from you if you want to take a look.

Potentially riding tomorrow lunchtime-ish with a pal if you want to tag along and do a swappsy on a couple of trails?

I have flat pedals so easy to try depending of course on whether you have cleat shoes or not.

Maybe we should set up a Canfield owners club (Surrey Hills branch) 😉

I have a Yelli too, it appears there are atleast two in the Surrey
Hills as I live on Leith Hill.

It is my first 29er though I don’t think of it in those terms, just as a really able
and nimble trail bike that almost feels like it has a rear shock at times.

I think of it as an Orange P7 on steroids which is incidentally what it has replaced.
My P7 had 150mm Revelation forks and this 120mm DT Swiss though they feel longer and
plusher than the 150s! Not sure how that works (the bigger wheels?)

Brilliant bike, love it. Very stiff, light, the front end is so poppable and it loves
dropping and jumping and really inspires confidence.

I read all the reviews before hand and all the superlatives about fun, fun, fun are completely true.

Mine came from Bike Monger too, the price is still amazing for the bike it creates, I genuinely prefer it to my
(admittedly ageing 8 year old) 6″ travel full suss Yeti 575.

Mine is a medium frame (I am 5′ 11″) if it helps?

[/url]
Saddle[/url] by Stephen Breed[/url], on Flickr

Just testing too, sorry.

Teamhurtmore, yep live on Leith Hill thus the (trying to be witty) name. It is truly filthy up here at the moment as you discovered. It basically rains constantly and is the muddiest I have seen it, just no time to drain. I’m hoping for some frozen mud this weekend so I can finally get some time on my new Yelli Screamy!

Don’t kick the guy while he’s down, constructive criticism and some advice is fine but we’ve all been there surely?

As for the comment essentially roasting him for riding in the mud and making it worse… well we’d better all stop riding for the next few months then ‘cos it’s like this everywhere at the moment.

Oooo. Crossfire, I love this subtle intimidation.
I imagine you sitting there with a trench coat and a broadsheet newspaper spying on the evil bikers.

Did you put some tracking devices on the bikes to monitor activities?

I have the KS i7 27.2 post : http://www.pure-race.com/KS%20i7.html

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After a couple of false starts where it seemed very unreliable and would spin around on it’s mount (fixed by some thread-lock which they had forgotten to do in the factory on a bolt inside, I was just unlucky)it has been very reliable.

I’ve had it on my bike since August 2010 through two winters and its got plenty muddy in that time and still working strong with very little play in it.

Good call, difficult to resist the competitive Dad syndrome!

My 2 1/2 year old son has an Isla bike and has been able to trundle along on it since just before 2 but has somewhat stalled in his development mainly due to the winter. I am trying to train him up now but the lure of the trundle car with proper doors we also have means he always goes for that instead.

Any ideas how I can lure him away from it?

I also have a L.O.C.T. saddle which attaches on bars connecting from the stem to seat post – he sits in front of me holding the handlebars, he loves that – he’s already bloodied his mouth when his bit the bars once (I now wrap a soft jumper for padding around the bars!)

My problems is knowing where to spend the time/effort/focus : balance bike, biking with me, swimming, language skills and general development like drawing/painting and other things.

I’m off to see Jedi in Herts next Friday so hopefully can I teach him some good habits when he gets drops and jumps!

I guess this is a bit of a response to some of the negative reviews the bike has received from the magazines which seem to boil down to the fact that is is the same weight as a FIVE but with less travel so why bother?

Mine is now 29 pounds with a heavy KS descender post, so would be 28.5 with a Thomson but this is with a 1 x 10 single front chainring which I have weighed as saving 0.6 of a pound by throwing away the other two and the shifter but. If you then add back the weight of the chainguide it’s back to about 29 pounds if it was triple chain-ringed.

I had a bike shop weigh a stock FIVE with pedals on and I was quite surprised to discover that they are 32 pounds in weight so the ST4 is a full 3 pounds lighter with the same front travel but obviously with less at the rear but it is that different feel to the bike with the mismatched travel that I liked when comparing the two – I think the mags missed this point.

The ST4 feels a lot more exciting and alive that the FIVE even though it is a superb machine and capable of plough through anything.

Basically, I wonder if the ST4 should come with 140 forks since it involves no weight penalty – have Orange deliberatley reduced it maybe to not compete with the FIVE?

I know everyone will have different views on things like this but from my perspective it’s made a great bike even better. With the pro-pedal on at the back it is very taught and almost hard-tail like when pumping in and out of bomb-holes and around berms but with very bottom-less feeling travel on big-hits and drops. The longer forks just make it even more capable.

Sales pitch over, just wanted to share.

I was quite surprised out how much difference the 20mm made I must admit, I found myself shifting my weight over the forks on rough descents and letting the forks take the hits rather than the rear shock so much. It has really increased the bike’s can-do.

I asked the shop I bought from and the Orange website seems to confirm:

http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/support/warranty/