Any Carbon Release (5c, 4c) owners yet?
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Awesome. Can't wait for the pics and your reviews.
Release 5c
Unboxing:
The box was in very good shape. Inside it was packaged very well, not any excess. The bike was in great condition, there was only some tire rub on the head tube. It came with the product manuals for all the major parts, shock pump, pedals, derailleur hanger, tubeless valves, mudguard, torque wrench, and some other small things I’m probably over looking. Everything you need if you just want to put it together and go.
Assembly:
I took the long way to the trail and checked everything. Greased and torqued all level link pivots. I only found one bolt washer completely dry and a little stuck, everything was torqued pretty much to spec. Checked rear derailleur hanger alignment, that was spot on. Removed spoke guard, reflectors, etc because.. umm weight. Retorqued cassette. Checked indexing on rear derailleur, only minor adjustment between the 5-7th cog. Setup tubeless, and both rims came pretaped! The rim tire interface was awesome and seated first try on each with a regular pump. Aligned front and rear brake calipers. Installed new grips, the OneUp EDC in the steerer tube, one decal, and my DMR Vaults.
Thoughts after assembly: I have a longer inseam for my height, and I could easily fit a 150mm with room to spare instead of the 125mm it came with. If I did it the quick way, it would have taken no time: the dropper post was installed in less than a minute; handlebars were setup well; and cable routing on the bike is solid. There is NO room inside the frame for a water bottle on a size medium. The smaller details are nice: they aligned the tire logo on the rim, the seat is angled correctly, they labeled left and right on the cranks for those who may be new to bike maintenance, crank boots on the crank arms, QR code to register, and easy to understand videos online.
First ride:
So I spent the night and morning getting ready to give myself a good few hours at my favorite trail center. Just to realize one mile out I forgot my brain bucket. So a 1 hour delay to pick up a new one brought me back and I only had one run. Anyways, the bike is phenomenal. I’m not going to talk as if I’m some Enduro Pro Bro, I’m a hobbyist who enjoys going fast and being outside.
The suspension is great and supportive. I thought I had the rear a little soft when I was prepping last night. Then during the ride I felt no bob unless I was standing to the point where halfway through I had to check to make sure I had the shock in full open, which it was. It’s super stable down and had to stop a few times to give the people ahead of me space so I wouldn’t run them down (I have a big huge total of 0 KOMs). I hit crank once and the bash guard once, when I normally have half a dozen pedal strikes a ride.
Component check:
I was initially worried about the 34t chainring even though it’s eagle. I was running the xt 11-46 on my old bike. Shifts were super clean and I had all the range I needed considering I haven’t ridden in a couple months.
The WT tires were great and I probably need to go down in pressure. I was running 24f-26r and the trail was super dry.
The novatec hubs are their new endurbro hubs. It’s over 80 poe by my count. They are crisp and can be heard but aren’t I9 loud.
The handlebar and stem work. Not much to say there besides the stem length seems on point.
Overall:
This bike is a great package. The only thing I can poke at is the dropper length, and I’m the kind that burns to change/upgrade all the time. It is perfect for the terrain I ride, where 160/170mm of rear travel is overkill.
I was originally looking at a Mach 5.5, Calling, and 5010. Once I saw this pop up I bought it immediately. The week of waiting made me wonder if I should have gotten one of the 5010’s on sale, or try and piece and part one of the other two. After today I have no doubt I made the right choice and spent my money right (not a dentist so this bike was a big deal).
Let me know if you have specific questions and I’ll the best I can.
![]()
Unboxing:
The box was in very good shape. Inside it was packaged very well, not any excess. The bike was in great condition, there was only some tire rub on the head tube. It came with the product manuals for all the major parts, shock pump, pedals, derailleur hanger, tubeless valves, mudguard, torque wrench, and some other small things I’m probably over looking. Everything you need if you just want to put it together and go.
Assembly:
I took the long way to the trail and checked everything. Greased and torqued all level link pivots. I only found one bolt washer completely dry and a little stuck, everything was torqued pretty much to spec. Checked rear derailleur hanger alignment, that was spot on. Removed spoke guard, reflectors, etc because.. umm weight. Retorqued cassette. Checked indexing on rear derailleur, only minor adjustment between the 5-7th cog. Setup tubeless, and both rims came pretaped! The rim tire interface was awesome and seated first try on each with a regular pump. Aligned front and rear brake calipers. Installed new grips, the OneUp EDC in the steerer tube, one decal, and my DMR Vaults.
Thoughts after assembly: I have a longer inseam for my height, and I could easily fit a 150mm with room to spare instead of the 125mm it came with. If I did it the quick way, it would have taken no time: the dropper post was installed in less than a minute; handlebars were setup well; and cable routing on the bike is solid. There is NO room inside the frame for a water bottle on a size medium. The smaller details are nice: they aligned the tire logo on the rim, the seat is angled correctly, they labeled left and right on the cranks for those who may be new to bike maintenance, crank boots on the crank arms, QR code to register, and easy to understand videos online.
