Overall: Great fit, I forget I've got them on. I've used them for rides of up to 5 hours with no restriction in movement or chafing. Very light- leg and arm pads together weigh just over 1kg. Also well ventilated so your legs don't get as hot as you'd think on warm days. Beautifully made, I've had them 6 months now and they look like they'll last forever. They're a bit more expensive than stuff like 661 but its worth paying the bit extra.
Strengths: Super plush and responsive Great damping Light Low maintenance Good seals
Weaknesses: Bit flexy
Overall: For 3 years I was a happy Pace Evo II user so I stayed with Pace when I upgraded to full sus and went for the Pro Class II set to 100mm.
There's a breaking in period which in my case took 200km of good hard off road riding in order to achieve full plushness.
The forks display all the legendary Pace responsiveness and superbly controlled damping. They can handle anything from pebbles to fast rocky downhills.
Build quality appears superb. Gone are the farty little bolts on the crown- everything is press fit now. The magnesium parts appear to be well coated with a thick, hard clear coat.
Using disks the mud clearance is immense and its great to be able to loose the v-brake bosses.
My only gripe is the apparent flex over small high frequency bumps e.g. something like cobbles. If you look down the fork legs you can see them oscillating fore and aft. To be fair I've experienced this with other forks so its not something peculiar to Paces and it doesn't appear to affect their performance.
If you're looking for a well made, plush and light trail fork with good small and big hit performance then the Pro Class are for you. If you're looking for the ultimate in stiffness look elsewhere.
'PERFECT ALL ROUND TRAIL BIKE FOR BRITISH CONDITIONS'
Strengths: Superb on downhills. Stiff, simple, strong, well made.
Weaknesses: Orange took a while to build it
Overall: Mine is Deore spec upgraded with Pace Pro Class forks, Hope XC hubs and Hope Minis.
Methinks Mr Chippendale is talking out of his arse. Mine works fine with the Paces set to 100mm travel.
The bike is fantastically competent and confidence inspiring at anything downhill. Uphill performance is good- maybe not the most active suspension when ascending in the granny ring but it doesn't wallow thanks to the high pivot point which also means you can stand up and sprint without bouncing around too much. The frame has bags of mud clearance, sheds mud very well and the finish is bombproof. The swingarm is v stiff with no hint of slop or lateral movement.
Riding position is nice and upright with loads a room to move around in the "cockpit"
If you're thinking of buying a Sub 5 make sure you get 100mm travel forks and disk brakes as the frame is more than capable of going very fast over very rough stuff.
Looks great rides great and its British as well!
One tip. To prevent the brake and mech cables rattling against the inside of the swingarm thread a zip tie through each of the drain holes nearest the pivot in the swingarm round the cables and back out-yes it can be done (thanks to Richard at The Edge Chester for that tip). This secures the cables to the side of the inside of the swingarm.
Strengths: Sturdy boot for winter conditions. Waterproof and windproof. Superb build quality
Weaknesses: A little heavy
Overall: Much better than waterproof socks. Fit is roomy enough to get a thick sock on if you want. They're waterproof unless the water gets over the top of them. If that happens your feet, although wet, still stay warm because unlike waterproof socks they keep an air barrier between the cold air and your feet. They keep your tootsies warm in the dry as well so they're great for the road bike too. Only disadvantage is that they're a little heavy but then in winter your MTB's going to be covered in pounds of mud anyway.
Strengths: One fingered stopping from any speed Loads of feel Superb build quality Little maintenance needed
Weaknesses: Can squeal a bit but its easily cured
Overall: I reckoned half the time I spent on maintenance used to be fiddling about adjusting v-brakes. That's all gone now. Hopes are fit and forget. Very small and neat units with loads of controllable power in the dry or in the wet. No way am I ever going back to v-brakes. My Minis used to squeal slightly but this was cured by putting a slight radius on the edge of the pads with a file, lightly rubbing the surface of the pads with fine wet wet and dry paper, coating the back of the pads with a thin coat of coppaslip and making sure the disks were degreased with meths.
