Tested five and settled on a ‘five’. LBS was awesome and custom built this beauty for me. 28lb without pedals (29.4lb with). First ride yesterday and grinned all the way round! This blows away everything I tested and the 5 pro simply pails in comparison. Maxle rear end, XTR shadow plus and a little velcro to protect the swingarm from the chain… silent as a mouse!

I’ve so over biked my self it’s hilarious but hey, what’s hard work for?… climbs extremely competently and flys down…

My initial thought was 29.4lbs??!?
But then I noticed the uppy down post, then the 36s…
What you planning on doing with that then, the mega?
Niiiice tho.

Althepal those are 32’s, not 36’s. I wanted a bike that gets me through, over and down pretty much anything, whilst maintaining the ability to get me up without too much effort. Does the trick and then some…

1.4lb pedals? Sounds like something to upgrade upto the level of the rest of the bike?

What… Start upgrading already…? The bike was weighed with pedals, it’s a little over 28 without. They’re Shimano DX at 1.25lb. I built the bike with weight in mind but it wasn’t my over riding concern, I wanted pedals that give support and can be used with trainers for the times I throw the leg over for a little ride with the lad.

At least you’ve accurate scales, unlike most on here 🙂

Nice looking bike welcome to the 5 club 🙂

Very nice 😀

Thanks erny / jeffus. To be honest the five wasn’t even on my short list, funny how things work out… Probably quite a controversial decision considering what I demo’d, but they have that ‘something’. God it rides nice!

I have the Shimano DX pedal in the picture. I like them but I wouldn’t want to ride them with trainers for long or if I had drunk a pint!

The support aspect is overrated since the stiffness of most cycling shoes doesn’t really allow you to benefit from that extra support imho. I like my Shimano 540 pedals just as much as my DX pedals, and they are hard to tell apart in use with a typical pair of shoes ime. The difference is 200g.

I had tiny little ‘time’ pedals on my last bike and it always bothered me that it was more or less impossible to ride without changing shoes, this is only for very short rides and does the trick. Christmas soon 😉

Out of interest what were the other bikes you tried?

Since when was a 5 ‘overbiking yourself’? Do you ride towpaths? 😉

Nice though.

Wow – top job – glad it rides as good as it looks 😛

I’ve so over biked my self it’s hilarious

Being over biked rocks . . . always something in reserve, just in case 😉

I didn’t think i liked the Orange five, but that is very nice! That is indeed why we all go to work isnt it? Im going to wash my bike now and try and console myself.

Bike looks awesome!

“a little velcro to protect the swingarm from the chain” – how does that work then?? Just a strip of sticky backed Velcro on the inside and underside of the swing arm presumably?

Lovely bike man enjoy.

Def agree with b r nice to see some actuate scales for once on stw

Brake-neck, tested the following; (in order)

Yeti ASR-5 (aluminium)
Ibis Mojo SL (carbon)
Specialized Epic 29’r (carbon)
Orange Five
Transition Covert

The Yeti and Covert are awesome, was a pretty close call between the three.

When I say ‘over biked’ it’s really just a nod towards gents on the forum who [probably rightly] note that you don’t need much bike to have fun… This cost a few quid and i’m really only a weekend warrior, no other time to get out.

Hilton83 I was the same. Whilst the five was on my initial list it’s looks had it low in the pecking order. I don’t really like the bright colours most go for and the red one I tested was ‘functional’ looking at best. Then my LBS built a custom one for sale in Chrome and the colour works really well. Personally i think it looks the nuts; it’s not exactly ‘pretty’ but very purposeful looking.

Thomohawk that’s exactly it. LBS staff have all had fives at some time and knew what to do. The velcro is about a inch wide and protects the bottom and inside, but is completely invisible from the side. There was no way I was wrapping the swingarm in rubber as it looks a bit off. Not a sound yesterday 🙂

good job in getting around to be able to test all those bikes – what did you do, hit the trail centres that have those on demo? (when I tried, I could get demos around a car park, which isn’t that much use tbh!). Nice bike, glad you’re pleased with it. The fact that you rode it around and enjoyed it is more important than it’s weight, imho. Too much tech obsession (me included……)

I live in the Surrey Hills and there are a fair few quality dealers around. Pretty much all of them allow you to take a bike away for the weekend for a small fee (around £25- £30). All will refund if you buy from them. My LBS stock Specilaized, Orange and Yeti and i went to two others for the Ibis and Transition. It was a really interesting exercise.

As the bike shop built it up to my spec I suffered massive tech obsession for a few weeks. Some decisions were easy but I lost sleep over the XTR cranks – bugger me but they’re expensive 😳 Still, now I’ve got it I’m over the moon with the lot. If anyone wants a kit list I’ll post it.

Lol, I’m having the exact same dilemma about XTR cranks at the moment.

That looks pretty good for a Five. Nice sensible, usable build that should be a lot of fun in a lot of circumstances.

Nice one, really like that. Just give them to me instead Matt, then you’ll have done your bit for young riders and you can sleep easy 😉

Really nice bike, I’m seriously jealous, but if the LBS is as good as you say then tell us who they are!

Stupid Velcro question:-
Hook or loop? ❓

Stofish – Cycleworks in Haslemere.

Riksbar – loop.

Ask – nice colour I love the chrome grey

How does this Velcro thing work then? Very intrigued as it would be better than current lizard skin ugly thing? Close up pics as never heard of this before!

Wildly, the chain only hits the bottom and inside as you know. The ‘loop’ side of velcro provides plenty of protection and sticks nicely to the swingarm. Use Velcro an inch thick or so and start from the outer edge of the bottom and wrap round and inside. If you look closely at the pic you can see a black strip running up the length of the swingarm.

I’ll post some pics later.

Cheers ask appreciate the pics later, where did you get it from buddy? What are the loops you speak of though, is it self adhesive stuck on, with the fluffy side taking the hits? I’m definitely gonna change to this can’t believe I’ve missed this before!

Something I never thought I’d see myself write: what a nice looking Orange 5.

This blows away everything I tested and the 5 pro simply pails in comparison.

Pass the sick bucket 😉

Looks pretty nice, I like the colour.

Wildly, as promised here are some photos. I’ll pop them in the thread you started as well for others to find. Apologies for the blue tint to the images I had to enhance the shadows to better detail the Velcro, had a knock on effect…

Close up of underside

Length of swing arm

Inside of swingarm

Cheers.

Nice work dude, welcome to the world of Orange – you won’t regret it. I’ve got 3 and about to make it 4 8)

We’re you out on it a couple of weekends back around the PunchBowl? I remember seeing a rider on what looked like a new 5, like yours!

Sweet dude !.

Enjoy, you lucky, lucky man.
😀

Very nice indeed

They are taking over the world!

I remember when I got my Five in 2004 (it’s gone to a new owner now), I was convinced I would love an Enduro, but thought a Stumpy would be about the right amount of travel.

Think the stumpy was 120 and the enduro was 130 back then.

Test rode all three one day on Cannock Chase, was very disappointed with the Enduro, felt hard work, the stumpy felt sketchy as hell, then I got on the 5, a revelation, loved it.

Bought one.

Might buy another if a I get a good bonus.

lucky bugger , nice ride matey. however should you get board of it i am preperd to swap you a goat , 2 chickens , £100.00 cash , and some freerange eggs.