Hay guys and girls,

other than the marketing blurb on the orange website, can anyone elce tell me about what a Alpine 160 is like to live with day to day on and off the trail. how it climbs, rides and feels. also any pics of your 160’s would be nice

I have an alpine with coils front and rear and to me its a real do it all bike. It climbs well and goes down even better. Because of the single pivot there is less to worry about etc. Mine is quite heavy and i’ll usually take my five if i’m just going for a short trail ride but other than that is a great bike. Best way to see for yourself is to test ride one.

i am definately going to trest ride a 5 and a 160 before i buy my next bike. just in the middle of moving home at the moment so cant get on with it at the moment.

Mine is set up 1×9 with coils at each end, I can’t really comment on climbing as I haven’t done much of that. Mine is currently set up as a mini DH bike and for my local Aston hill and non local Cwmcarn it has been spot on. It is nicely balanced for jumps and picks up quickly after corners considering the 160mm of travel. My favourite bike of the many I have owned, looking forward to whinching it up some north Wales hills soon.

Ridden the 2011 model a lot around my patch in the FoD. Also have a 2009 Trek Remedy 9. The Alpine doesn’t climb as good, and really no better on the descents, but that’s just my view. Can’t fault the build quality and single pivot set-up for easy maintenance. If I had the choice though would probably get a Five instead. All depends on your ride preference I guess.

Cool,

Does anyone xc on their 160

Where abouts do you ride xc that you require 160mm of travel?

Surely a 5 is a better option

Not ridden one myself but been on rides with a couple of other owners, they are decent riders and can do some pretty big stuff. They ride up all the climbs like the rest of us and along all the flat bits, some of the rides have 10k-15k of xc type riding between the jump areas etc. They are not just uplift or alps bikes.

Hi, yes, my Alpine is my main bike. I have an air can on mine and now a coil up front (air fork on pic below). I guess it makes sense that a lighter bike would climb better but I happily go up and down stuff all day. In fact the big surprise for me is how well it climbs, although the slack front end means you need to get over the front on the steeper stuff. I test rode a Spicy before settling on the Alpine, preferring the burlier Orange as I wanted a bike tough enough for weeks at a time in the Alps. I now live in North Wales and while possibly a little OTT for some of the riding, I like it and am in no hurry to swap or change it. I had a go on the 5 and for some reason didn’t like it. Nothing logical, it just didn’t feel “right”.

Of course buy it if you want it, but if you mainly ride XC in grassy/woodsy areas then think about another bike. If however you like big mountains, jumps and Alps trips then I heartily recommend.

Not the best pics of a bike, but here you go nonetheless!

Apologies for rubbish pic 😀

I can say this bike is the fave ‘AM’ bike I’ve had (I’ve had a five am, mojo, Blur LTc etc etc prior to this)

It’s accompanied me on many ‘self propelled uplifts’, local blasts and to the Alps etc and I love it. Obviously if I want to get some miles in I’ll get on my soul but I’m more than happy climbing on the Alpine (seems to climb better than the five AM)

Mine is fairly light but cost a fair bit to get it to 31lbs (Raw frame, 1 x 10 xtr, tubeless, Ti spring etc) so this prob helps when going up but I know of 2 people who have an Alpine as their only bike so would have no issues with it being my only bike.

In my experience stick some lightish easy rolling tyres on and just about any bike is usable for XC.

Evidently Alpine owners are crap photographers! 😆

Got one. Climbs far better than the MK1 Nomad it replaced and descends as well. Excels in big situations (obviously) but neither tedious or sterile on local trails eg chilterns. Take no heed of the too much too big naysayers, I love riding it anywhere, its the best bike I’ve owned and was never a fanboi as I think orange are over priced.

In India with mountainbikekerala.com earlier this year

IMG_2534 by Mike Clark, on Flickr

Yes the Alpine is fun, a lot of fun 😀
Yes you can ride xc on it if you really want to, but that’s not what it’s for. As above if you like the big miles xc and climbing look elsewhere. The alpine is far more fun on big mountain rides, knowing that you’re taking it up one side of a massive mountain in the middle of nowhere to ride down some endless singletrack on the other side.

For some kind of comparison, I know it’s no faster than a rigid singlespeed on xc stuff 🙂

I’ve been using an Alpine as my main bike for the past 6 months and I absolutely love it. I use it for everything from xc stuff (grizedale, llandegla, etc) to steep rocky natural local trails in saddleworth and the dark peak area.

I prefer riding the Alpine on XC trails to my Commencal Super4 and I actually think it climbs better (maybe I’m a bit fitter now), hence I just sold it. I’ve always been a plod up, blast down kinda guy so it suits my style. If you have XC whippets tendencies stick to a hardtail.

