Orange Crush - tweaked, upgraded and ridden some more

It feels like I've had this bike for ages now and the "Five" (now sold to someone who will hopefully get as many smiles from it as I have) is a distant memory, but it was only back in Feb '17 that I finally decided to part ways with full suspension luxury and buy the Crush S.

I've ridden over 100 miles on it since then and have upgraded and tweaked it to my liking.  So here's my write up of the bike after a decent bedding in period, both for me and for the changes I've made to it.

Mmmm, Hope Hoops!
I think I should stop with the Hope Orange bits now - looking back to the originally specc'd Crush S my bike has the same frame and forks but that's about it.

The final change was the wheelset - out with the Alexrims MD25's and in with Hope Hoops Enduro rims and Pro4 hubs, in Orange!
They look good, sounds great, are bombproof and are made in the UK - what more could you want?

I also opted for some Crank Brothers "Doubleshot" pedals as they offered the flat platform and also ability to clip in to SPD shoes - oh, and they came in Orange!


The last change, and not Orange this time, was the tires.  Nothing particularly wrong with the WTB tires that came with it but to my mind they are not a patch on the Maxxis Ardent / High Roller pairing that came on the 2016 model (as sported by my brother, Tim) - also, it may have just been me but the WTB and Alexrims pairing was almost impossible to convert to tubeless and believe me I tried many, many times!

So I chose the triple compound (3C, 120tpi) versions of the Ardent and High Roller II tires and, when combined with a single layer of gorilla tape inside my Hope wheels and a few ounces of Stan's "No Tubes" they sealed first time - perfect!


So, with all these tweaks and updates, how does the bike actually ride and what do I think of it I hear those of you that haven't already switched off asking.....

It's awesome!  I really, really enjoy riding this bike - flat, hilly, lumpy, technical or aggressive it doesn't matter, and when it gets muddy the bike just keeps on going, it's great.

As mentioned in a previous post the geometry feels really similar to the Five and the slightly longer travel in the front seems to compensate for the lack of movement on the rear - ok, so I haven't thrown it down anything gnarly in Wales yet but watch this space....

For now I'm going to enjoy the summer singletrack and the smiles and enjoyment that this bike brings.

#keeppedaling #crushingit



Location: Hampshire, UK

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