I was truing my rear wheel recently and got it bang on central in the jig only to find that it was about a cm closer to the driveside swingarm than the non-drive side. I redished the wheel so that it's now central in the frame but the fact that the frame is slightly "off" is annoying me. I thought the force of the chain under pedal tension might have resulted in the gradual shift of the swingarm to the rider's right - is this possible? Or could the frame have been misaligned during manufacture? The bike handles just fine, so i'm not that keen to have a go at bending the arms back to centre...
Am i worrying needlessly, or should i have a word with Orange about this? The bike is about 4 years old.
Cheers!
Bike Forum
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Off-centre rear wheel on an Orange 5
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Posted 3 years ago #
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This isn't the first thread we've had about this in the last few days...
:s
Posted 3 years ago # -
Hmm, can't find the original thread, sorry.
Posted 3 years ago # -
My 2005 frame has a similar problem, the wheel rim being offset to the none driveside of the swingarm by a bit less than 1cm. It's been like it since new and I bet we're not the only ones...
Posted 3 years ago # -
My 2005 frame has a similar problem, the wheel rim being offset to the none driveside of the swingarm by a bit less than 1cm. It's been like it since new and I bet we're not the only ones...
Have you spoken to Orange about this? It could be that there was a reason for it...? Or at least they might be able to explain what's happened.Posted 3 years ago # -
I started a thread a few days ago as my new orange five was off-set to the non drivers side. No real concensus as to what the cause is generally.
Not sure whether my wheel is/was dished correctly or not but I just tightened spokes a little on the drive side to bring the wheel in. Not perfect but ok.
To the naked eye the swing arm etc looks central.Posted 3 years ago # -
Do I remember something about them making the frames asymmetric so the wheel did not have to be dished the same amount so it was stronger? Or is that something I imagined
Posted 3 years ago # -
Is it designed to be off-set. I've got a Demo7 thats got a 6mm off-set rear to give a better chain line.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Do I remember something about them making the frames asymmetric so the wheel did not have to be dished the same amount so it was stronger? Or is that something I imagined
Specialized do that on a number of bikes, such as the SX Trail, Big Hit and possibly Demo. Were you thinking of them?
Posted 3 years ago # -
mmm, sounds like a typically creative marketing departments 'explanation' to fault
Posted 3 years ago # -
Quite possibly chapaking.
Posted 3 years ago # -
oops,stand corrected... maybe it is a "genuine" design feature then?
The problem is just that tyre clearence becomes an issue on wider tyres
Posted 3 years ago # -
Do I remember something about them making the frames asymmetric so the wheel did not have to be dished the same amount so it was stronger? Or is that something I imagined
That doesn't really fit with my bike as the offset is towards the drive/right side, which would mean a bigger dish on the non-drive side...Posted 3 years ago # -
Specialized design some of their frames to be off-set for stronger wheel builds, Orange make shonky bikes but have a hat full of excuses.
Posted 3 years ago # -
That doesn't really fit with my bike as the offset is towards the drive/right side, which would mean a bigger dish on the non-drive side...
CONFUSED!!!Actually i've got that wrong... The offset is away from the drive-side, which made me think that the chain tension had pulled the swingarm to the right/drive side, which resulted in the tyre being closer to the non-drive side swingarm, which seems to be consistent with other posters on here...
I'm gonna contact Orange and ask about this.Posted 3 years ago # -
Is the gap bigger on the drive side or non-driveside?
With my five there is more space on the drive side so it can't be chain tension.Posted 3 years ago # -
I remember some 5 or so years ago loads of bikes were made with un-dished rear wheels for strength, think they were mostly DH bikes though. I have one bike that's offset 5mm, but that's through impact with a boat and makes my bike ride in circles if I'm not careful
Posted 3 years ago # -
Forget how the tyre looks in between the swing arm, it looks offset. My Five is like this, more space on the drive side.
But the tyre is central to the seat post and hence the front tyre. IMHO that is what matters, not how central it is to the rear swing arm.
