Wheel Size: 29’’ front and rear, 27.5’’ front and rear, or mixed 29’’ front / 27.5’’ rear
Travel: 180 mm rear / 180 mm front (single crown fork)
Geometry highlights:
- Sizes offered: S, M, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 63.9°
- Reach: 480 mm (size Large)
- Chainstay length: 445 mm (29’’ and mixed wheel options), 435 mm (27.5’’ wheels)
Frame material: Aluminum
Price: Starting at $2,999 USD
Wheel Size: Mixed 29’’ front / 27.5’’ rear
Travel: 180 mm rear / 200 mm front (dual crown fork)
Geometry highlights:
- Sizes offered: M–XL
- Headtube angle: 63.5°
- Reach: 475 mm (size Large)
- Chainstay length: 435 mm
Frame material: Aluminum
Price: Starting at $3,199 USD
Wheel Size: 29’’ front and rear or mixed 29’’ front / 27.5’’ rear
Travel: 180 mm rear / 180 mm front
Geometry highlights:
- Sizes offered: S, M, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 63.5°
- Reach: 485 mm (size Large)
- Chainstay length: 445 mm
Frame material: Carbon fiber
Price: Starting at $3,699 USD
Intro
The Propain Spindrift has been a mainstay in Propain’s range, sitting between the Enduro-focused Tyee and the Downhill-specific Rage as a sort of Freeride / Super Enduro rig. The new Spindrift 5 keeps the 180 mm rear travel from the prior version but takes the interesting step of differentiating between carbon and aluminum frame materials in price, geometry, and proposed use case. Add on a new dual crown option targeting the bike park crowd, and it starts to feel like Propain has created several different bikes all in one. So how do all of the different Spindrift 5 models stand out? Let’s find out.
The Frames
Spindrift 5 AL and AL Park
There are of course aesthetic similarities between the Spindrift 5 AL and its carbon fiber sibling, but the big difference here is that the Spindrift 5 AL is available with either single or dual crown fork options, and can also accommodate dual 27.5’’ wheels, 29’’ wheels, or a mixed setup. The Spindrift 5 AL is the single crown option, available with 27.5’’ wheels in S–L sizes, or full 29’’ / mixed wheel configurations in sizes M–XL. The dual-crown-equipped Spindrift 5 AL Park is a mixed wheel only affair, and only available in sizes M–XL. The Spindrift 5 AL Park uses a different rear triangle with shorter chainstays for its mixed wheel setup, but we’re still confirming how the non-Park version with dual 27.5’’ wheels frame differs from the mixed wheel and full 29’’ frames.
With 180 mm of rear travel and a maximum fork travel of 200 mm, the aggressive intentions of the Spindrift 5 AL are clear, but Propain has taken care to design the Spindrift’s suspension with climbing performance in mind too. The Spindrift’s PRO10 suspension design provides ample anti-squat, sitting at just over 112% at sag. Interestingly, its anti-squat builds as the suspension compresses, peaking at about 117% at 110 mm into the travel, before falling off rapidly to around 76% at bottom out. That falloff in anti-squat should mean a bit less pedal kickback deep in the travel than if the anti-squat curve was flatter. The leverage curve is a fairly smooth and rather progressive arc, falling from 3.07 uncompressed to around 2.2 at bottom out, with the amount of progression ramping up deeper in the travel.
The finishing details on the Spindrift 5 AL are simpler than those on the Spindrift 5 CF, as is often the case with aluminum models. The aluminum frame doesn’t have any downtube storage, and doesn’t have headset cable routing — external ports alongside the headtube junction are the only routing path, though you won’t hear us complaining. The headset gets stainless steel bearings for long service life and a 180 mm post mount for the rear brake along with SRAM’s UDH. Propain has revised both the cable routing paths and frame protection to keep things as quiet as possible on the trail. The Spindrift 5 AL’s frame is rated to ASTM Category 5, the burliest ASTM classification for bicycles.
