[ridea]

Looking for opinions as dh riders who ride a short travel for all mountain and generally razzing round the woods.

Narrowed it down to the prophet 2, MKIII expert or a custom built santa cruz blur 4x. just looking for the funest thing to ride everything imaginable, obveously i have my dh bike for full on dh and a hardtail for 4x/dj but i just want a bike that i can allways pick up ride anywhere and have fun on it, so it needs to jump, corner, descend, handle rough stuff(to an extent) and climb.

mkIII- i know some guys on here have these so... is the 69.5 h/a with the full length pikes? it seems pretty steep compared to the other two.

what frame size for a 5'10-11" rider for fun and descending rather than pure xc climbing

blur- is the h/a on the site 68.5 with full length pikes or 110mm?(axle to crown is 417mm if anyone knows what that works out to)
again what frame size?
How does the rear end handle compaired to others? too little travel or does the linkage make up for it?

prophet- flexy withought bolt thru or not?

Quick side note how do you guys recon a trance would handle with pikes in comparison to the others? I may be able to get one cheeper but id rather get the best bike possible to save changes in the future.


Other than that which do you rate and why any comparisons would be great also!

Thanks for any help, Im getting one as soon as becaus a few of the bikes are on special offer so i need to act fast!

 

[airwalkrob]

!!! Bullit !!!

 

[mandown]

i've got a bud on the east coast (of the states) that rides a Blur 4X for his all-around bike and he loved it. i almost went that route (before deciding on a bottlerocket). i have no personal experience with any of the bikes you listed, but the Blur 4X is probably my favorite of the ones you have listed.

btw - are you considering the Prophet or the Prophet MX?

 

[ridea]

prophet as it would end up being too expensive to build an mx as it seems impossible to find the framesets in the uk, the mx full builds are ither ott expensive or crap but the prophet two is a good build and not too expensive reduced (cheepest i found it was the same as i found a real reduced mkIII though so im looking at the same price range)

Why would i want a bullit? All the frames iv listed are 4-5.5" 30lbs bikes so i clearly dont want a bulit do I which is what 6-7" and in the mid 30's thats nearly what my dh bike is.

 

[ufdff15]

If your not in immediate need of the new frame, Sinister will be making a 4.5" and 5.5" travel Single pivot trail frame in the near future.

sub 7lbs w/shock
68* HA (5" fork 19.7 a2c)
16.5 CS
13.6 BB
15" seat tube
22 or 23 TT

I currently am on one of the prototypes and it's absolutely amazing. I have mine built up around 35lbs with this build:

Manitou Travis 150
CK headset
SIC LL stem
Answer ProTaper bar
Avid Juicy's 8"f/6"r
Fox Float AVA/Fox DHX coil
XT cranks w/36t Guide Ring
E13 LG1 w/ taco
X9 shifter/deraileur
Sram cassette
SDG Bel Air/I-beam post
Kenda Small Block8's 2.35"/2.1"
Sun MTX on Abbah hubs (20/12 w/ NYC adaptor)

here is a picture of the frame with a slightly different build

 

[ridea]

pretty urgent realy want onet by the next month as ive been thinking about it for half a year

 

[hungryleprican]

I'm kind of in your same situation and I think im going to go for the mkIII mainly cause its cheap as a complete and you can just add parts

 

[bdamschen]

I have a prophet. (not mx)

It probably is flexy, I notice something going on back there on gnar stuff when I'm cornering hard. It doesn't make it any harder to ride, it has never made me crash, it just feels wierd for a second or two. I actually kinda like it, because that's when I know I'm really gettin it.

I've done all kinds of riding on the bike from xc to dh, so much so that unless it's a super gnarly dh ride, I usually leave my full blown downhill bike at home. I've been doing that since I put a lyrik on it, I would not ride full on DH with the lefty, it sketches me out (although feels super stiff and is probably just as strong).

Since I set it at the 67.5 HA setting, I haven't once switched back, not even for xc rides, although that may be more because I'm lazy.

here's a pic (it's a large):

 

[Pow pow]

I'v had a mkIII for almost a year now, it is a great bike for the type of riding you have outlined (I have a 17" and am 5'11'') I am however selling mine ('06 comp, almost stock VGC £900 if your intreseted, its probably too low a spec for you) due to the fact that it is a bit small and heavy for an all day XC bike. It is however immensly fun for ripping around on and the smaller size comes in to its own once you point it downhill.
Mine is running with Revalations and feels ok I have seen people use a reducer cup and standard headset cup on the bottom of the headset, this along with pikes will slacken it off a bit. This along with a low rise bar will still give you a good bar height too as the headtube is fairly short and you still have a zero stack on the top.

 

[Acadian]

... bit heavy for an all day XC bike.

sounds like need to build some endurance or hit the gym

 

[ridea]

thats atually a clever idea if i want to play with the h/a a bit more, how much do the technical people out there think itd slacken it by? assuming that its 69 with full length pikes and a reducer cup then maby 68? with somthing with a large ish cup, im not realy sure how much of a difference say half to 3/4 of an inch would make as in 1 degree or two. It would be ideal if i did that cos' Id then be able to fine tune it depending on the riding im doing by changing the fork travel.

