This one.

A Lightweight Patriot!

http://www.tamedearth.com/2011/orange-patriot-prototype-spotted/

Verified here.

http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/news/view/halo_british_downhill_series_nant_gwrtheyrn/

What’s a Patriot for then? Bigger than an Alpine 160, smaller than a 224 presumably? Don’t really understand how it would fit into the range.

Looks good anyway.

180mm travel with the capability to take a 200mm triple clamp, so I’ve heard.

A new Alpine then?

The clue to the Alpines travel is in the name.

There is the likelyhood that this frame combines with some Fox 36 180 Talas or Totem 2-Steps would be a decent all round bike that is strong enough for UK DH. Orange are calling it lightweight so I’m guessing its lighter than the old Patriot but heavier than the Alpine.

Good to see they’re putting some innovation into the suspension design on this one! 😕

oooh i do like that, i see a spot for them, perhaps treading on the alpines toes but it’s a simple strong frame that has similar ride feel to a five that can handle the bigger stuff.

why innovate when plenty of people rate single pivot feel and handling, and it obviously works as the mtb cut chaps have had a very successfull weekend on their new 322′

exactly why i just bought a patriot 66, it feels very familiar to my five but i have no fear about throwing it down stuff.

it’s a simple strong frame that has similar ride feel to a five that can handle the bigger stuff.

an alpine then

this frame combines with some Fox 36 180 Talas or Totem 2-Steps

a patriot then?

I cant see them making a 150,160,170&180mm variations, so somethings gotta give!

It’s getting silly now, the first “Patriot” was a 5” travel single pivot bike that could do a bit of everything (somehow sounds familiar doesn’t it) and was a relatively eco friendly was to recycle old filing cabinets…

It incrementally got more and more travel and curves (7+, 66) and then vanished from the range but obviously the various market niches it vacated along the way have been filled by the likes of the “5” and the Alpine…

Now all of a sudden 180mm is the new brand new, old thing again, Tada!

It’s just a 7+ but the tin bashers have spent couple more minutes on it this time so it looks marginally different…

The trouble is Orange are heading towards having far too many FS bikes in their range, ranging from 80mm – 220 in 20-30mm travel increments, those poor little IT managers just won’t know which bandwagon to jump on…

As an exercise in minor variations on a theme (single pivot bouncy bikes) I think they’re doing well, but lets not shit the bed just yet eh?

i suspect it’ll be different from the alpine, whilst having hte same travel, and possibly weighing almost the same. DH bikes are generally slacker and lower than ‘all mountain’ bikes. I see this as a ‘mini dh’ bike, with appropriate components, rather than a trail bike

Spoon What are you on?

Yes its a Patriot and yes the Alpine is of the same ilk.

But what are you on about wit the numbers? a 5 is 140mm Alpine 160 is (surprisingly) 160mm new Patriot is 180mm and the 322 I would assume has somewhere in the region of 200-220mm

for something so simple, it’s got awfully complicated…

I have always liked Patriots going back to the first one they brought out around 99/2000 I think.

If I had my own bike company my line up of full sus bikes would be pretty similar to Orange

120mm – ST4 XC Race/All Day
140mm – 5 Longish travel all rounder
160mm – Alpine 160 big bike that you can still take anywhere
180mm – Patriot UK DH, Alps uplift days, must be able to take 203mm forks
200mm+ – Full DH bike

Most other makes have a very similar line up

Spesh – Epic, Stumpy, Enduro, Big Hit, Demo
Giant – Anthem, Trance, Reign, Reign X, Glory
Trek – Top Fuel, EX9, Remedy, Scratch, Session

wonder if the “new” patriot will be a bit shorter, the Alpines pretty long, almost as long as DH frame – 224 or whatever it is..

Do you orangeistas think that an alpine with an angleset, coils and general robust build would make a good mini DH bike?

are they SPDs?

Yep. They look like Shimano DX SPDs. I have some they are good.

I mean they seem a bit out of place.

Joe Barnes was riding that at innerleithen in the last round of the winter series, seemed to work, he stuck it in 4th place. I mistook it for a 224.

I mean they seem a bit out of place.

Yeah Spds on a DH bike what is he thinking, best tell the majority of the top DH guys that they shouldnt be riding spds as its out of place. 🙄 🙂

Tell me why orange bikes are so long nearly 23″ for a 16″ 5, whats all that about

Makes them more stable on the DH stuff

looks good, has it been detuned to stop riders ragging it too hard? 🙄

it appears to have an old sock stretched between the frok brace and crown, presumably to stop mud flicking off the front tyre and back into the riders face, however the number board is muddy so FAIL i reckon