Hi folks, I’ve been trying to find out a little more about the st4 and there isn’t too much out of google.
In comparison to a five how does it do? It’s almost the weight of the five, what will it stand up to? Will it handle jumps and drops ok? I’m thinking as I live in the south east it may be a good all rounder.

Frames are pretty robust.Mk 1 chainstays however were a bit twangy and the rockers suffered a fair bit (tbf I’ve only seen 3-4 fail out of a LOT of bikes).

How about the 2012 one? Thanks for your reply

I’ve seen one or two for sale on here and they’ve struggled to sell so if you look at resale values when you buy, beware.
I usually run stuff into the ground so always thought they were a bargain second hand

Agree with that. I’ve had two. The original was replaced under warranty. Second (2010 version) was great. Felt like it had more travel, poppy, fun, good all round trail bike. I rode my mate’s five and it’s totally different. Nowhere near as accomplished when it gets very lumpy but – imo – more fun the rest of the time.

I put a 2000 ks on mine in two years and it never missed a beat. One set of bearings and that was it. Sold it to a fella who is also really getting on with it.

Long, low, slack-ish. Bit before its time in some ways. I guess Orange decided there was too much crossover with the 29rs they are doing now and dropped it, but if you can get one at a decent price, they’re a great all round bike.

I broke a 2008 one but at the downtube shock mount weld rather than the more widely reported chain stay. Orange were great and I got the redesigned 2011 version on warranty.

I’m not a big air dude but weigh 14st and rattled it down some smallish drop offs and through CyB/Afan at a decent ish pace. Still going strong and great fun to ride.

I’d say the five is probably stronger ultimately but personally much prefer the look of the st4.

Linky for my experience.

Didn’t have it long before it went back – and it rode great. Swapped out for a five under warranty, and tbh I prefer the five.

Second hand they are a bargain.

Thanks for the link, they shouldn’t have charged you anything in my opinion, a little cheeky!

To be fair to orange – they offered me a new replacement ST4 frame free (as they should). Trouble is I cannot get my head around using kit that I think may fail – and I had got it into my head that a replacement ST4 would fail again (no sound reason for this – the singlrtrack forum has few reports of ST4 deaths).

The catch was that I paid quite a lowly amount for my ST4 (650 quid or thereabouts), and truthfully would never pay what orange ask for retail. Nice bikes, but not that nice – so it did sting payiong another £500 to escape the ST4 for a five.

In hindsight, wish i had never gone orange and stayed with specialized (who also have a fantastic warranty)

But… My five is a great bike.

Ahh fair enough, I have actually bought the frame, in the sale and built it up but I am now trying to undo my thinking that I should have bought a five, reverse psychology?

I do love my five 😉 🙂

You have made a good call. enjoy

J

🙂