Has anyone ridden .. .

Formnfunction

Sat my behind on a few bikes the other day, I'm looking at a new bike at around 3000£. Was wondering if anyone had experience with the kona process 154, cube stereo 160 hpd, orange five or Saracen Ariel. I have a good idea what I want to go test ride first but not a hundred percent. Also as always I am open to alternatives !

rockmonkeysc

What sort of riding are you going to be doing?

poah

the kona looks really quite smart, orange overpriced, while the cube doesn't look too bad for the money either. I'd personally have the kona

Formnfunction

All mountain riding really. The likes of Ben lomond, got a chalet booked for summer in the alps too !

rockmonkeysc

They're all good except the Orange. Also worth considering the Nukeproof Mega AM.
For me it would be between the Saracen, Kona and Nukeproof.
It's worth looking at tyre choice before buying a 650b bike.

Will3bike

RockmonkeySC wrote:

They're all good except the Orange. Also worth considering the Nukeproof Mega AM.
For me it would be between the Saracen, Kona and Nukeproof.
It's worth looking at tyre choice before buying a 650b bike.

I'm between the Saracen, the Kona and the Nukeproof myself at the moment, not worried about 650b tyres though as I'm pretty sure that is where the market is going!

ride_whenever

The stereo is insanely well balanced at this price point. Nukeproof build quality is shocking.

If you like how the oranges ride then I'd pick the five. Alternatively the cheapest build aluminium bronson is close to budget

adamfo

Do you mean this carbon fibre Cube ?

http://www.cube.eu/bikes/fullsuspension ... -race-275/

rockmonkeysc

ride_whenever wrote:

Nukeproof build quality is shocking.

In what way?
I have two of them and the build quality is better than any other bike I have owned including Giants, Specializeds, On One and Scott.
They are very well built with lots of quality features like BB shell and head tube faced from new. Bolt on cable guides with various options. Decent bearing sealing. Ultra thick stickers on the Scalp which protect it in crashes. Linkages and frame spares readily available. Shock sizes printed on the frame.
They are probably the best quality bikes I have had.
The only negative is the paint is a little easy to chip on the Mega but nowhere near as bad as On One.

ride_whenever

They're assembled by monkeys, probably 1/2-2/3 of the ones I've built have bent mech hangers, chipped paint, scratches and damage.

Poor weld penetration and a prevalence of overweight own brand parts. Massively heavy bikes, and the specs aren't as good as they seem, with some seemingly absurd money saving spec changes

stubs

Going purely on looks the Saracen Ariel. never ridden any of them or likley to but the Saracen just has something for me.

rockmonkeysc

ride_whenever wrote:

Poor weld penetration

How do you know that without either ultrasonic, x-ray or destructive macro etch testing? You won't even see poor penetration in a failed weld. Do you even know what the actual definition of weld penetration is?
Welding is one subject I know very well after 15 years working with weld inspectors and writing weld production and test procedures for products I design.
I'm guessing you're talking b0ll0cks on this one.

As for your other points I have never heard any of those complaints before.

ride_whenever

When you can see one side of a join is not joined that would indicate it hasnt been done well. Perhaps penetration is not the right term in this instance.

Nukeproof are cheaply made with plenty of clever features to appeal to internet nerds, but ultimately are not that great particularly in terms of the entire package. They can be found silly cheap though.

rockmonkeysc

Why are the Pulse and Scalp so popular with racers and regularly seen getting podium finishes? They are also known for being bombproof, fast and forgiving to ride at race speeds. At BDS races probably 25% - 30% of the bikes are Nukeproof.
The weld issue you describe is undercut, not ideal but it isn't much of a strength issue. I had it on my Anthem at the head tube and on my Reign X at the bottom bracket. Orange frames are full of undercut welds. Its just a minor lack of filler material which rarely causes a failure. As an example of how minor it is, on lifting points for extremely heavy offshore equipment 10% of a welds length can be undercut before it's rejected.
Lets be honest, an owner of On One bikes shouldn't talk about poor build quality. My old 456 SS was terrible. Poor paint, ISCG tabs you couldn't get a bolt in because it was tight against the chain stay. Crooked head tube. Paint filled threads. Over size seat tube.