What do people think about the h/a with pikes? + is it 69 with pikes or slacker as it doesnt say on the site.

 

[ridea]

acadian, do you have an mkIII? Im sure i saw a pinkbike review but im not sure if it was by you. If you do any thoughts on the ride/ head angle???

 

[sbabuser]

I'm interested in hearing ppl's thoughts of MKIII vs. blur 4x too. The Prophet I rode was really flexy, I'd imagine the mx is more similar to my thru axle gemini stiffness-wise. No flex.

 

[Dogboy]

thats atually a clever idea if i want to play with the h/a a bit more, how much do the technical people out there think itd slacken it by? assuming that its 69 with full length pikes and a reducer cup then maby 68? with somthing with a large ish cup, im not realy sure how much of a difference say half to 3/4 of an inch would make as in 1 degree or two. It would be ideal if i did that cos' Id then be able to fine tune it depending on the riding im doing by changing the fork travel.

Or something like this: http://www.enduroforkseals.com/id183.html
Pretty cool little item.

 

[Pow pow]

sounds like need to build some endurance or hit the gym

Mine is 32lbs, not that light really. I could easily bring it down in weight but it will be cheaper to sell it and get someting new which is there already. What I should have really said is I want something a bit lighter, not I need something a bit lighter. I'm going to be getting the Gary Fisher carbon Hifi's which should come in at around 25lbs, quite a weight saving really

 

[ridea]

thats pretty cool, it is not the prettiest of things but i think you can just get massive cup headsets from the likes of fsa. realy like to know how much of an effect itll have, also they tell you to install it by tightening your headset! thats not realy clever is it? Im sure it crushes your bearings.

just been scrolling through old stuff, the mk3 seems to get bad reviews on account of flex but then again people are saying its improved for 07 (but noone has one to coment on) then again other people are saying its the best bike theyve ever ridden, arg!
the blur 4x seems to get good reviews but this is the one that I will have to build so It'd take allot longer to get.
prophet seems to be getting reviewed as even more flexy but I cant be bothered to build one so thats out the window as far as i can see.

 

[Acadian]

acadian, do you have an mkIII? Im sure i saw a pinkbike review but im not sure if it was by you. If you do any thoughts on the ride/ head angle???

yes I do. I had a 06 MK last year and now have a 07.

The head angle on the 07 bike is just a tad slacker than the 06 (by .5 degree) and the frame is also lighter (exactly a pound lighter).

my 07 is about 28lbs and I'm using a pike + BETD/CK bottom headset to add a bit of stack height. With that setup the head angle feels fine. Some will say it's too steep, but it's a trail bike after all.

It's subjective, but I like my MK. if I didn't like it, I wouldn't have upgraded to a new one. The bike is solid - pedals great, handle great, fun to ride and IMO the dw*link is magical!

 

[ridea]

Jus wondering what the atuall head angle comes out to on a blur 4x cos' its 68.5 based on a 471mm and a pike is 520 full length so thatd be realllllllll slack id guess. Id probs runn less than that but will it come out real slack even with like 125mm(5")? thats still about 30mm longer.

 

[Kornphlake]

Or something like this: http://www.enduroforkseals.com/id183.html
Pretty cool little item.

neat idea but their installation instructions are not reccomended, use a headset press instead so you don't mash up a brand new set of bearings.

 

[jonnynails]

I just got a blur 4x and have a fox 36 on it. Perfect fork for that bike in my opinion. Sits perfectly, not to steep or to slack. This bike has got to be the best bike i have ever owned for what I'm using it for (trail riding, DJ's, 4x).

Very lively suspension, feels like more in the rear and the vpp works really good. This bike accelerates really quick and is the most flickable bike I have been on. I have never been able to corner nearly as good on any other bike like i can with the blur 4x. Just point it and that is where it goes. I rode a local trail the other day that I have been on with many other bikes (bottlerocket, kona dawg, kona coilair, kona kikipu, specialized sx, specialized sx trail) and nothing came close to how I could whip through corners on the 4x. I usually have to hit the brakes before every one of the corners on most of the DH sections. I didn't need them but once. I know I'm going on and on, but it really blew my mind. As you can imagine it's a fun bike to jump too. I'll try and get a pic posted soon.

Haven't ridden any of your other choices, but I have owned a lot of bikes and can't imagine anything handling that type of riding better for someone who is used to DH'ing and just blasts through stuff pinned.

 

[ridea]

OK the clocks ticking down on the mkIII so i need to make a descision, so, for fun riding 17" should be good for me?
the head angle now with a tall lower cup should come to around 68/68.5 right? is that slack or steep for a trail bike or about in the middle?(know the numbers but not sure how they will feel on the trail) And all flex problems have been sorted now? Is there any excessive bushing or piviot wear or like the sunday has that been sorted for 07?

The blur, with a full length pike comes out to between 66! and 67 degrees, that seems too slack to me, on the tral untill things turn seriously down is that gona be a problem, I can use the u-turn but i measured some pikes yesterday and to get the 68.5 angle they need to be on 95mm, so...... if i run say 110 to near enough match the rear then would 68 be sharp enough for regualr trail riding, then i have the adjustability when it goes down if i need it. In just woried that it will be too slaw and slack for trail riding unless its locked all the way down so im loosing travel.