+1 Mildred

I have a patriot with ccdb coil and it climbs brilliantly sat down.

Also descends beautifully and handles great too.

Main drawback is the price of oranges for me. Couldn’t afford an alpine of I wanted one.

Love my 2011 Five, going to get a new one in the spring. Never had any noticeable problem with the rear brake geometry and I ride any where from XC to Welsh trail centres to the Alps. Very much a Marmite bike so you will get lots of hate dislike on here.

Used to have a Stumpjumper, 12 bearings to change. Orange Five, 2 bearings.

No noticeable problems?

I remember arguing the merits of single pivot vs multi link with GW 12 years ago on bikemagic. Nice to see nothing has changed. Back then, I was pro single pivot, he was pro multi-link. I realise now that he was right. At the time I lacked the experience to identify the traits of single pivots that weren’t so great.

Scienceofficer – Member

I remember arguing the merits of single pivot vs multi link with GW 12 years ago on bikemagic……..I realise now that he was right.

ssshhhhh, he can still hear you!

It galls to admit it.

I had an orange alpine five for several years it was great (coil front and rear) I now have a morewood sukuma, its a better bike in most situations but I’d have the orange back if I was going to the alps.

Both bikes ride differently with different sized chain rings. The five was hopeless with a double and a 32T middle ring. Pedalling downhill stiffened up the rear. I switched to a 36T the chain ring which intersected the middle of the pivot and the bike rode very differently. I’ve only run a 38T ring on my sukuma, picked partly because it intersects the main pivot. Bike magic slated the bike when they ran a triple. They said that pedalling effected the suspension in granny/middle.

I’m not an engineer but it seems it’s really difficult to design a bike that works with a variety of set-ups (single ring, double or triple), though with the move to 1 x 10 and 1 x 11 I guess this is getting easier.

Just up and down and nothing else.

I hate that about all suspension. No in and out or side to side.

What are Orange thinking?

Best to test ride. Had Orange 5 RS for a year and it’s fab. Bit ugly but in past year ridden Alps Snowdon BPW Antur etc and rides them all very smooth. Very simple, respray and bearings for £200 off Orange! You love them or hate them. I have big love for them.

I ride a 5 and I really like it, climbs better than the Giant NRS it replaced but then that might be because I am a little fitter 😀
It goes up hill as fast as I can pedal, the suspension moves when I go over bumps, it slows down when I apply the brakes and generally it goes downhill as fast as I dare. i have hit things on it and thought ‘oh sh!t’ then moments later have had a big grin on my face because I got through/round/over whatever the thing was, ie the bike is better than I am as a rider. I dont know what brake jack is but have never thought anything was ‘strange’ when braking, I do know what bobbing is but have always thought that if the suspension didn’t move during a climb then all those lumps and bumps would be transmitted in to my arse or maybe thats how it should be 😉

As said above, go ride one, if you like it buy it, if you dont go try something else, then go back and buy the Orange 😆

I’ve had four Orange’s. I had a MR.O, the original Patriot, the aforementioned 224 and a long term loan of a Five.

I think they were good bikes back in the days when everything else was pretty horrible. They at least had simplicity and reliability on their side. Now almost everything else available is better. From performance, to weight, to styling.

I really want to like Orange. I love the British manufacturing and everything. I just wish they would join us in the 21st century. I don’t understand why they can’t get some nice tubing and drop the hideous folded sheet metal process. Nicolai have a similar set up and they can turn out anything they want.

EDIT:

It goes up hill as fast as I can pedal, the suspension moves when I go over bumps, it slows down when I apply the brakes and generally it goes downhill as fast as I dare. i have hit things on it and thought ‘oh sh!t’ then moments later have had a big grin on my face because I got through/round/over whatever the thing was,

But that’s just what mountain biking feels like!

Bollocks

weight wise Turner burner frame set is 7.1 lbs,
Carbon RFX frame is 6.7 lbs as is the new Evil Insurgent frame, both the latter are carbon, and no lighter than an equivalent Five frame.

I think the new five is possibly the best looking trail bike on the market right now.

Lovely proportions with that new longer top tube.

All subjective though obvs.

its ugly but who cares as I am riding the bloody thing not taking pictures of it and admiring its looks

Its industrial charm has grown on me to be fair but its no looker.

When skill fails hold on don’t touch brakes and let the Five Do its thing!

^^^^ that’s exactly how to ride a five. Get one don’t be talked out of it.

Absolute cobblers, that. How many single pivot bikes do you see on the World Cup DH circuit these days?

Quite a lot actually

let me see….Nukeproof (the go to privateers bike), Lapierre, Transition, Konas etc

Those bikes have linkages so not quite in the same vein.

Those bikes have linkages so not quite in the same vein.

The anti-squat, anti-rise, kickback and wheel paths are all the same for a simple single pivot or linkage driven single pivot if the pivot point is in the same place. The extra linkage simply changes the leverage ratio on the shock.

Happy to admit that single pivots might not be the optimal performer. Reliability, forgettability and get-out-and-go much more important to me. My spanner skills are shameful though.