Tech Thursday – Orange Bikes

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Seeing as there was a gap between Midweek Mini Movies on a Wednesday and Fresh Goods Friday on, well, Friday, we thought you might like this occasional series that we’re calling ‘Tech Thursday’. In it, we’ll be asking bike and component companies to have a dig around and find and photograph a few technical gadgets that you might not otherwise have seen.
   These can be dusty old models that never made it past the prototype stage, or a futuristic new design that still may never see the light of day.
Seeing as Pete from Orange was popping in to deliver some stollen, we asked him to see what he could find down the back of the Orange office sofa.

Future:
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Shock Shuttle – The new top shock mount, seen here on the 140 29er show bike. A larger mount allows us to machine more material away for lighter weight. Even the part where it meets the down tube is machined to save weight. This design also allows for tighter tolerances as it is easier to machine. The size of this mount also spreads the force from the rear shock across a larger section of the down tube, eliminating the need for such a thick down tube. We’ve been able to use a thinner sheet of aluminium for this down tube. This prototype, while being our first long travel 29er, is also a mule for many new developments of this kind.

Past:
Orange D4 – This is a very dusty prototype dug out of a dark corner of the warehouse. The D4 is a forerunner to the ST4 Diva and features some quirks, like the rather fetching CNC’d cross brace on the seat stays and the link behind the seat tube to keep it out of the way of the mud and grit. This frame is the only one of its type in the Cupboard of Doom, although similar-looking frames do exist with a similar design, mostly with shock mounts and linkages moved to suit.
Want to send us your own suggestions for Tech Thursday? Are you a manufacturer with a large number of skeletons in the cupboard? Then get in touch with newsdesk
Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 22 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

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Comments (6)

    It might be interesting to see what Pace have hidden away at the back of their shed.

    Is that an Orange with a Horst link?
    My, my…I’d love to know how it rode (probably exactly the same as a five to my uncouth behind).

    If you like old skool pace stuff there’s (or was) a RC500 in the shop at Dalby. Purple too, very dribble worthy, but not for sale 🙁

    Doesn’t look like a Horst link when you zoom in. No pivot at the dropout, just a bolt, hard to see what it’s there for though.

    Please Please Please could you do something with the various shock and fork manufacturers on how best to set up suspension for your bike and riding style. Possibly a two parter one as basic setup guide and explanation of what the stuff does from rebound and compression to type of tune and another for a more specific refining of your suspension.

    RM – there’s a good video on youtube of Tim Flooks of TFtuned talking through fork and shock setup. have a search around and it should pop up pretty quickly.

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