Posted 3 years ago # -
The frame has probably been built misaligned. My mate used to say he'd never get an Orange cos they had issues with building the frames straight.
I'd imagine this issue has been sorted for a few years now but if yours is 4 years old then perhaps thats the problem
Posted 3 years ago # -
I had the same problem with my old sub5 it was built pi$$ed, quality jigs eh, orange bless em wanted to sell me a new swinging arm bless em
I had issues with a P7 when they first came out in the early 90's with slipping seat posts 4 frames later in a month and a refund from my lbs
Would I go back to orange again NO WAY
Posted 3 years ago # -
funnily enough, the only wheel that runs straight in my orange 5 is the one out of my old specialized SX trail....
Posted 3 years ago # -
bugger...
Posted 3 years ago # -
mines got a slightly larger gap on the drive side. but surely it has to be like that to allow for the cassette. the wheel still runs in line with seatpost.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I should have mentioned my alignment issue when the weld between the seat tube and the BB shell cracked and it had to go back to Orange with 2 weeks left on the waranty, but didn't... At least their repairs hold up well!
I'd re-dish the wheel slightly if I could could be bothered to get round to it. Can't say I notice anything when riding.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I have an answer from Orange! Just called them and they say that in the models from a few years ago they used to use forged mech hangers, which were quite soft and prone to wearing down from chain tension under pedalling, which in turn caused the wheel to be pulled away from the driveside swing arm (as i have experienced). So they have suggested that i should replace the old, silver, hanger with one of the new, black ones, which are much tougher. I said i was surprised that the worn hanger would result in such a shift of the wheel from centre, but they were pretty adamant that only a mm or so of wear would result in the level of offset that i'm experiencing.
I'll order the new hanger and will report back once it's fitted.Posted 3 years ago # -
1 degree on a 355mm radius = 6.2mm - looks like they could be right -)
Posted 3 years ago # -
bollocks, my friend and I have Orange 5s, same hangers, my wheel is almost aligned, his is out by not quite a centimetre, as if a alloy mech hanger, that is less than a cm thick could 'squash' or wear to such an extent that the wheel was out of alignment by a cm, ludicrous.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I agree Oranges answer doesn't make sense. My five is new and had the alignment issue from the beginning.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I agree Oranges answer doesn't make sense. My five is new and had the alignment issue from the beginning.
Then I suggest you get in touch with Orange and if something's wrong they should put it right.
I plan to fit a new dropout (tbh i could do with one as mine's been bended a few times...) and then check that the frame/swingarm is aligned. If it's not i'll probably talk to Orange again and/or i *might* have a go at bending the swingarms back in line (in Zinn's excellent maintenance book he suggests that unless you notice the effect of a misaligned frame, you should probably leave it alone...).Posted 3 years ago # -
Do Orange make the 5 in Halifax?
If yes, take it down there and get it onto the alignment jig.
You may not like what they do with a mallet
Posted 3 years ago # -
Why does it matter?
Posted 3 years ago # -
If the wheels running 'straight' (which mine is) then the only problem it causes is with clearence on running wide tyres.
Posted 3 years ago # -
does sound like poo although 1cm at the tyre would be caused by only 1.9mm of wear...which is quite alot...that must be some sh*te alloy they used in the dropout.
Whichever the explanation, it's pretty poor.
Posted 3 years ago # -
I'm not convinced its a dropout/hangar issue.
My new, never ridden Five, has the same issue and it hasn't even got a dropout as it's got a maxle swingarm!
Both my previous Attack trails (both pre 08 - i.e. dropout versions) also had the same problem.
I have noticed that the amount of offset differs depending on which wheel I have fitted. So sounds like a dishing issue. But who knows.
At the end of the day I have never noticed any perceptible effect on the bikes handling. So have just got on with it.
As previously mentioned its more of a problem from a tyre width perspective than anything.
Posted 3 years ago # -
So has my Turner and my Cotic, big deal, I suspect that has crushed a few myths about quality bikes!!
Posted 3 years ago #
Topic Closed
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