[UiUiUiUi]

ok finally i got around and took some pictures of my new ride!

after a few days riding i really like it a lot. great handling and great suspension performance and very light.
i have been riding Avalanche shocks for the last 2 years, and so far i am pretty impressed with the swinger 6 way. It feels different then the avy but not bad. i will have to fiddle with it some more to find the perfect setup.

the dorado X works is a BIG disapointment so far, and Manitou USA wasn't much, or better NO help at all, in solving the problems.
yesterday i rode an X works which worked excellent, so it seems it has a lot of potential.
i will send it to the german distributor on monday. they did a very good job on the fork i demoed.

enough of this here are the pics, if that pic upload thingie works

EDIT: and once again: Thanks a lot partsy!

 

[Incubus]

 

[wysiwyg]

*spunk*

 

[BEAUster]

the swinger resevior doesnt hit the down tube when its compressed?

 

[partsbara]

lookin good martin... hopefully you ll get the x works sorted out

 

[h_y_n_transfer]

OMG I want one!

 

[UiUiUiUi]

the swinger resevior doesnt hit the down tube when its compressed?

no, actually it moves away from the downtube

 

[binary visions]

Looks awesome.. Sorry to hear that the X-works has been sub-par thus far. Let us know how it works out.

 

[narlus]

why stray from avalanche?

bike looks killer, btw.

 

[UiUiUiUi]

why stray from avalanche?

bike looks killer, btw.

the swinger was a great offer so i decided to try it out.

 

[Monkeybidnezz]

Looks nice...just out of curiosity how much does it weigh?

 

[partsbara]

Looks nice...just out of curiosity how much does it weigh?

i think when we weighed it here it was 41.5 - 42 lb

 

[thruster]

Nice bike, I have been looking at getting one but not sure if it would be good for jumps, drops, and hucking or is it more of a race bike?

 

[Rik]

How did you go mounting the Hope on the rear? Any issues with the mounts alignment?
What about chainline/chainguide/crank clearance problems?
And what's the headangle like?

The reason I ask, is someone I loosely know just bought himself an F1, and had all sorts of nightmares with the above. Oh, and how does it pedal?
I'm just curious to see if it's a one off thing he's experienced.

 

[jack123]

very nice. the f1 is on the list of frames i will eventually want to replace my stinky with. good price for what you get.

 

[partsbara]

How did you go mounting the Hope on the rear? Any issues with the mounts alignment?
What about chainline/chainguide/crank clearance problems?
And what's the headangle like?

The reason I ask, is someone I loosely know just bought himself an F1, and had all sorts of nightmares with the above. Oh, and how does it pedal?
I'm just curious to see if it's a one off thing he's experienced.

i guess i ll answer since uiuiuiui isn t around... we built the bike up here at my place so i m pretty familiar with it... i ll give ya some feedback and he can add his 0.02 c later...

the hope mounted on the rear easily... mount was spot on... no worries with allignment though i believe he was gonna have his local shop in munich face the mount...

chainguide seemed an improvement over the previous model on his fatty fat... hopefully the issues of chain slip have been addressed... chainline looked pretty bad actually (but then again it is a dh bike)... i can t understand why they didn t go with a 100mm bb shell crank clearance was minimal, it took a bit of messing around with the bb..

it pedals insane... i was impressed with how fast it accelerates... the head angle is pretty slack... too slack imho but i haven t ridden it where it s meant to be ridden... steering seems floppy at low speeds but i m guessing that on the course it d sort itself out

hope that helps... i m interested to hear what uiuiuiui has to add

partsbara

 

[UiUiUiUi]

How did you go mounting the Hope on the rear? Any issues with the mounts alignment?
What about chainline/chainguide/crank clearance problems?
And what's the headangle like?