Spindrift 5 CF
Propain classifies the Spindrift 5 CF as their Super Enduro bike, with 180 mm of rear travel and accepting up to a 190 mm fork. Made from Propain’s Blend carbon, the frame is also rated to ASTM Category 5 like its aluminum counterpart. Aside from lacking welds, the frame design looks incredibly similar, still relying on Propain’s signature PRO10 dual-link rear suspension design that tucks the shock up along the seat tube. The Spindrift 5 CF is available in both mixed wheel (29’’ front / 27.5’’ rear) guise or as a full 29’’ setup across all four frame sizes.
As far as suspension design, the Spindrift 5 CF has very small differences relative to the aluminum version — for example, 1% lower peak anti-squat and a ~0.02 lower starting and ending leverage ratio — but it’s all close enough that we’d be surprised to find major on-trail differences.
We talked (well, grumbled) a bit about Propain’s move to headset cable routing with our Tyee CF review, but the Spindrift 5 CF takes a new direction that should make just about everyone happy. The Spindrift 5 CF has our preferred option of running the cables through ports in the sides of the headtube, which appear particularly well-sealed, but also offers two headset routing options. Propain’s machined Sixpack ICR stem is still an option, which feeds the cable just under the stem, but a ported Acros headset cover is also available for an option that doesn’t require a proprietary stem. As strong as our feelings are about keeping cables out of the headset, it’s admittedly pretty cool to see Propain offering something for every preference.
[Editor’s note: well, apart from fully external routing which I’d still prefer. But I’m very glad that headset cable routing is no longer mandatory. Thanks for listening, Propain.]
The Spindrift 5 CF also comes with a whole host of thoughtful finishing details. Headset bearings are stainless steel for longevity, there’s a new downtube storage hatch with organizer bags, and the carbon frame also gets a nifty two-position brake mount that can accommodate 180 mm or 200 mm rotors without requiring an adapter. A tool mount under the top tube provides additional carry capacity.
Fit & Geometry
Spindrift 5 AL and AL Park
The Spindrift 5 AL’s standard and Park configurations have slightly different geometry, largely driven by the Park model’s longer 200 mm travel dual crown fork but also due to differences in wheel size and chainstay length.
Starting with the standard single crown-equipped Spindrift 5 AL, the 29’’ and mixed wheel frame option gets a 480 mm reach, 63.9° headtube angle, 644 mm stack, and 445 mm chainstays. The aluminum-framed Spindrift preserves geometry between mixed wheel and full 29’’ configurations, but it doesn’t have the flip chip at the upper link featured on its carbon sibling — we are confirming with Propain exactly how the geometry preservation works when swapping between wheel sizes. The 20 mm bottom bracket drop implies a somewhat high bottom bracket height (though that’s not uncommon for more Freeride-oriented bikes), and the effective seat tube angle is on the steeper side at 78.4° — a sensible choice for winching this burly bike up steep climbs.
Geometry differs when we talk about the full 27.5’’ wheel version, which stands out for being available in not just size Small, but all the way up to Large. A size Large with the smaller 27.5’’ wheels keeps the same 63.9° headtube angle and 480 mm reach, but the stack falls to 623 mm due to the shorter axle-to-crown of a 27.5’’ fork. The 27.5’’ bike’s chainstay length is also 10 mm shorter at 435 mm, which is likely to suit the more nimble feel that someone buying a 27.5’’ front and rear bike is probably looking for. Most other figures are quite similar to the bigger wheeled frame option, aside from bottom bracket drop, due to the smaller wheel size.
The dual crown-equipped Spindrift 5 AL Park is an interesting option that marries a mixed-only wheel configuration with the shorter 435 mm chainstays of the 27.5’’ frame mentioned above. The taller fork means that the stack bumps up to 647 mm on a Large, the reach drops slightly to 475 mm, and the headtube angle slackens to 63.5° — all numbers that make a good bit of sense for a Park bike.
Full geometry figures for all configurations of the Spindrift 5 AL and AL Park are as follows:
Spindrift 5 CF
Just as many of the frame details differ between the carbon and aluminum Spindrift 5, so do the geometry figures. The Spindrift 5 CF gets the slacker 63.5° headtube angle seen on the Spindrift 5 AL Park, paired with a slightly longer 485 mm reach and shorter 636 mm stack. The bottom bracket is a touch lower with 23 mm of drop, and the chainstays are 445 mm across the size range (S–XL). In summary, it’s a bit longer, a bit lower, and a bit slacker than the Spindrift 5 AL, but very much in the same ballpark. As mentioned earlier, the flip chip at the upper link keeps all geometry consistent between full 29’’ and mixed wheel modes.
