Two good options. I’d lean towards the stumpy as the suspension is a bit more sophisticated (although whether I could actually tell the difference riding is another matter) Better to save a few quid too as you can then personalise any purchase or replace the odd worn bit. Maybe add dropper post, too.

I saw that 2015 stumpy,s are on offer for £1600-1700 at various dealers at the moment .
Maybe worth a look if you fancy 650 or 29 variety.
Richard

Both are good bikes (I have both) but I’d try to get a ride on both before buying. Maybe going to a demo day? Secondhand the Orange has a lot less pivots to go wrong and even if they do they are easy to change. Personally I’d go for the Five

Stumpy evo 29er new, 1700 with 170 quid free kit at Cyclestore. And no, I don’t even have one

Where do you live? I have a few ex demo 2014 stumpys in your price range.

You just reminded me about the maxel rear, can’t exactly remember when that became standard (2012?) but it’s defo the one to get along with tapered. The S model is well worth getting now as all the kit is decent. If you search the Orange dealers from the list on the Orange site you may well find an even better bargain.

Ignore some secondhand prices as there’s those that don’t seem to realise that 26″ is a problem price wise.

If you hang on a few weeks you’ll be able to buy Rentons Five 29er 😀

I have another possible, which you may be interested in.
Drop me a mail….

I wouldn’t be looking at used with your budget. As I said above the Evo 29er is £1699 at Cyclestore (possibly cheaper elsewhere) but gets you £169 worth of kit, and the Kona Satori is £1500 at Rutland

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/290663/products/kona-2014-satori-29-inch-full-suspension-mountain-bike.aspx

both can be bought via cashback sites for ~£50 back. Both are 29ers (buy a used 26er and like it or not you’re buying into unsupported spec, good luck finding a nice fork etc for it in a year or 2), with sorted geometries, great reviews and dropper posts as standard.

Nothing against Orange, currently ride an Alpine 160 in old skool 26″, but if I scratch my n+1/big wheel itch it’ll be one of the 2 above.

If you look at the lapierre from CRC join British Cycling, they do a 10% code to members every month and I’m pretty sure it can be used on sale bikes (so a 30 quid member ship would knock £130 off the bike).

I’ve just bought a Kona Satori from Rutland. It’s really good fun, just needed a shorter stem and to go tubeless. It’s a sit and spin type of a climber but coming down the hill it’s brilliant. The spec for £1500 is amazing value.

26 being “out of date” doesn’t mean they’re suddenly crap, it means if you buy a bike to keep (which you appear to) you’ll struggle replace/upgrade forks and wheels. My Alpine is a bundle of old standards and is brilliant and I’m keeping it. Luckily the Marz forks on it are durable because with a straight steerer and 26″ wheel no one is making alternatives now, if I needed a new fork it’d be searching for old stock.

Ref the Stumpy Evo, the 29 won bike of the year and Spec were early adopters of 29 so it should be sorted, the 27.5 appears to be a reaction to a trend and involved bonding a 20mm spacer into bottom of the head tube of the 29er frame and nothing else 🙄

The difference between the 2015 mk1 + 2 is a change in the top tube and swing arm design (maybe saving a bit of weight?) and some tweeks to the geometry to make it a bit slacker and a bit longer in the top tube. The 2014 is very similar to the 2015 mk1 but I seem to remember there being a slight geometry change? In the real world I doubt you or I would notice much difference between them so would probably go for the one that’s the best value.

Not to be a dick but the GT RTS didn’t come out until 1992 and there was not a Team frame that year. The top bike was the US made RTS 1 that came with M900 XTR. Think the Team frame came along in 1993 or 94. I’m a little bit embarrassed that I know this. 😳

the kona satori wins so far

wouldnt go for 2nd hand at that price, just get a decent on sale bike