Phoenix from the flames

Joe_Pineapples

First, a little background info.
Myself and some mates spent a week in Morzine/Les Gets at the start of July and it was without doubt one of the best weeks of my life, but I often found my Morewood Shova to be outside its comfort zone a bit. It was bottoming out all over the place and trying its hardest to do things it wasn't designed to do, so the idea for another bike build was germinated. Something a bit burlier that could take on pretty much anything, but still be able to pedal if I needed to. As soon as I got home I scoured ebay and found this '04 Orange Patriot frame for sale. A deal was quickly done and parts bagan to be ordered.
It would have been easy to overlook an old frame like this and it may have ended up gradually deteriorating until it ended up in a skip somewhere, but now it's getting a second childhood and will be getting thrashed down Spooky Wood and the new Fort William Red Route in the coming weeks.
In the words of LL Cool J "Don't call it a comeback!"

Full spec:
04 Orange Patriot LT frame
RockShox Lyrik forks (coil)
Fox Vanilla RC shock
Avid Elixir R brakes
Mavic EN521 rims (Hope Pro 2 front, Shimano XT rear)
Shimano SLX crank, mechs and shifters
Aerozine headset
KORE B52 stem & BFD bars
Continental Mountain Kings 2.4
Flying Snakes cables
BeOne Blizzard Ti saddle (think of the weight I'll save!)

Anonymous

im not normally a fan of the looks of orange bikes but that's suprisingly nice. looks very modern.

Joe_Pineapples

TBH neither was I, it was just at the right price, but it's starting to grow on me . . .

. . . a bit like a fungus.

Lapierre t 400

what brand headset is it?
looks like a bottom bracket

RealMan

(Hope Pro 2 front, Shimano XT rear)

Anyone else think that's the wrong way round? :?

Weed your patio as well, and mismatched paving?? What were you thinking?!?!

Would've gone for some better suited tyres myself as well.

And cut your steerer!

Apart from that, you can have my approval, ace looking bike, good choice of forks

Joe_Pineapples

The Hope Pro 2 is there because using Lyriks necessitated a new front wheel with a 20mm hub. The rear end of the Patriot is a conventional QR and I already had that wheel on another bike. The tyres are freeride specific, so I don't forsee an issue there, and I'll admit, I could do with another 10mm off the steerer, but I was like a kid at Christmas this morning and wanted to get it finished.

As for the mismatched slabs, well to quote Yoda "When your house 112 years is, mismatched your paving will be."

Lapierre, it's an Aerozine XH1.0.

delcol

Weed your patio as well, and mismatched paving?? What were you thinking?!?!

and the shed needs painting

nice bike have you had it on big alpine terrain yet.

Joe_Pineapples

That's 'her' shed, she can paint it herself!

Delcol, no. Just finished it yesterday.

ilovedirt

lovely bike mate, i have a soft spot for anything orange, i'm trying to bring an old patriot ('01 i think) up to spec, but not as good as yours! mine is getter there though, just needs new bars, new front brake, new rear wheel and new seat.

Love your build though, looks so clean and new! what travel are the lyriks? i'd like some domains myself but i've had to stick with a marzo Z150 for the time being.

Anonymous

I'm heading to Glentress next week. I thought Spooky woods was just sweet singletrack on the red XC run?
Why do you need a Patriot for that?

Joe_Pineapples

Well it depends how much airtime you like. Hit some of the jumps hard enough and you'll get plenty of 'hangtime'.
I'm quite an aggressive rider and I'm finding myself moving toward the kinds of trails and runs that my Shova just isn't built for. Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome trail bike and far more of an all-rounder than this thing will be (that's why I'm keeping it), but I'm a firm believer in using the correct tool for the job at hand.

Joe_Pineapples

ilovedirt wrote:

lovely bike mate, i have a soft spot for anything orange, i'm trying to bring an old patriot ('01 i think) up to spec, but not as good as yours! mine is getter there though, just needs new bars, new front brake, new rear wheel and new seat.

Love your build though, looks so clean and new! what travel are the lyriks? i'd like some domains myself but i've had to stick with a marzo Z150 for the time being.

I should bloody hope it looks clean and new, everything bar the frame is! The Lyriks are 160mm travel, but I'm running them at 150mm for now as I've had conflicting reports of what travel the frame is designed for.
If you hunt around on the online sales and on ebay you'll pick up the parts you need at rock bottom prices, and if you're trying to build it up with period parts then have a chat to the blokes on www.retrobike.co.uk and they'll sort you out.

Domains are top forks and I considered them myself, but at 180mm of travel they are way too big.

ilovedirt

i actually meant the frame looks in good cond for it's age too, mine is a fair bit more battered/scratched than yours, but it is 3 years older i guess. I'm not too bothered about period parts to be honest, i'm trying to put new stuff on it too. I'd rather i built it to my own specs than what it would have been back then.

And you can get a 115-160mm u-turn domain too, though i can't afford it!

Anonymous

What's airtime got to do with full suss? Especially a full suss like the patriot.
Fort Bill seems ideal for it, but isn;t it overkil for trails?

Joe_Pineapples

More air + more speed = bigger impact on landing.