The reason I ask, is someone I loosely know just bought himself an F1, and had all sorts of nightmares with the above. Oh, and how does it pedal?
I'm just curious to see if it's a one off thing he's experienced.

the chainline isnt that good, but its not that bad either, up to now i didn't have any problems with crosschaining or bad shifting.
the chainslipping issue i had with the fatty fat is solved on the F1. it didn't slip once.

and as partsbara allready said, no issues with the rearbrake, i didn't go to my lbs yet to get the mount faced and still no problems.

what Cranks and what BB is your friend using?
on my bike i have Middleburn RS7 with the DH spider and a 128mm RacaFace Signature DH BB.
when put in the regular way. the driveside crank would hit the chainstays. so we turned it around. which puts the chainline about 5mm further outside. now it works flawless.
the backer plate provided from the Canfields for the MRP System 1 i use also works great.

finally the pedaling is great, it nearly feels like a 4 inch travel XC bike.
the headangle was really slack with the dorado in the highst position, as it is on the pictures, we dropped the dorado about half an inch and now it works way better, still a slack HA though. i could drop the fork another quarter of an inch if i wanted to. but right now its ok.
i thinks the best way to go with that bike is to use a rather short fork like the Slider+ or a boxxer, or a regular dorado.

hope that helped.

for the issues your friend has mybe you/he can send me some pictures and a further in depth description of his problems.
The F1 is such a great bike and it sucks to hear there are some problems!

 

[valve bouncer]

Nice one martin, better than ya car.......about worth a set of middleburns I reckon.

 

[MikeD]

OK, I've been waiting patiently for a review of this, and drauf kann ich nicht laenger warten!

Review, bitte!

 

[Toshi]

here's a review: http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1218880#post1218880

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Sweet ride!!!!!

 

[partsbara]

Well, here's mine (not quite in full presentation mode like most of these pictures, but oh well).

i think ya might have hit the wrong button

 

[Lexx D]

edit.........

 

[seismic]

Wow, - I just adore that bike !

 

[Guess?Who]

NICE! Sorry to hear about the fork.
What is the weight of the complete bike? & How do you like those brakes?
I need to upgrade mine for next season.
Good Luck with your new bike.

 

[BikeFan84]

I rode the F-1 and the Fatty Fat ink: . The F-1 is much less of a tank.

 

[mack]

no you got it all wrong, this is a F1. really...

BTW, nice bike. lets u know how its holding up.

 

[LeRoy]

I love that set of wheels... It looks like it is in pain sitting still for a photo. Not to get pinkbike punk brat on you but - do you ride the bars that wide? I am honestly curious and want to know your take on the handling that way. Regardless, gorgeous ride and I am supremely jealous.

 

[UiUiUiUi]

wide bar?
these is a standard syntace bar 680mm.
not that wide

 

[DHS]

damn, good job uiuiuiuiuiuiuiuiu
looks nice.
you HAVE to miss the avy bike though.

 

[UiUiUiUi]

damn, good job uiuiuiuiuiuiuiuiu
looks nice.
you HAVE to miss the avy bike though.

why miss it?
i still ride it

i need to take group shots, eh?

 

[seismic]

here's a review: http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1218880#post1218880

I like your review ! Not just the typical " this-bike-is-the-best", but dealing and focusing on the problems !! Very nice and usefull indeed

 

[auntesther]

what is the headtube length and the BB width on the F1?

BTW that is a super hot bike.....

 

[UiUiUiUi]

err... headtube length...

its about 130 to 135mm
not sure about the exact figures

BB is a standard 73mm shell
personally i use a RF signature DH BB with a 128mm axle

 

[SuperSlow]

how does it manual?

 

[partsbara]

how does it manual?

it doesn t

 

[UiUiUiUi]

it doesn t

it does with a lot of effort

the fatty fat does not manual though.

 

[Curb Hucker]

it doesn t

with a hookworm on it, it does, kinda. Ive found the sweetspot, and its still harder to manual than most bikes. But I see the suspension performance as a major benefit over manualability