Had all of my bikes stolen from what i thought was a secure outbuilding. My pride and joy was my orange 5 RS which i had put 160 pikes on and stand flow rims with hope hubs. loved this bike and it enabled mr to push my boundaries like no other bike i had.

Insurance will (fingers crossed) pay to replace but not sure what to go for. i want to continue to push myself. Most of my riding in winter is done at Forrest of dean on trails and on the easy downhill runs plus i do the occasional up lift day. However in the summer i do more local bridal ways and the problem i have is i only want one bike now.

So to cary on pushing myself i was thinking to go for orange alpine, yt capra, santacruz nomad????

Please help

Go for whatever bike you like but, if you can afford it, add in another set of wheels to run tyres better suited to bridleways. Don’t need to be expensive, maybe a 2nd hand version of what is on the bike.
If the 5 was perfect for you, why not just get another?
What sort of budget are you looking at?
Edit: if it were me I’d probably look at getting a couple of 2nd hand bikes. Spend most on the main bike and also get a hardtail/short travel bike for pootling around on. Lots of bargains out there, especially if you’re not bothered about wheel size.

Ended up with 4 bikes, the five rs a lapierre froggy and a 29er hard tail zealous and a cheap road bike. Broke my heart to have them all stollen as i worked hard to get them all and genuinely thought i had my riding styles covered. So now keeping bike in the house (wife loves the idea) and as i rode the five most, thought i would step up to the alpine but wasn’t sure it was too much. Budget is 4.5k to get new bike i hope.

Defo going to look for some extra wheels and tyres – good call!

I’ve owned a 5, an Intense Tracer 2 and an Evil uprising as well as a YT tues, a Sunday and a Slackline.

This is my opinion which many people wont agree with, but the 5 is cr@p. It is slow downhill in comparison and it pedals like a bag of spanners. And look what you can get with a similar amount of money with the Capra.

But you might not agree with me and its your decision which is the important one.

Good opportunity to buy the latest just-out Five – bit longer and slacker than the previous one and a good compromise between the Five you had nicked and an Alpine. Having said that, the Alpine’s a mint bike. There’s a recent thread about it on here somewhere. I know a couple of folk with them and they’re very, very happy. It’s a lot of bike though – a bit wasted in trail centres. Mint all-ronder if you ride rough and/or steep natural stuff or up north, Alps etc.

Giant Reign 2 and a couple of sets of wheels? (One with fast rolling xc tyres, the other with something more substantial, would also then have cash left over for other upgrades)

Ahhh, yes… they have just updated the five. Thanks for the heads up. I had also considered the giant reign so i will be testing both oranges and the reign so far.

In order to have just the one bike I’ve Just got me a set of 650b stans flow with hope pro evo hubs today too so i can swap and change tyres. So at the moment from having 4 bikes 2 weeks ago I’ve just now got a set of wheels.

The Five seems to divide opinion, with some people claiming that it’s the best trail bike ever made and others that it’s crap 🙂 Of course, in truth, it is neither, but it does seem to have what one recent magazine review called an increasingly rare quality, to feel better the harder you push it.

New five would be a great shout imo the nomad and capra are fantastic bikes but are way to much bike for most people, id be super excited to be getting a nicely specced 2015 five.

I think to get the most out of the Five you have to put a lot of body language into it, the more you put in the more you get out. Sometimes I can’t be arsed and it can come across as a bit meh, if your a lazy rider look elswhere. Imo of course.

Wrote that ? before I read that ?

Of course, in truth, it is neither, but it does seem to have what one recent magazine review called an increasingly rare quality, to feel better the harder you push it.

Completely agree.

This is my opinion which many people wont agree with, but the 5 is cr@p. It is slow downhill in comparison and it pedals like a bag of spanners.

Having owned a Dw-link, Maestro, Vpp, link actuated single pivot, and other single pivots… i disagree.

In the past a single pivot would have pedalled like crap with bad damping, or if youre heavy.

With a properly damped shock the Five pedals as good as anything Ive ridden. It does need a good shock though.

Descending wise… it does need you to not lock up the rear wheel and ride the bike more fluidly, as theres no linkage to seperate the braking forces from the suspension. But that really doesnt matter once youve ridden a single pivot.

Id be interested to know what year and what shock Edward was running.

Id recommend going to find a demo day and testing out the Alpine Five, Five, Segment and Alpine 160. Normally I dont get the Segment, but with your requirments it might make sense. That and…. The Evil Following 😉 I think Missing Link cycles arent too far from you and are getting some in his shop. Worth getting in touch.

Totally agree rickon, I’m running a ccdba on mine with the cs switch and it climbs better in and out of the saddle than my mk2 nomad did, people love to hate oranges let em get on with it.

Well thanks for all your knowledge and I’ve loved the last few weeks… tested spec enduro 29 and 27.5, (preferred the 29). Also the cube stereo, giant trance sx and liked them a lot and tomorrow will be on a bird aeris.

Plus Booked into the demo day at leisure lakes in cannock chase but can’t pull away from the new orange five which rides and climes better than my old orange five rs. Also very interested to hear from anyone with a orange alpine 160 27.5 as i am very tempted by one of them.

I’ve a mega tr 275 and its better than my old ’12 five in every way.
Great bike.

I bought a new “old” Five a few weeks ago.
(Was good deal & I’m not drawn to the new design).
Had a few years off FS bikes.
Looked at a few options, but given it won’t be my main bike (& I’m a lazy get at maintainance), the simple design appealed.
Still getting it dialled in but a couple of comments up therr rung true.
First thing, the shock is key. Needs all three modes.
Bimbling along ,in my usual fashion, it feels quite ordinary; but when you start really chucking it about it’s great.
Might be a pound heavier than the latest plastic fantastic, but doesn’t bother me.

if the budget is £4.5k then buy yourself a YT Capra. the carbon version is about £3k and the alu version is £2k. you’ll have enough money left over to buy another bike or two

Fives are OK to ride, but just poor value. That’s the price for being a brand tart 😀
You’d be batshit crazy not to look at a Canyon or YT IMHO.