First ride:
So I spent the night and morning getting ready to give myself a good few hours at my favorite trail center. Just to realize one mile out I forgot my brain bucket. So a 1 hour delay to pick up a new one brought me back and I only had one run. Anyways, the bike is phenomenal. I’m not going to talk as if I’m some Enduro Pro Bro, I’m a hobbyist who enjoys going fast and being outside.
The suspension is great and supportive. I thought I had the rear a little soft when I was prepping last night. Then during the ride I felt no bob unless I was standing to the point where halfway through I had to check to make sure I had the shock in full open, which it was. It’s super stable down and had to stop a few times to give the people ahead of me space so I wouldn’t run them down (I have a big huge total of 0 KOMs). I hit crank once and the bash guard once, when I normally have half a dozen pedal strikes a ride.
Component check:
I was initially worried about the 34t chainring even though it’s eagle. I was running the xt 11-46 on my old bike. Shifts were super clean and I had all the range I needed considering I haven’t ridden in a couple months.
The WT tires were great and I probably need to go down in pressure. I was running 24f-26r and the trail was super dry.
The novatec hubs are their new endurbro hubs. It’s over 80 poe by my count. They are crisp and can be heard but aren’t I9 loud.
The handlebar and stem work. Not much to say there besides the stem length seems on point.
Overall:
This bike is a great package. The only thing I can poke at is the dropper length, and I’m the kind that burns to change/upgrade all the time. It is perfect for the terrain I ride, where 160/170mm of rear travel is overkill.
I was originally looking at a Mach 5.5, Calling, and 5010. Once I saw this pop up I bought it immediately. The week of waiting made me wonder if I should have gotten one of the 5010’s on sale, or try and piece and part one of the other two. After today I have no doubt I made the right choice and spent my money right (not a dentist so this bike was a big deal).
Let me know if you have specific questions and I’ll the best I can.
Joined
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1,033 Posts
Awesome review. Is it a medium? What's the weight of it as it stands?Release 5c
Unboxing:
The box was in very good shape. Inside it was packaged very well, not any excess. The bike was in great condition, there was only some tire rub on the head tube. It came with the product manuals for all the major parts, shock pump, pedals, derailleur hanger, tubeless valves, mudguard, torque wrench, and some other small things I’m probably over looking. Everything you need if you just want to put it together and go.
Assembly:
I took the long way to the trail and checked everything. Greased and torqued all level link pivots. I only found one bolt washer completely dry and a little stuck, everything was torqued pretty much to spec. Checked rear derailleur hanger alignment, that was spot on. Removed spoke guard, reflectors, etc because.. umm weight. Retorqued cassette. Checked indexing on rear derailleur, only minor adjustment between the 5-7th cog. Setup tubeless, and both rims came pretaped! The rim tire interface was awesome and seated first try on each with a regular pump. Aligned front and rear brake calipers. Installed new grips, the OneUp EDC in the steerer tube, one decal, and my DMR Vaults.
Thoughts after assembly: I have a longer inseam for my height, and I could easily fit a 150mm with room to spare instead of the 125mm it came with. If I did it the quick way, it would have taken no time: the dropper post was installed in less than a minute; handlebars were setup well; and cable routing on the bike is solid. There is NO room inside the frame for a water bottle on a size medium. The smaller details are nice: they aligned the tire logo on the rim, the seat is angled correctly, they labeled left and right on the cranks for those who may be new to bike maintenance, crank boots on the crank arms, QR code to register, and easy to understand videos online.
First ride:
So I spent the night and morning getting ready to give myself a good few hours at my favorite trail center. Just to realize one mile out I forgot my brain bucket. So a 1 hour delay to pick up a new one brought me back and I only had one run. Anyways, the bike is phenomenal. I’m not going to talk as if I’m some Enduro Pro Bro, I’m a hobbyist who enjoys going fast and being outside.
The suspension is great and supportive. I thought I had the rear a little soft when I was prepping last night. Then during the ride I felt no bob unless I was standing to the point where halfway through I had to check to make sure I had the shock in full open, which it was. It’s super stable down and had to stop a few times to give the people ahead of me space so I wouldn’t run them down (I have a big huge total of 0 KOMs). I hit crank once and the bash guard once, when I normally have half a dozen pedal strikes a ride.
Component check:
I was initially worried about the 34t chainring even though it’s eagle. I was running the xt 11-46 on my old bike. Shifts were super clean and I had all the range I needed considering I haven’t ridden in a couple months.
The WT tires were great and I probably need to go down in pressure. I was running 24f-26r and the trail was super dry.
The novatec hubs are their new endurbro hubs. It’s over 80 poe by my count. They are crisp and can be heard but aren’t I9 loud.
The handlebar and stem work. Not much to say there besides the stem length seems on point.
Overall:
This bike is a great package. The only thing I can poke at is the dropper length, and I’m the kind that burns to change/upgrade all the time. It is perfect for the terrain I ride, where 160/170mm of rear travel is overkill.
