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Bike Test:Lakes Lovers.

Last issue we looked at what makes a bike British. You might think we’re not straying too far from that topic in this issue, too – after all the Lake District, with its picture postcard views, tourist coaches and damper-than-average climate, is about as British as it gets.

Imagine for a moment though that you only ever get to ride in the Lakes. Or try going one step further and imagine that you’ve suddenly found yourself in the privileged position of being able to buy and run so many bikes, that you can afford to keep one just for riding in the Lakes and nowhere else. What would you want it to do? What strengths would it need to have? How much does location matter when it comes to bike choice?

In a broader sense we all make these decisions every time we buy or ride a bike. Though it’s the marketing managers that insist on dividing the mountain bike community into ever-smaller niches, the truth is that there are very few riders out there who are true all-rounders, able and willing to ride everything on anything. We all self-select the types of riding we like, the people we ride with, the trails and terrain we frequent, to populate our own, personal niche of one. Yes, some of these decisions may be made for us by circumstance; if you’re relying on public transport to get you to the trails, for example, then logistics exclude you from accessing certain bits of the UK. If you only ever get your pass stamped for two hours every Saturday then all-day epics are clearly unlikely to be your most practical option for getting your trail fix; instead, you’ll probably be found thrashing round the local woods and the attributes of your bike of choice would probably reflect this too.

When we first came up with the idea for this test, there was a certain amount of ‘discussion’ in the office about exactly what a Lakes bikes might be. And by discussion, I do (of course) mean argument. The gravity faction came down firmly on the side of the heavy-wheeled, slack-angled, downhill-lite behemoth. Hardtails were out of the question. Only the bare minimum of 160mm travel at both ends would do – with a possible temporary exemption from The Law for travel-adjustable forks that make winching up fireroad climbs a little less wanderingly arduous.

Meanwhile those who like to (shhhh…) pedal up, as well as

along and down, found themselves conflicted. Yes, big bikes are fun in the Lakes, just as they’re fun in most places that gravity is in your favour and erosion has done its thing. But what happens when they get too big to climb on, or even carry comfortably? What happens when you’re so worn out from dragging that capable lump of rubber and metal up one side of the fell, that you don’t actually have any energy left to enjoy the descent on the other side?

Similarly, everyone knows that steps, rocks and drops aren’t the natural home of a race-honed bike but we’re pretty certain there are a fair few shorter travel bikes out there that give you double the fun for half the heft… Surely there must be a happy medium; a balancing point where the bike’s ability to enhance your technical skills while still being light enough (in both the physical and the ‘felt’, or imagined sense), collude to make the perfect bike to ride all day on demanding trails with challenges in all directions?

We think this threesome might tick some of those boxes. First, we have the Genesis Grapil. This is the first production model of this long-awaited bike to hit the trails and with switchable rear travel shock and the most reasonable price tag of the trio, we were dead keen to get out on it. Next we have a spot of Euro exotica: Liteville’s 301. Very Marmite, very interesting, very fun. All things we should like. And lastly, there’s the Orange Five, because there really couldn’t not be; we thought long and hard about it but if you go to Cumbria you’ll see Oranges all over the fells. In fact, when we asked the quintessential Lakes bike shop in the area (BikeTreks) which bike it thought was quintessentially a Lakes bike, it was Orange its staff picked.

These bikes are trail bikes. They’re not cross-country race bikes or downhill bikes, not unless you want them to be anyway; they’re all just the sort of bikes we’d like to take with us if we were going away to the Lakes for the weekend. Or, indeed, if we lived there all year round. They’re not out to break you, or to help you break yourself; not unless you’re really dumb, anyway. They’re there to make sure you have a good time and for that, we love ‘em already. But which one does the job best?

We took a trio of full bouncers for a blat around the Cumbrian fells to try to shed some light on that perennial favourite question of the Singletrack forum: “What bike for the Lakes?”.

Words by Jenn Hopkins, pictures by Sam Needham.

