I already have an orange five which i’ve had for 5 years now. In that time i’ve snapped 4 mech hangers with the mech ending up in the rear wheel. This last time however the resulting crash put me in hospital with a dislocated and fractured(3 places)humerus. Looking at at least 4 months off.

My question is do I replace my Orange with a Heckler?

Would like to here from anyone who has ridden both. My concern is the climbing ability of the Heckler with it only having a Fox Float R.

Cheers

you could keep the 5 and go see Jedi or get the Heckler change the shock and go see Jedi 😉

Hmm, much as I’d have a Heckler over a Five any day purely on the basis of looks, I’m really strugling to see the connection between the first paragraph and the rest of your post.

i agree. what’s breaking mech hangers got to do with anything?

Sorry people,

Reason for post is because I cant help but think that after this accident I probably will have a few issues riding the five. The more people I speak to the more it seems the hangers on the Five are prone to this.

Mmm. No problems with my Heckler uphill. I did go for the RP23 upgrade tho.

New Heckler’s only come with the new Float CTD. No idea how that compares to the RP23 / Float R.

never snapped a hanger on my five.

If you need to change the 5 to disperse some Gremlins then that is fine. The Heckler is a good bike. I have ridden a 5 and a Heckler. I hated the 5 but love the Heckler. Get out on some demos though before you part with any cash. My Heckler climbs great but it has a coil shock not air.

What concerns me is the frequency that you seem to have been breaking mech hangers. Touch wood I have not broken one on any of my bikes in numerous years. A mate rides an Orange and he has not broken any either. So I would be looking at what may be wrong with the set up/care/storage etc that has caused so many hangers to fail.

Sorry to hear about you off. Heal well and soon.

Fair enough, if you’d feel more comfortable on a Heckler, go for it. Suspension wise it’ll feel very similar to the Five. My old school one climbed fine on an old coil sprung Fox Vanilla, so I wouldn’t worry too much.
The ex-bike-mechanic part of me can’t help suggesting that the only reasons the hanger can be breaking is that you are smacking the mechs on something or running the chain way too short and that neither of those are specific to a particular model of frame.

I’d put money on your chain being too short.

I’ve just straightened the mech hanger on my 5 for the second time in 3 years. It was only very slightly out of true after a hell of a clout with a big rock that bent the mech, too. I’ve straightened that, too, but I’m thinking that it should really be replaced. You must have hit it very hard …..

I think the reason for the hanger breakages is purly down to the fact I live on the edge of the Peak so 90% of my riding is on gritstone loose rocky stuff. I just think that Orange make their hangers out of cheese! I’m sure there are plenty of Five riders that have had no issues. Maybe I just got unlucky.

Something happening once or twice is unlucky, 5 says that there’s something else afoot

My Heckler was a great bike – lovely on the downs, and fine on the ups. They do size up a little short though.

If you are snapping them off by hitting things changing bikes isn’t going to fix it, a hanger strong enough to stand up to that will just mean you snap the mech at the top knuckle with identical results, plus I’m not at all sure the Santa Cruz hanger is any stronger at all, after all, the point of a replaceable hanger is that it snaps off before the mech is damaged.
Maybe you could get a lower profile mech that was more tucked in. What mechs have you been running?
Edit: Also, to be sure, when you set your chain length, do you do it with all the air out of your shock and the suspension fully compressed?

Have used both XT and SLX long cage so I guess trying a short cage makes sense.

Maybe I need to double check the chain length!

Thanks for the advice people. If I can pin point the problem to something like chain length then you’ve saved me a lot of cash.

Shadow type mechs? You’ll need a long cage unless you are only running one front ring. Any shorter and it won’t cope with the chain growth on a Five or Heckler.
Be completely sure about the chain, if it’s even a little too short it’ll eventually lead to an unexpected mech hanger failure, probably but not certainly on a big compression or landing, or else when it takes a much smaller impact than you’d think it’d take to break it…

Try BETD for stonger hangers. Hecklers climb OK, probably better than a 5 as they are shorter / steeper and not made from ugly filing cabinets.

A Heckler hanger isn’t as tough as a Maxle Five Hanger by a running mile.
Having owned both back to back I would say the Five is a tougher bike, and a better all rounder.

Have been running shadow rear mechs. Will look at the chain length when I have enough movement in my arm to do it!

Just looked at BETD and looks good as well.

Cheers

Bad luck on the injury but either Oranges hangers are made of cheese or you’re a bit clumsy or you’re running too short a chain. Perhaps an unlucky mixture of all of these…

Haven’t ridden a recent O5 or Heckler but doubt they’ll have changed that radically over the last 5 years – both go uphill pretty well but I’d rate the Heckler over the Orange. Besides the Orange would need to be pretty damn special to make me want to buy something that fugly 😉 SC used to have a thing about mech hangers – they didn’t use them. Reckoned they were largely responsible for shifting issues so they simply used big ass dropouts. That still the case?

I treat my 5 like a bulldozer cos I’m old & crap at picking smooth lines, I haven’t damaged a hanger yet (but I do have a scratch on the mech)
2 1/2 yrs on.

I had a 08 heckler and changed to a five, really liked the heckler but prefer the steeper SA and slacker HA of the five..
the 2013 heckler has a new geo, 72/67,5 with a 150mm fork!, ISCG 05 and tapered..so geo is close to the five now …

OP I’ve had a 2001 XTR rear mech on every bike since 2002. I retired it 5months ago. Its been to the Alps 5(?) times in clumsy holds/bike bags, its been dropped everywhere and I’ve had three serious accidents whilst its been on bikes I’ve fallen off.

The rims on my bike are dented and scratched to buggery.

However the mech never broke.

I loved my Heckler, it was a great bike. I had decided to change it for a 5 unitl a pal mentioned a Remedy. I got the remedy and haven’t looked back. The Heckler is short for its size so I always struggled a bit the steeper technical climbs. It was a great descender though and very tough. Plus its much much cheaper than a new 5.

I had a five for a while, snapped three hangers in the space of a year. got rid of it for other reasons but it’s the only bike I ever snapped hangers on in 10 years of riding properly. same rider, same trails, blah blah blah.

If you’re looking second hand, you could try a Cannondale Prophet, it’s what I have now and it’s great. Cheap as chips on ebay.

only ever snapped one mech hanger in my life and atht involved a twig and and exploding mech

No issue with my orange 5 and its mech hanger or anyone else I know who has one

Are you crashing or something?
Is the mech hitting the wheel then snapping the hanger?
Cant believe you are just riding along and it snaps

The ex-bike-mechanic part of me can’t help suggesting that the only reasons the hanger can be breaking is that you are smacking the mechs on something or running the chain way too short and that neither of those are specific to a particular model of frame.

Ditto that.

Heal soon though. 🙂

I’m not understanding the relevance of snapping mech hangers, surely too short a chain?! I have murdered my alpine 160 though, cracked it to buggery riding it to the shops, but no mech hanger trouble! I have an old (2006) Heckler which I do like, but the angles are very out of date, the new Heckler sounds perfect!

Keep the 5 and find a good bike mechanic with a hanger alignment tool. Providing your chain isn’t too short? Check your chain/cassette/chainrings aren’t worn and fit a chain device.