Patrick Morewood will tell you on his company website that if you're into 5 foot dropoffs then the Shova isn't for you, but the Orange should cope with this no bother.
I totally agree with you that yes, it probably is a bit much for UK trails, but it'll be going abroad plenty and also I'm kinda hoping that Britain gets it's finger out its ass and gets some alpine-style trails built soon, preferably in Scotland!

Bring on the chairlifts!

ilovedirt, maybe a decent set of used Pikes would be what you're looking for.
Keep an eye on ebay, that's what I did. Got the Lyriks for a fraction of the RRP and they'd never been out of their box.

Anonymous

I wish we could get the Snowdonia tourist board to realise the "big mountain" biking potential of North wales, but they're all a bunch of insane, old, fuddyduddies.
Apparently, someone suggested a while back that they should have gondolas on the Llanberis lake for visitors to take a trip on, and one of the councillors rejected the idea, on the assumption that no-one would take responsibility for feeding, looking after, and breeding the things :roll:
Wales is a lost cause in that respect, for a nation so dependant on tourism, there seems to be a large proportion of the population and government hell-bent on keeping tourists out.

Scotland, however, could potentially be onto a big thing. They seem much more switched on up there.

Joe_Pineapples

Well there are definitely plans afoot up here.
There's mucho work going on at Glentress at the moment with a rumoured 5mil investment going into the place. There's also a new chairlift friendly centre opening in Aberdeen soon, but to be honest, it looks pants just now.

There is SOOOOOOOO much untapped potential in the UK and more people are having staycations now as well. You'd think someone would have the balls to get on Dragons Den.

ilovedirt

yeah, there is a lot of good riding on these shores, shame i can't drive! i really want to go to glentress, i can get the train as far as edinburgh and then there's 20 miles of nothing to glentress, no trains, no bike friendly bus service, nothing! grrr

Joe_Pineapples wrote:

ilovedirt, maybe a decent set of used Pikes would be what you're looking for.
Keep an eye on ebay, that's what I did. Got the Lyriks for a fraction of the RRP and they'd never been out of their box.

I'm fairly happy with my Z150s, i only bought them recently anyway and haven't even had a chance to ride them off road yet

Anonymous

ilovedirt wrote:

yeah, there is a lot of good riding on these shores, shame i can't drive! i really want to go to glentress, i can get the train as far as edinburgh and then there's 20 miles of nothing to glentress, no trains, no bike friendly bus service, nothing! grrr

20 miles on road sounds eminently rideable.

ilovedirt

yeehaamcgee wrote:

ilovedirt wrote:

yeah, there is a lot of good riding on these shores, shame i can't drive! i really want to go to glentress, i can get the train as far as edinburgh and then there's 20 miles of nothing to glentress, no trains, no bike friendly bus service, nothing! grrr

20 miles on road sounds eminently rideable.

I did think about it, but i'd likely need new tyres after that, plus it would be a bitch on a bouncy full susser and with a few days worth of camping gear on my back....

Anonymous

I say go for it. Get a cheap B&B instead of camping.
40 miles on the road (20 there, 20 back) won;t necessitate new tyres. I regularly go out on training rides for 40+ miles on country roads to get my fitness up, and I can never be arse to change tyres.

ilovedirt

fair enough, i might give it a go then, might need to do a bit of training first though! not had a chance to get out riding much recently, which sucks.
I guess there is a bike shop at glentress anyway
any idea how much the B&Bs there cost?

Anonymous

I'm staying in one next week which is costing £25 per person per night - which seems reasonable.
PM me to remind me when I get back (my brain is like a sieve) and I'll let you know how it was if you want.

Apparently "the hub" in Glentres is as fully featured a bike shop as you could ever want, so I'm guessing you'll be sorted for most things there.

ilovedirt

fair enough, i'm still thinking of going to cwmcarn instead, the train is just over half the price, but i guess paying for uplift kind of negates that....
And cheers, i'll pm you when you get back
still thinking of camping, as i'm a cheap arse :P

Joe_Pineapples

Bollocks to that!

Joe_Pineapples

There's no train service from Edinburgh to Peebles (Glentress) so I guess you'd have to see about getting your bikes on a bus.

http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/scotlan ... /index.php

Glentress has a great bike shop and, given their location and the sh*t they have to deal with, probably one of the best workshops in the country.

http://www.thehubintheforest.co.uk/

The food at the cafe though is fantastic. It gives you something to look forward to when you're half way round the trails and your legs are like jelly (which they also have).

Anonymous

Joe_Pineapples wrote:

jelly (which they also have).

SERIOUSLY?
Now I can't wait! I haven't had jelly in ages! I was just thinking about it earlier, cause they kept mentioning in a cartoon I was watching

Joe_Pineapples

Lime and Raspberry last time I was there.

With cream.

Or ice cream.

Or both!

Anonymous

gah, no. no cream or ice cream with jelly. It gains the consistency of a slug, ugh.

Joe_Pineapples

Ok, mince then.

Anonymous

mince and jelly? Erm. O....K...
Hell, I'll try anything at least three times.

They'd better do deep-fried battered pizzas around there, I've been wanting to try one for years