Strengths: Good fit, good pockets, armoured sleeves, warm enough for nippy spring/autumn days, good quality, good wicking, stands up well to repeated washing
Weaknesses: Fabric pills but this doesn't affect its function
Weaknesses: Not intuitive to use Too expensive at its full price
Overall: Bought mine cheap at Halfords of all places for about £90. Transmitter performance is excellent with no loss of performance even when passing under power cables. Chest transmitter is less bulky than Cardiosport but it has to be sent back to the manufacturer to get the battery replaced. Not really a big disadvantage when you consider what a good performer it is. The handlebar mount is also much better than Cardiosport's effort and can be used with confidence off road.
Strengths: Easy to use and the real time readout of your time in zone is useful
Weaknesses: Poor transmitter performance Build quality a bit cheap and nasty
Overall: An easy to use unit let down by poor transmitter performance. Was forever giving false readings. Sent the unit back to Settle Cycles who claimed to have sent it back to the manufacturer for repair but when I got the unit back it was as bad as ever. After some hassle with Settle Cycles ie threatening them with legal action I got my money back and bought a Polar which I've been very happy with.
Weaknesses: Hopless forks, hard core XC riding position
Overall: Based on 4 hour test ride offroad in N Wales
Rear suspension is superb but is let down by the crappy Manitou Mars forks which flexed and pogoed all over the place and couldn't deal with small bumps let alone big uns. The bike really needs a fork upgrade to something decent and rigid with 100mm travel.
Riding position is old fashioned bums in the air chin on the front wheel XC which I find to be a pain in the neck (quite literally mate). This combined with the light weight makes it a good climber but sadly confidence sapping on the technical downs as I felt I was going to endo all the time. I don't think even a pair of risers would sort it out.
If you must have a Marin don't buy the Mt Vision, get a Rift Zone and spend the difference on a fork upgrade and a pair of riser bars.
Strengths: Suspension very responsive to big and small hits. Smooth ride. Stable downhill at high speed
Weaknesses: Frame collects mud. Complex bottom bracket area leads to chainsuck in mud. Big grippers difficult to use. Poor paint finish
Overall: Comments based on a five hour test ride in typical N Wales winter conditions ie hilly rocky and muddy.
The ride is like nothing else. Fantastic small bump response. The front and rear really seem to work in harmony. Front goes where you point it- none of the twitchyness you get with "normal" forks. Swallows big hits with aplomb making it very stable on rocky downhills- don't bother choosing lines just point it where you want to go!
Riding position great for all day trail riding, just needed a set of risers which all the new PRST1s have.
The Hope XC disk brakes fitted to the bike I rode were hopelessly lacking in power or bite.
My main gripes are all to do with the practical matter of living with the bike.
The big gripper dropouts are a good idea but were difficult to use with cold, wet fingers. They need longer levers.
The paint job is a disgrace for a bike of this price.
The frame is full of nooks and crannies that collect mud- especially round the bottom bracket which has some complex metal work round it. Mud collection here gave me a lot of chain suck.I reckon I was riding around with a couple of pounds of mud on the bike. Its also a cod-swordfish to clean, taking at least three times longer to clean than a normal full sus bike.
Why oh why oh why didn't John Whyte keep the Mt Vision rear end? In practise the new design doesn't add anything (I've ridden a 2001 Mt Vision) except unnecessary complexity. It collects mud, reduces ground clearance, is exposed to rocks and my heels clipped it all the time.
In summary. Probably the best front end of any bike let down by its rear end and a poor finish. If Whyte could switch to a simpler beam-type swing arm like the Mt Vision and sort out the paint job they'd have the best full sus MTB in the world and I would have bought one. In its current state of development I said no thanks and bought an Orange Sub 5 instead.
