I like it. Would complement my Alpine 160 better than a Five as less overlap. Maybe with a Works headset to slacken out the head angle a degree or 2.

My Superstar N/W chain ring has been absolutely fine with a SRAM chain.

Dakine bags are worth considering, my Apex is a bit big (mahoosive) but our smaller one is a Drafter (I think) and is brilliant. Both have had years of abuse and are generally treated like crap.

Fitness. There’s loads of activities to do. And I think if you’re a family staying in an apartment there you get access to the lake, pool, cycling and all the other stuff there. Lift passes are free and I think you get a free DH bike rental and unlimited Hardtail rental.

Tom Kp

Normally I’m a fan of organic pads but we’ve been using sintered pads from superstar this winter and they’re lasting much longer and no where near as noisy as their sintered pass used to be.

Tom KP

Having used an air and a cool for it in the past, I’d go with whichever you are going to use most again in the future or whatever’s decent that you can afford. All depends on your budget really.

Something with a pedal platform if you’re worried and pedal-bob, a coil if you’re worried about it getting to hot. I’ve used an RP23 and a DHX4 and both were fine for the job.

If I do it again it’ll be a CCDB coil as I like them and it’s what I have.

Tom KP

We’ve always got our suspension serviced with TF Tuned and their service has always excellent.

Tom KP

Depends what you want. YT Capra’s are great bikes and great value for £2k upwards.

Yep. Been using them tubeless for years. The little Stan’s refill bottles fit perfectly in the valve. Much better than Presta.

Not really found any that I like the taste of so I tend to go for water and either a banana or some kind of sugary sweets for long/epic days out.

Ooh, I do like Shotblocks. They’re just like neat jelly.

You can run 1×42 on with Di2. The mech figures out that the cassette is different and adjusts itself (from what a friend with it said, I can’t afford it).
Not sure you’d ever need 3×44 unless you were trying to ride straight up a wall. Or towing a truck.

NSMB.com have a first ride review of them.

Have you emailed Kona directly?

Invisiframe

As do Tesco innertubes

It looks a bit stupid and try hard. But it seems to work and people like it so each to their own.

I think the main weight differences between the Five and Alpine are due to running things like longer, butler forks, shock, etc. You can get the Alpine quite light without compromise if you go for an air fork and shock and don’t over build it. The Five frame is a bit lighter than an Alpine.

I’d just like to add that I ride my Alpine everywhere as it’s my only MTB, I don’t feel it holds me back on climbs (mine is 35lbs with coil shock, forks and 32 x 11-36 gearing), absolutely shreds on the downhill (both trail centres and natural tech stuff) and pedals well even on flatter trails. Obviously a lighter bike would probably be easier on the climbs but it suits me. It’s previous lighter spec was 31lbs and I don’t notice the extra weight, but boy does it descend better now.

I’d probably go for a Five next time as the two has almost caught up with how I’m running my Alpine (64* head angle, lowered BB, etc) and I don’t go as big or ride as much out and out DH as I used to.
I’d probably run 150mm forks and the Fox X2 (as it’s an amazing shock and I don’t really need a lockout for climbing) and slacken the head angle out to 64* with either a new headset and/or offset bushings) to get it running how I like it

Tom KP

If you’re going to be riding a lot of big, rough, steep stuff or DH then I’d go for the Alpine (mine has a CCDB and it is unstoppable downhill, it also pedals pretty well), but if you’re only going to do that now and again then I’d go for a Five as its more than capable for most things and the odd trip abroad.
You need to be honest about what you ride. Next time I’ll probably get a 650b Five with 150 forks and either a CCDB, Kirk or Fox X2.

Maxxis Minion DHF front and rear. They gripped well in the snow the year I did it and perfect for most things. I went dual ply after watching Nico shred his side walls and ruin his race run.

7iDP M2,
661 Comp full face and
A Kask road lid a friend gave me.

Only other thing I have is a Fox Flux that I replaced with the M2 and not got around to binning yet. To be honest I don’t really wear the full face in the UK, I’m just as likely to ride DH in my M2 nowadays.

Tom KP.

Used to do it regularly (2-3 hours a week) along with weights and it certainly improved my power and fitness.
I only stopped as I got fed up with other gym goers (antisocial sod here).

I quite like either Grey with Black decals or black with grey decals.
Or black /grey with Orange details.

I currently have a Neon Pink Alpine with Black decals and like that but probably get something more stealth next time.

I also like that Mint one. It looks lovely

Tom KP

I still don’t really see the point in them for UK use. They look like they’d be useful for a trip across the arctic or somewhere similar where you want something reliable and simple with the ability to ride over deep snow but in the UK they just look less fun than a bike with normal wheels. I mean skinny and regular tyres ride fine through snow and mud.

Inge only had a quick blast on a fat bike on a wet muddy day on Dartmoor and they just seemed slower and hard work.
Like I said I’m sure if I popped to Alaska or Canada tomorrow and had a go it would be a different story.

Are they not just the fixie/Gravel/CX/niche bike of the moment and will all be up for sale in 12-18 months like those?

Tom KP.

