Hi all, have been riding a 27.5 Santa Cruz 5010 for the last few years with just 130mm of travel but have been doing more and more bike park type stuff, off-piste type riding etc over the last couple of years. Feeling a little bit outgunned to be honest as all my mates have more travel and most ride 29ers. Any ideas what would make a perfect replacement bike to level the playing field? Would prefer 27.5 (if that's still a thing) and I still like the odd bit of XC riding and don't want a heavy bike that's going to suck at climbing.
Deviate Highlander!
a discounted Trek Remedy
Would this suit you?
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-escarpe-27-crs-mountain-bike/rp-prod206175
For typical UK off-piste, you need to focus on the geometry more than the outright travel IMO.
Plenty of used bargain bikes/frames in 27.5 now as well, obvs.
Propain Tyee is what I have. Available in 27.5, mullet and 29er. Air or coil. Carbon or alu. Capable but still good to pedal. Headset is compatible with an angleset.
Current model isn't perfect, but good discount is available.
New model rumored to be a couple of weeks away.
i've had a mk2 5010, one of the best bikes ever, onto an orbea 29er as a stop gap, 150/140, definately faster in a straight line, just had to hire a trek slash 8 aluminium 170/160 at bpw after my orbea main pivot imploded..
managed to get 5 runs in the afternoon and mixed it u with fast blues/reds and techy reds and blacks. felt great on all, and the peddling didnt feel worse than my trail bike
it was so much fun, poppy, lively and felt light in the air, absolutely smashed it,
my recommendation go demo some bikes,
I demo'd a mega tower and a tallboy the week before, just wasnt keen on megatower, the tallboy with a burly 140mm fox36 on front would be great, it felt fast on setoff and reminded me of my old 5010
if you like the santa cruz model, and have budget a hightower 150mm 29er, would be a good choice 29er
and their are lots of discounts 20%+ at the minute, i've ridden a bronson at glentress, and it just felt dull compared to my 5010
some proper bargains on second hand market,
Andy? You sound exactly like my mate that I ride with!
29er has better rollover and it doesn’t necessarily mean you lose all the playfulness.
If you like Santa Cruz then a Hightower could be a good option.
If you’re worried about rear bum clearance then you could look at a mullet - but most of them seem to be on the longer travel side of things.
Either way I’d suggest 140-150mm of travel and something with a slacker head angle than what you have.
The deviate highlander / forbidden Druid are meant to descend amazingly well with the high pivot - but on the flip side they aren’t meant to pedal so well.
You might be better off sticking with VPP / DW Link bikes. It’s a bit longer travel but the Ibis Ripmo is meant to pedal pretty well for its size / travel. Not sure there are many reviews yet but the Atherton AM150 seems a potentially good option too.
Staying 27.5” then maybe just go one up from what you have and get a 27.5” Bronson Frame and stick a longer travel air spring in your current fork (if it has the capacity to do that) to match.
Thanks, are YT any good? Friend has just ordered one.
Another thought.
What kind of headset does your 5010 have? Can the frame take a -2 degree headset?
I've absolutely transformed older bikes with these in the past. Superstar make good, affordable ones.
Ooo, or the Transition Scout carbon - that’s a bit bigger without going nuts
I rode my Mk4 5010 and a Hightower back-to-back which is a good comparison since they are incredibly similar geometry, but one has bigger wheels and slightly more travel. IIRC that version of HT was 10mm shorter, same bar height / head angle. Santa Cruz apparently make all their bikes feel the same - if you look at them side-by-side, they look very similar, just in different flavours of travel / wheel size.
Anyway, HT vs 5010 - they feel incredibly similar. I scraped my bum on the tyre loads on the HT but not enough that it was a real impediment. The Hightower was definitely more capable on steep fast rocky stuff and didn't really lose out in anything except super techy / tight / hoppy stuff. I really like my 5010 and it suits me but it's not a 'sensible' recommend against a 29er for most people.
And whilst I really liked the Hightower, I suspect most 140-150mm 29ers would feel similarly more planted / capable / safe than the 5010. Also less 'poppy' / 'playful' FWIW. You pays your money, takes your choice.
For typical UK off-piste, you need to focus on the geometry more than the outright travel IMO.
Agree with this, too.
Noticed that the 5010 seems to have a very low bottom bracket. This helps because of my long legs but get frequent pedal strikes if I'm not super careful.
5010 has drop in bearings - think the only option for a slack set is a Slack R.
Like the sound of the Transition Scout, don't seem to be any for sale though.
On the scout:
Large alloy frameset only here:
Medium and large alloy frameset here:
Various alloy builds all over the internet - but it looks like the carbon version is out of stock everywhere I’ve looked.
Thanks, was looking at carbon.
Might have to go secondhand for a carbon Scout I think.
I've ridden Blur TRc and then 2 generations of 5010 since about 2013, replaced with a Stumpjumper Evo alloy last year, great bike, set up mullet for steeper trails but I also swap it back to 29 for other rides. The carbon is a lot lighter but I don't care about the weight.
Have you tried any of your mate's bikes for comparison on the trails you're riding with them?
What about the next sized up (travel-wise) Santa Cruz in either Mullet of 29.
Can’t remember which one it is as they all blend into one nowadays.
Which version of the 5010 do you have? If V4 you can get a Cascade Link to increase the rear travel by either 10 or 20mm, and you could increase you fork travel to 150mm (or buy a 36 or Lyrik 150mm). I have this setup and it's a great bike, I sometimes wonder if I really need the big Enduro bike as well...
Added bonus, Cascade have big discounts on all their links at the moment, the 5010 V4 link has 50% off.
https://cascadecomponents.co.uk/products/v4-5010-link
Bird have a load of good deals on AM9s at the moment?
Airdrop Edit, although beaten to it. Son has one and it's great.
Love my trek slash 8. One off the poverty spec model but its good.
I went from a V2 5010CC to an alloy V2 Transition Sentinel. Apart from weight, it's better in every way. Admittedly a 29er but it's very nimble and feel similar in character to the 5010 but with more in reserve. Not the plushest bike for the amount of travel but handles technical climbing very well.
Carbon Smuggler would also be on my list.
Any reason you want to stick with 27.5? Are you just wanting a frame and fork swap but use the same build parts?
Any reason you want to stick with 27.5?
29ers are a conspiracy from big bikeco
I wouldn't waste you time, I don't think you're going to get a response from the OP. I think he's been banned for being a troll/nutcase/idiot/hero-of-the-truly-awake.
There are 3 year old Bird AM9's on eBay at the moment for under £1k. Feels like a lot of modern downhilly bike for not much money.
Mate has just bought a carbon YT Capra and it's soooo nice.
Mullet, so 29 on the front but he loves it. Great spec for the money too. Frames come up on the short side so if you're 6ft you'd be on an XL.
air drop edit or transition scout.
