Thinking about a new (well, another...) bike!

miss notax

Hello

I love my bike but am considering adding another to the collection.... I did an organised MTB enduro at the weekend, 37 long miles of off-road but non-technical riding, which was great fun but possibly bobbling along on my Orange 5 wasn't the speediest option! I did enjoy it though, and would like to be able to give some of the faster riders more of a run for their money!

I'm therefore thinking of getting a hardtail for stuff like that - keeping the Orange for 'proper' of road stuff. I know absolutely nothing about hardtails though - are they pretty much guarenteed to be lighter than the 5 because of no rear suss? Is it even worth me bothering? What should I be looking out for?

I won't be buying new - i'll get something secondhand and tart it up 8)

nicklouse

Do it.

Thewaylander

Pedal harder on the orange, put on the pro pedal and you'll be fine

miss notax

Thewaylander wrote:

Pedal harder on the orange, put on the pro pedal and you'll be fine

That's Chris's view too

(although he has two bikes, so it's only fair )

timpop

nicklouse wrote:

Do it.

+1.
Enduro riding around the New Forest I guess eh? A hard tail is a great idea for there, it's pretty smooth and quick. How much money are you thinking of spending?

Thewaylander

Haven't you still got your superlight Santa?

miss notax

timpop wrote:

nicklouse wrote:

Do it.

+1.
Enduro riding around the New Forest I guess eh? A hard tail is a great idea for there, it's pretty smooth and quick. How much money are you thinking of spending?

Yup, Saturdays Wiggle ride 8)

Thining of spending as little as possible for a decent frame really! I specced my 5 myself and I would be happy to do that again, although if I could get the whole thing 'ready to go' that would be perfect! Under £500 I guess, as I would still use the 5 for riding in the forest each week, trail centres, holidays etc. This would just be my speedy bike!

Waylander - sold the Superlight last year (otherwise that would have been perfect!)

Thewaylander

Foolish mistake,

Done a couple of Enduro type events in my time, But never been enamoured about taking them to seriously, more just setting myself a target to remain as fit as possible.

I mean to me some enduro routes i have ridden in wales have been fairly rough, others not. Time to start poking round the garage for left over spares i think, to see what you can build up. I've seen some pretty light Orange 5's in my time and you'd have to spend a wad(over a k) to equel the weights.

I would say get the bike on the scales figure out what it weighs and if you can put a hard tail together that would be lighter, as this depends on what your 5 is weighing.

Otherwise i'd invest in some lightweight racing wheels and tyres purely for enduro events and that would be in budget and provide huge speed increase.

miss notax

Yup, sensible plan

My 5 is already quite light actually, so you're right - it would probably cost a lot to better that! Time to get it on the scales I think....

I'm only thinking about this because I was overtaken by a couple of fast girlies on hardtails on Saturday and I couldn't catch them :oops: :twisted: Obviously I like to think that on more technical stuf I could have done!!

Thewaylander

To be honest i don't think hardtails are really that much faster on the smooth if you set your sus up ready for these events, Firm it up, pro pedal platorms on and so on.

I'd weigh things like your wheels seat posts and so for easily swappable parts so you can buy superlight bits for Enduro then you can stuff you mroe trail friendly stuff on after.

floosy

Id just firm up the suspension too.. (I ride a 5 and for most of my rides its about 20-25% sag).with propedal on...

I dont know which forks you have but you could also just lock them out... or If they have low-speed compresion damping.. (aka Float RLC) then set it all the way clockwise (works like pro pedal but on the front) and turn back 2 notches.

Dave.

miss notax

floosy wrote:

Id just firm up the suspension too.. (I ride a 5 and for most of my rides its about 20-25% sag).with propedal on...

I dont know which forks you have but you could also just lock them out... or If they have low-speed compresion damping.. (aka Float RLC) then set it all the way clockwise (works like pro pedal but on the front) and turn back 2 notches.

Dave.

Good tips, thanks

To be fair I was using shocking tyres for the event too - 2.25 Panaracer Cinders - so I didn't make it easy on myself!

MountainMonster

Buy a new bike.

Remember n+1

supersonic

Take a look at this:

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... kes_Womens

Great frame and fork, pretty light, will be better suited than the 5 for some of your riding.

Richie63

456 Carbon? and build up light. or a wippet.

miss notax

supersonic wrote:

Take a look at this:

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... kes_Womens

Great frame and fork, pretty light, will be better suited than the 5 for some of your riding.

Oooh, that's quite nice......!!

supersonic

It's a steal. Almost wish I was a woman lol

lg18

I would seriously consider getting the right bike for the job, i.e spending as much as you can possibly afford on a super-light (carbon!) hard-tail, and not think of it as your second, or inferior bike - you'll fly effortlessly up hills and will probably fall in love with it. Technically, mine (a Felt Six Pro) is good for all red runs and non-gnarly blacks and excels at all things XC.

Lucy

joshtp

supersonic wrote:

It's a steal. Almost wish I was a woman lol

I bet you do!


Seriously though... that is a dead good deal... too good to miss. I'd go for it if I were you...


otherwise, think about a on one whippet... if all you want to do it ride/race xc on it, then it should be perfect.

Or maybe a C456 if you feel like ripping up the trails a bit more, but then it's starting to encroach on what your 5 is for... still HT IS better than FS... so...

Thewaylander

Weighed my bike that i trained to do a 100Km marathon last year on 35pounds :P If your oranges weighs less than that it's fine

stannie

supersonic wrote:

Take a look at this:

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... kes_Womens

Great frame and fork, pretty light, will be better suited than the 5 for some of your riding.

Ooh that looks nice - I wish I had seen that before I bought my daughter a Boardman Comp last week - although she is really pleased with it.

Remember - a girl can never have too many bikes!

miss notax

singletrackanne wrote:

Remember - a girl can never have too many bikes!

Too true!!

I'm currently liking this http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOWHIPSLX ... hippet-slx

Or the more affordable http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/CBOOINSLX/on-one-inbred-slx

Can't really afford either but, hypothetically, look like good deals - i'm not sure I could build one up any cheaper!

supersonic

If you want light weight, forget the inbred lol. The frame weighs 2500g. The Whippet frame weighs 1300g ;-)

Also the 27.5lbs all in weight is pure fantasy, is more than that looking at the parts.

For about the same money, take a look at this too:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-GT-Zaskar-Eli ... 16fe921a3f