My only other bike is a 100mm hardtail which I use on commutes & towpath/canal rides with the mrs but otherwise it’s Alpine all the way. I’m seriously considering using it for Mountain Mayhem and will definitely be using it for the summer Alps trip (you don’t get more all round than that).

I tested a Five AM and Alpine and both felt great and are very well made but the Alpine didn’t feel anymore of a chore on the climbs so I went for 160 all round. Everyone seems obsessed with not ‘over biking’ but unless you’re a pro you’ll notice very little difference.

If you are going to get one definitely go for the renhtal bar/stem upgrade and if you’re going to use it for AM stuff consider a reverb dropper.

Go for it, you’ll love it.

Saxabar,

Nice insight into ownership there, and nice pics.

I mainly ride in wales at the mo because I live around Oxford. I am moving up to Lincoln early next month ( lots of hills there :s ) but it puts me in reach of scotish land a bit more easily. But my job frequently take me abroad all over the world, usa, Europe, afgan lol very easy for me to get my bike away with me.

So yes a little over the top for UK riding but would be used in a plethora of situations and countries.

Had mine for 2 years and love it, had a Five for a while in that time and it never put the same mile on my face as the 160. Its not the fastest climber, but because of its length, it stays planted. So far it is the best bike I have owned, and the list includes….5 Spot, Cove Hustler, Ellsworth Moment, Spesh SX Trail, 2010 Five, Canyon Nerve AM. Mine is currently running Marz 55 RC3 Ti’ and RP23, still comes in under 32 lbs. Buy and enjoy 😉

Also I will have my orange crush (140mm hardtail) as a crusier/xc

My first pic was the descent that came after a 40km road climb. I dropped the rest of the group on the way up. +1 on a dropper post, mine is a 27.2 so have a GD, the sort of bike they were intended for, and fitted a RC3Ti to complement the coil rear (ccdb 8) )

And live near oxford too, so local trails either chilterns XC or woburn/chicksands play riding.

Crashtestmonkey,

Love the India pics,

Here’s a few pics of my Alpine…

@aazlad – nice work

Good looking 160 there!

Had mine for a few months now and am absolutely loving it – best bike I’ve ever owned.

My excuse for buying it was for Alps duties in the summer, but I have also been using it for some DH-lite and big days out.

It’s currently weighing in at 35lb – (spec as below but with DH tyres), and it still pedals well enough to handle everything thrown at it on all day Lake District rides.

Crush83 if you want some more pics of India look here:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/a-terrific-10-days-with-mountainbikekerala

Fantastic place … definately good for a 160!

Conversely… mate had a 16″ 160 for a season, didn’t get on with it, good on the downs, not good on the ups (this is off course relative to what your normally ride around on – it’s pants compared to my anthem).

We swapped bikes for a loop of twrch and I thought it was too small and heavy, I much much preferred my medium mk1 nomad. This could be down to your own bike/setup and all that.

He ended up flogging it and buying an old patriot 66 which he is very happy with and cost him very little.

Make sure you ride a couple of bikes back to back rather than just go off the reviews, it might not be right for you, think you can hire a few similar size bikes from Skyline cycles at glyncorwg

DT, interesting as I went from medium MK1 Nomad to 16″ alpine. The TT length is the same (22.5″) for both. Glad you like the Nomad, it was my dream bike since seeing one in Les Gets when they’d just come out and the most disappointing bike I’ve owned. Compression of lower link with every pedal stroke in granny effectively shortened the chainstays with every pedal. Hateful.

As you say horses for courses but I far prefer my alpine.

I didn’t get on with the dhx air on the nomad, switching to an rp23 makes a massive difference. Also have a coil for dh. I don’t notice bobbing on the bike when climbing, but I kind of sit there and winch up. I do find it a bit short for me, but a 65 stem and 780 bars seems to have sorted that. To be honest I ride my anthem pretty much 90% of the time now, it makes ups and alongs fun, and on most descents I,m not that much slower, but with less travel/ steep ha its a lot more scary/fun. Anyways back to the 160, get a test ride!

I love mine, I run it 1×9 with ccdb and its my do it all bike. Its no whippet uphill but hey I aint in any race! down hill is a joy. I love my bike

aazlads pic on the moors look ace..mean and moody!

Test rode a 160 many times before eventually getting a nomad C. Chose the nomad C purely on the basis of weight. I found the ride similar on both, with the alpine better in a lot of ways, in particular it’s linear quality. But I do a lot of climbing so took the expensive option. In hindsight an alpine with a light wheelset could easily have been better for less cost. Horses for courses really

the guy next door to me has just sold his elsworth epifiny and got a Carbon Nomad so its intresting how you think they compare. i am definately being swayed towards the 160 over the 5 but a test ride of both will be the decider.

Just seen one in matalic green which looks awesome