A mate has just bought an Orange Alpine 160 with upgrades for £4500!

Why? I just don’t get it.

It must be the ugliest £4500 bike on the planet.

Also, every Orange I have seen has dreadful finishing and build quality.

If you had that sort of money to spend what would you buy?

http://www.bellatisport.com/shop/product/548/Orbea_Orca_Carbon_Gold_2012.html

Maybe a budget build Seven.

Probably wouldn’t be my choice but I’m sure he’ll enjoy it. I’d want something a bit lighter/fancier for £4500 though.

I’d probably not, but then again if he’s go the money and it’s what he wants then what’s the problem, Apline’s are very nice bikes.

As for me, I’d get a shed full of new bikes.

Canyon 29er (~£1500)
Cube GTC Agree Pro (~£1500)
Specialized langster or giant bowery for commuting (~£400)
and spend the rest on tarty gadgets like a Nikon D3100, Garmin edge 800 and some new jerseys and shorts.

Why?

Because its a great bike, because he can afford it, and because he wants to?

I’ve got an Alpine 160, built from frame up to the equivalent of the upgraded £4K offering. Didnt cost me close to that, and it is better than the more expensive Santa Cruz Nomad it replaced.

To be honest, if I had £4.5K to spend I wouldnt buy one bike with it. Two bikes Ive always loved the look of, and coveted despite never even riding them, and in the colours shown please-

Still £2k short of my Top Fuel at retail, and £3k short of a 2013 S-Works. Top end bikes are silly money now!

Going to need mmore than 4.5K for a Carbon Covert + build. More like £6K for frame + build. Nice bike though, be good to see how it handles next year. Its all about the ride.

Only £4.5k?

Can you buy decent bikes so cheap now 😉

Top end bikes are silly money now!

They are, but you can buy 90% of the performance of a top end bike for about £1500 from the likes of Canyon or Cube these days, and for most of us, that’s more than good enough.

I’m with TINAS, given I’ve already got a nice full sus and a light 26″ HT and a road bike, I’d buy a nice 29er HT, a nicer Road Bike, and probably a cheapo singlespeed for the horrid winter weather. And with the remaining few hundred quid, new bearings chains and cassettes on my existing bikes.

I’d buy some new bar tape, then put £4457.50 back into the bank.

It’s not about the bike.

A high saddle hardtail, and a 04 plate Audi estate with a roof rack. 😀

two or three bikes for that money.

a less burly hardtail than my DB Alpine. i.e. something i can ride all day (although i do that wiht the Alpine as it is) and isn’t just for throwing down hills.

a 160mm FS, burly build for big alpine days and the bike park (although, again, i do this with the Alpine…).

hmmm… on second thoughts i’d just buy a YT Wicked 160 or El Guappo and stick the left over cash into a saving account.

4.5k for an Orange is crazy, IMO…

Transition bandit 29er …..and a weekend in the Alps

4.5k for an Orange is crazy, IMO…

Why? They’re good bikes built in Britain. Obviously that means they should cost more than something made in the far east. The fact they don’t is brilliant!

Transition bandit 29er …..and a weekend in the Alps

A bootload of spares for my current bikes and a whole season in the Alps would be even better 🙂

Out of curiosity, what did it replace?

Once you start spending more than a couple of grand a quality full-sus bike, the components are usually worth more than the frame. You could spend a lot more than 4.5k on an Orange if it was dripping with bling (your mates won’t be too shabby either).
I’d buy what I’ve already got with some cheaper parts instead!

Some people splash money on cars, some on shoes, some on poncey coffee machines, some on breast implants etc etc.

Why should anyone justify buying an expensive bike? I don’t. 😉

I’ve got what I want but aside from that I’d go for an Independent Fabrication steel deluxe HT with a tasty fork, and some trick kit.

I have no problem with spending so much money on a bike. I personally wouldn’t, although I do have about £4000 worth spread along 4 bikes.

I think my question really is – given all of the beautiful bikes out there why would you buy that tractor?

I really do not get the attraction of Orange.

I must be missing something.

Pawsy_Bear – Member
Going to need mmore than 4.5K for a Carbon Covert + build. More like £6K for frame + build. Nice bike though, be good to see how it handles next year. Its all about the ride.