I was originally looking at a Mach 5.5, Calling, and 5010. Once I saw this pop up I bought it immediately. The week of waiting made me wonder if I should have gotten one of the 5010’s on sale, or try and piece and part one of the other two. After today I have no doubt I made the right choice and spent my money right (not a dentist so this bike was a big deal).
Let me know if you have specific questions and I’ll the best I can.
![]()
I'm looking at getting the 4C but I'm scared of the set up. When you say you had to adjust the calipers, what do you mean? Is it easy? Do I need special tools? Also does the bike come with sealant for tubeless or did you have to get that yourself?
And the level links. Did you have to disassemble all the pivots and reassemble? Any issues with alignment as has been reported with the aluminum releases?
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
And the level links. Did you have to disassemble all the pivots and reassemble? Any issues with alignment as has been reported with the aluminum releases?
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Adjusting the calipers when I bought my Release consisted of: Loosening the brake mount, squeezing the brake lever to center the brake on the rotor, tightening the brake mount back up while the brake was actuated, releasing the brake lever. Done in under 5 minutes.
See above concerning brake calipers.
For tubeless you need sealant. I’ve done it many times. You can look up videos on it, which help. Basically the steps are:
1. Deflate tube
2. Unscrew nut, pop off one side of tire from wheel, and remove tube.
3. Install valve. Super finger tight is good enough. I wiggle the valve back and forth as I tighten it to make sure it is in all the way. If you use pliers, don’t go too tight as you can pull the rubber in the back end of the valve through the hole. A half turn past super hand tight is more than enough.
4. Seat half the tire and pour 2-3oz of sealant into bottom.
5. Slowly rotate tire and lever the rest of the tire on rim.
6. Pinch and pull the bead close to the sidewall (this is something I do to help get the tire off of the rim bed and get it close to the edge of the rim to minimize air escaping).
7. Hold wheel perpendicular to ground and pump up to 40 psi. You know the bead set if you hear a click or ping and it holds air.
8. Swirl sealant around wheel and listen for leaks. Leave pressurized overnight.
Materials: sealant (I like orange’s), tire levers (I use Pedro’s. They are strong as hell and don’t dent anything.)
Time: 3-5 min per tire once you get it down.
Major key: Patience. The most painful thing for me is taping, and since they come pretaped, it’s pretty straight forward from there.
Level Link pivots:
I haven’t followed the alignment issues on the aluminum versions, so I can’t speak to that. I watched the video and did it.
Tools: torque wrench (a basic one is included); 10mm Allen, 8mm Allen, 6 mm Allen, 4mm Allen, bike grease (the standard Park Tool bike grease is what I use for everything, marine bearing grease works too).
Tips: deflate shock fully while pushing down on seat so you can manipulate the links into alignment once you pull the pivot. Remove rear wheel. The bearing covers can/will fall once you slide the pivot from the frame. To realign after greasing, I wrapped my hand around the frame to pinch the bearing covers on each side to keep from falling. Only do one pivot at a time so you don’t mix up parts.
Notes: This part is pretty easy. Nothing complicated here. Just follow the video. Unscrew the first bolt, remove washer, remove pivot bolt, slide pivot/frame, grease bearing covers, and reassemble greasing each piece as you put it back in. Torque values are 15NM for pivot bolt, 8NM for outside bolt.
No need to be worried or scared about doing the above. This bike is very easy to work on. All the pivot bolts are on one side, and there are no weird or proprietary tools you need to work on it. Just take your time, one step at a time. And at the end you will have peace of mind and a bit more appreciation for your new bike!
Wow, isn't that a bit on a heavy side, considering this is a carbon frame bike? What's the weight of an aluminum Release? Always thought that the main benefit of the carbon frame is a weight reduction. In any case, great review, and big CONGRATS on the bike!!!
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I admit I don't understand when people talk about frame stiffness when riding a bike with 5-6" travel and 20 psi in the tires
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Can you give more review of the new bike after you've had a longer ride?
I am considering doing the custom studio option to get some different parts I want on it and I built it in the same price and cheaper. Just wanted to hear more of your thoughts on sizing and ride feel compared to anything else you've been on.
I'm currently on a Transition Scout size medium
I am considering doing the custom studio option to get some different parts I want on it and I built it in the same price and cheaper. Just wanted to hear more of your thoughts on sizing and ride feel compared to anything else you've been on.
I'm currently on a Transition Scout size medium
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Speaking f hubs and POE, I literally dreamed up an idea for a pawl/ratchet engagement scheme that will improve performance and reliability without changing much to the ratchet ring. Just a minor change to the pawl orientation. Any backers?
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You need an NDA to get someone to buy you out and finance your patent without just stealing it from you :-D
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Exactly. I need someone with a decent 3D printer and some modeling experience.
I have those...
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1,033 Posts
At home? Don't want you get in trouble at work.
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