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It’s not Cumbria without water. There’s be no lakes, for starters…

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You might not have seen many Liteville bikes out on the trails. It’s a rather niche, rather lovely, top-end brand from Germany imported by Chris King merchants, Evolution Imports. As you might expect from that brief intro it’s also a brand which is big on its CNC machining and takes a high-tech approach to bike design.

The 301 is simply switched between 140 and 160mm travel thanks to different rocker plates, which tweak geometry as well as the travel length to ensure the suspension works as well as it can in every iteration.

The frame design is – let’s not mince words here – odd. At first look, while it’s at rest, the rocker plates sit in line with the top tube and all but hide the shock, which is mounted with the body to the rear – i.e., back to front. It’s an odd mix of beautifully clean and efficient lines, and almost unreal, future-bike ideas, added to by the raw finish. Once the frame is sagged by the rider’s bodyweight though it takes on the more familiar shape of a ‘normal’ linkage – just don’t look down, because the linkage plates sit perilously close to the top tube… No need to worry, though. No amount of waggling, bouncing or tweaking on our part could make the two faces collide, so

Liteville’s engineers have clearly done their homework.

The spec is thoughtful and functional. Sensible. Full XT, brakes included, is not exotic but faultless in performance. The Chris King/Stan’s wheelset, while being spendy, is still on the ‘get the job done’ side of bling. Just. If you squint… OK, it’s really quite flashy. But there’s no point in having a bike this nice and crippling it with rubbish wheels.

Syntace finishing kit continues the understated theme. Not showy, just works. Nicely shaped bars, good quality seat clamp, bonkers huge girth (snigger) 34.9mm seatpost which slots into an oversize seat tube. Liteville’s aim here was to increase stiffness (as it’s a full sus the lack of that fabled ‘vertical compliance’ is clearly not an issue…). A by-product of that is that it will only take a direct mount front mech, but that’s no hardship - and it’s one of the things that make the frame’s looks pretty unique and a surprise grower on almost everyone who got to play with it. Dropper post fans can be reassured that a shim-kit is available.

An immense amount of thought has obviously gone into the design and manufacture, almost to the point where we were playing ‘spot the design feature’ when sorting out photos – there is a lot to look at. Rather than being gimmicky, these features work, neatly. The bolt-through Syntace X12 rear end and rear triangle design deliver plenty of stiffness, perfect for jumbled, rocky Lakeland passes. The integrated chain guide, when combined with a clutch rear mech creates an eerily quiet ride, betraying the true speed. That rear mech is also protected by a Syntace bolt on guard; again, with the clever and the sensible.

Trail notes.Tom Hill, who usually splits his time between the polar opposites of a Nukeproof Mega and a Planet X Dirty Harry, drew the long straw and spent his test time aboard the 301. With racer legs and an adventurer’s head, he’s a devotee of the high places and no stranger to lugging a bike through them to get to the good stuff.

“I spent far too long trying to think of the right adjective to describe the

Liteville 301.Price: £4,500 approx. as tested, £1899 frame only.From: Evolution Imports, evolutionimports.co.uk

Liteville. The one I kept coming back to felt utterly at odds with how the bike can be ridden. How it will be ridden. How it made me feel while riding. The object and the act are very different things.

It was very easy to swing a leg over and ride the 301. There was nothing ‘unique’ about the handling. Other than, perhaps, how good it was. It’s as if by creating a very sensible bike, Liteville have allowed the rider to be the absolute opposite. Play, be silly. You know; actually seek out the fun, rather than just ride through/over/past it. Sure, the suspension will allow you to batter through, but actually, the bike allows you, nay, urges you to exercise your imagination.

When climbing, the relatively slack head angle requires some muscling to keep the front end under control on steep, technical climbs. It is one of the few bikes I’ve ridden on which I felt the need to wind the forks down. It seemed to respond better to attacking the steepest sections, rather than simply sitting and winching. The low overall weight does mean this can be a true up, over and down, and again (this time with added whoop) bike.