The Spindrift 5 CF’s geometry chart is below:
The Builds
Aside from the Spindrift 5 AL Park, both frame material options of the Spindrift 5 share the same build kits. Propain takes a slightly novel approach to build specifications, with each build kit standing as a starting point that can be very heavily customized using their online configurator. The build kits listed below include both air and coil suspension options from RockShox, Fox, and Öhlins, along with wheels from Newmen, Crankbrothers, and DT Swiss. Brake choices include Shimano, Magura, and SRAM, though drivetrains are primarily a SRAM affair. Finishing parts like bars, stems, tires, etc. have myriad options to pick from, so customers certainly won’t be lacking for choice at any stage of the bike-building process.
Full starting point build specs are included as follows, with prices differentiated by frame material:
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX
- Brakes: SRAM DB 8
- Fork: RockShox Zeb R (180 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Vivid Coil Select R
- Wheels: Newmen Performance 30
- Dropper Post: Sixpack Kamikaze
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Transmission
- Brakes: Shimano Saint
- Fork: Ohlins RXF 38 (180 mm)
- Shock: Ohlins TTX 22
- Wheels: DT Swiss EX 1700
- Dropper Post: OneUp V3
- Drivetrain: SRAM X0 Transmission
- Brakes: SRAM Code RSC
- Fork: RockShox ZEB Ultimate (180 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Vivid Air Ultimate
- Wheels: DT Swiss FR 1500
- Dropper Post: RockShox Reverb AXS
- Drivetrain: SRAM XX Transmission
- Brakes: Magura MT7 Performance
- Fork: Fox 38 Factory GripX2 (180 mm)
- Shock: Fox DHX2 Coil
- Wheels: Crank Brothers Synthesis Carbon i9 Hydra
- Dropper Post: Fox Transfer Factory
The Spindrift AL Park model has its own build lineup, all featuring dual crown forks and 7-speed SRAM drivetrains. Those separate builds are included below:
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX 7 Speed
- Brakes: SRAM DB 8
- Fork: RockShox Boxxer Base (200 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Vivid Coil Select R
- Wheels: Newmen Performance 30 DH
- Dropper Post: N/A
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX 7 Speed
- Brakes: Shimano Saint
- Fork: Ohlins DH 38 (200 mm)
- Shock: Ohlins TTX 22
- Wheels: Newmen Performance 30 DH
- Dropper Post: N/A
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX 7 Speed
- Brakes: SRAM Code RSC
- Fork: RockShox Boxxer Ultimate (200 mm)
- Shock: RockShox Vivid Air Ultimate
- Wheels: DT Swiss FR 1500 DH
- Dropper Post: N/A
- Drivetrain: SRAM X0 7 Speed
- Brakes: Magura MT7 Performance
- Fork: Fox 40 Factory GripX2 (200 mm)
- Shock: Fox DHX2 Coil
- Wheels: DT Swiss FR 1500 DH
- Dropper Post: N/A
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) Propain emphasizes the Freeride spirit of the Spindrift 5, but does it offer enough versatility to still be a fun time away from the gnarliest, steepest trails?
(2) The AL and CF models are fairly similar in many ways while having some key differences in geometry, but how different do they feel from a ride quality standpoint?
(3) Does the AL Park model feel like an over-forked version of the other Spindrift 5 models, or does it have its own gravity-focused attitude?
Bottom Line (For Now)
In updating the Spindrift, Propain has effectively created an entire new family of bikes within its lineup, covering everything from Enduro to dedicated Park riding — so long as you’re happy with 180 mm of rear travel. The carbon and aluminum frames feature an intriguing amount of differentiation between features and geometry, leaving us curious about what Propain has managed to cook up with this new release. We are eager to get our hands on a Spindrift 5 for some proper saddle time and will be sure to share our thoughts when and if we can make that happen.
Lots to love with this update. I’m keen to demo one.