There are always people there on HTs and stuff but I only have a 160mm travel bike and enjoy going as fast as I can down the descents at Cafall which I think are much more fun than those on the Twrch Trail (for all the reasons stated above). If I’m going to pedal all the way to the top of the hill then I want more than a few mins in a straight line to the bottom.

And if you think BPW is too smooth and dull, then you’ve either: not got the point of the place, not going fast enough or not bothered riding the black runs (50 Shades of Black is renowned for being as easy and smooth as a freshly tar aced road

They found that a modern trail bike (150-160 travel) with up to date suspension, decent components and modern geometry out performed older DH bikes with older suspension and components. It also means you can pedal a bit further and hit up places like Morgins which can be a bit of a slog on a DH bike.

I reckon if you’re going to taco a wheel, your just as likely to trash one on a hire bike ad on your own and you won’t ave to pay extortionate alpine prices to get yours fixed. It’s a seller’s market out there, they know that the only other option is to not ride and ruin your holiday so they can charge what they like. Also I was chatting to one of the French owners (the littl shop in Morzine Town Centre that always sells TLD and hires Morewoods near Super Morzine) and we were chatting about their trade prices vs Super Star and CRC, etc and he’d make more profit buying SS brake pads at retail full retail price than buying Shimano at trade (I spent ages having a nose through his supplier catalogs) as they have to buy such a variety and in relatively small numbers.

My brother hired a bike last year from Torico as he flew out and was happy with the service and it saved him trashing his XC bike.
We just took or Trail/AM/Enduro bikes and had a great time.

Quite a few friends have bought cheap DH bikes just for the Alps and then realise it’s more fun on their up to date trail bikes after all

Tom KP

Try http://Www.offsetbushings.com. They’re quick and easy to deal with and are £20 a pair. Cheaper than Burgtec and TF Tuned so if you don’t like it (never found a bike that didn’t ride better when slacker) it’s not a lot of money. They also do regular ones as well

Tom KP

I love riding in wet muddy conditions as I think , but nowadays I tend to avoid riding where I’ll wreck trails or areas that are just deep and near unridable. There’s plenty of trail centres and rocky trails to ride that can survive being ridden in the wet so I tend to use those instead. Places like FOD and BPW with armoured surfaces hold up much better than a more natural trails.

Tom KP

The ends of my cranks aren’t black and smooth anymore. And if you don’t whack them on things why sell crank boots for carbon cranks?

Tom KP

According to the Mojo Geometron webpage the Hope 170mm cranks have the same clearance as 165 XTRs and they look nicer (I don’t like the look of the last few generations of XTR cranks). So the 165mm cranks would give even better clearance.

They’re very waterproof. So much so that at times water can run down into them and they fill up.
I think they have a new version that works better, think they’re called Seal Skin HydroStop

Isn’t that one of the problems with popular, modern geometry bikes that the chainstays are too short for the slack front end when climbing (and steepening the seat angle is a way they’ve tried to compensate for this when longer chainstays as well would help centre the rider better)

I know that when I added offset bushings and a -1 degree headset to my Alpine (now 64* head angle and a very low BB) stopped the front end from wandering and lifting on even the steepest climbs.

Tom KP

I’ve found the M2 to be a pretty cool helmet. And the pads absorb a lot more sweat than those on my old Fox Flux or the Giro Feature and Bell Super I tried.

I always thought it was at the lighter, better vented end of the AM/Enduro helmet scale.

There’s nothing wrong with calling people out on casual racism.

Tom KP

I’ve had my Alpine 160 got almost 4 years now. I replaced the bearings last year and it’s such a simple (and cheap) process. I probably should have changed them 12 months earlier as they were properly shagged (took me ages to figure out they were the cause of the creak).
For me it’s not about bearing longevity with Orange bikes (although the fact they only have 2 large bearings compared to many small ones helps) it’s that they are do easy to service/replace.

I also don’t think that many bikes with modern linkage designs perform any better than a well designed single pivot bike and Orange have spent a long time refining their pivot pls event and geometry. Yes some other bikes might work better under braking (I know the rear end of the Orange squats down and becomes less active), but as with all designs it’s something that you adapt to, other designs have their own foibles to get used to.

I”ll probably get a Five next time as nowadays I don’t need as much travel.

Tom KP

Not had any problems with the pads in my M2, maybe it’s a reaction to the material? Can you swap them out for the pads from your old helmet to see if it’s the pads or just the sweat?

A few friends have the Kask Rex and rate it highly. Not sure if the large has been released yet as last time I heard they hadn’t started producing them yet. The smaller one fits a pretty wide range of sizes thanks to their new retention system

Tom KP

100% Brisker gloves look good, but I’ve spoken to a few guys who’ve had them fall apart rather quickly.
Madison Element gloves are a good price and nice to wear, I’ve worn then in wet and cold days in the mountains, as well as in the summer when I’ve packed them by mistake.

Tom KP

Rental Apex.

The Blue Verderers trail is fine in the wet, I prefer it a bit damp as I think it gets less grippy when it’s super dry and dusty(although then it’s awesome for diferent reasons). Even in pouring rain you don’t really need a waterproof (I just wear a base layer under jersey and maybe a gillet if itms really horrible) as it’s sheltered. The DH tracks get pretty wet and challenging, but are still fun to ride).