2300 for the frame – you could build a fantastic Carbon Covert for £4500.

4.5k for an Orange is crazy, IMO…

Why? They’re good bikes built in Britain. Obviously that means they should cost more than something made in the far east. The fact they don’t is brilliant!They’re absolutely fine if you like that style of single pivot, that’s it though, fine!
They do cost more than other similar bikes from the far east.
I agree, spending £4.5K on an Orange is crazy. (I have no issue with spending that sort of cash on a bike I’d actually like tho.)

We are all just different. I love Oranges and have had loads but the Alpine has never appealed to me. Always seems too tall because probably I don’t live in the Alps. Friends have bought shiny complicated very expensive bikes that seem ludicrous to me but I have bikes that I think are great however I know that my friends think that I am some kind of curiosity.

Op – not quite sure why you seem to have an issue with your mate spending a fair bit on a bike. It’s all about personal preference, if he wants an overpriced single pivot, British made aluminium frame with some nice bits on it then good for him! If he likes it and gets on with it then all is good surely. I’ve had a fair few bikes over the years and nothing suits me more than a Five, my old 18″ was a touch too big for me, now on a 17″ that I built up from a frame only and yes it probably cost about the same as your mates did in the end but it’s exactly how I want it and I love it, never felt the need to justify the cost to any of my mates and they don’t really seem to want me to!

Id spend it on taking my bike on a holiday 🙂

I’d buy my Zesty again for £2.5k and spend the rest on a weekend with Jedi and then a week or 3 in the Alps.

I think it’s all relative. I could never imagine spending more than £4.5k on a car but plenty of other people obviously spend a lot more than that.

Seriously though, I cannot ever imagine spending that much on a bike, even if I won the lottery tomorrow.

Fox 36 kashima forks – £800
Fox rear shock – £300
XTR group set – £1200
Hope Hoops cw Crest – £300
Tyres – £75
Carbon bars – £100
Dropper seatpost – £300
Saddle £50

£3000 without a frame and assorted bits – so easy to end up at £4.5k with a full sus frame.

+1 CG and Bucko

I earnt it honestly (unlike banks) and I will spend it as I please 😉

by a fresh car

mine smells ok thanks (opens air freshner)

How do you spend four and a half grand on an orange, and come to think of it why

You can build a really nice bike for that sort of cash

It would be Turner maybe Ventana….having owned both in the past they are in completely different league to the oranges I’ve had

I’d buy a shed.

Then empty the classifieds.

Karma.

An Orange 5

I think they look good – yes, I really do.

I like the industrial look of ’em. I think a five (or any bike really)looks best with faded paint, mud, and scuffed worn in parts.

I want a tool for the job, a damn tough tool, welded by blokes from ‘alifax. Not a carbon fibre jeyboy mobile. 🙂

Bucko – Seriously though, I cannot ever imagine spending that much on a bike, even if I won the lottery tomorrow.

It all depends on what type of person you are and what biking means to you. Myself, I don’t earn a fortune, but I haven’t many hobbies outside of mountain biking. I spend thousands on it…with travelling about, biking holidays/weekends, changing/maintaining bikes. I know other folk who struggle to get out riding once a week, but earn plenty money and can drop 6K on a bike without thinking about it!

Blur trc – would have to get a discount from the lbs though

Yesterday my road buddy and I went over to Settle for a coffee and came across a LBS holding a Bianchi test day so we swopped our pedals over and tested some £5000 Bianchi race bikes.

Nice; they were and very light and rewarding out of the saddle. Might buy one if you gave me the cash but can’t help thinking you are paying for the name.

If I had £4500 to spend, that would pay for at lease 2 bikes, probably 3, or a nice bike and a long holiday in the States, or, most likely, something with an engine in it, labelled ‘Ducati’. I reckon I could find a nice clean 916 for that money which would probably never loose a penny if I looked after it.

That’s the problem with MTBs. It nice to have an expensive one, but by fek, they loose money at an astonishing rate.

I’d get a Ti Jones space frame and fork, or have something unique built a man in a shed with a beard. (they don’t loose money at an astonishing rate, which is a bonus) 😀

Pivot mach 5.7 carbon with some change

Cove G-Spot.