I really liked the simplicity of Fox’s Climb-Trail-Descend (CTD for brevity’s sake) 34 forks, with noticeably altered characteristics between settings and minimal potential for confusion. I was very aware how active the fork was, how smooth the ride felt, yet how little of that translated to unwanted, energy-sapping movement. The shock complemented the fork really well. I thought it required slightly more pressure in the spring than the clever little frame sag indicator suggested though, to prevent falling through the pedalling platform during steep climbing.

Stiffness was definitely on a par with other big forks… I’m not sure I’d ever choose a Fox 36 for this kind of bike now and tracking was much better than the too weedy (in my opinion) 32’s.

So, there you have it - the 301 is sensible. Please don’t see the S-word as a criticism, though. It is the highest possible praise for a bike that will encourage you to be anything other than sensible.”

Fork / Fox 34 TALAS CTD 160mmShock / Fox Float RP23Hubs / Chris KingRims / Stan’s ZTR FlowTyres / Schwalbe Fat Albert 2.25/Nobby Nic 2.25inChainset / Shimano XT 3/22tFront Mech / ShimanoRear Mech / Shimano XT Shadow PlusShifters / Shimano XTBrakes / Shimano XTStem / SyntaceBars / Syntace VectorGrips / ESISeatpost / Syntace P6Saddle / SDG Bel AirSize Tested / MediumWeight / 28.9lbTesters / Jenn, Tom Hill.

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Overall:Genesis Grapil 20

It is always so nice to wait ages for a bike and then have it not be a disappointment when it eventually comes along. All too often, those much-lauded ‘exciting new bikes’ end up becoming the two-wheeled equivalent of birthdays and Christmas, falling short of expectations when they arrive. No chance of that with the Grapil, though. It felt ‘right’ from the first pedal stroke, engaging our attention and our amusement in equal measure.

It was more than a match for the typical Grizedale descents we rattled it down and loved being stuffed into the sort of loose, unevenly cambered, sweeping bends that are a hallmark of this part of the world and which often prove to be a major test of a bike’s balance and poise. Pushing the limits of an unknown bike is part and parcel of being a tester but when something you’ve only been on for a couple of hours imparts enough confidence to chase after the fast lads, then you know it’s a keeper.

Liteville 301

There is no doubt about it - this is a super bike, as well as being a superbike (in the true ‘you could buy two cars for that!’ meaning of the word). The Liteville won love from everyone who rode it, despite its quirky looks - after all, once you’re on it you can’t see what’s going on down there anyway and when it comes to rider feedback it makes sure you are kept well and truly informed about what’s happening beneath your wheels.

As befits a bike of this standing we did appreciate the top notch spec but while there’s no doubt it did add to the ride, there’s also a little something about the 301 that we best summed up as ‘light’. Not in the physical sense (although it isn’t heavy), but in its approach and in its feel, there is a deftness of touch that was a real pleasure to play around with. At 160mm and with a geometry to match, it’s definitely a big bike, but that lightness makes it actually the closest compromise between all of our different ideas of what a Lakes bikes could (should) be. If money were no object, or we had two cars to sell…

Orange Five Pro

The Five is the opposite of the Grapil - it’s been around for long enough to have become a fixture yet with continual tweaks manages to stay as current, and well-loved as ever.

That said, there are similarities. They share the same playful character that results in you finding yourself suddenly further in the air, deeper into the corner, and further up that step than you were planning on. They are both, in short, a right giggle, but the Five’s plush single pivot performance maybe just gives it the edge when it comes to flat-out fast descents - the sort that have you half in and half out of the saddle, pedalling like crazy with the chain smacking the hell out of that clunky monocoque swingarm (it might be a cliche but it also happens to be true), just to go that little bit further/faster/higher/more. Fox’s CTD forks and shocks also give the Five that little ‘something extra’ - as you’d expect for your extra half a grand.