My rear wheel (2007 Pro) is bang on central to the frame, the rear swingarm appears to be slightly asymetric as there is a couple of mm difference in tyre clearance, 2.35 Nevegal on the back has plenty of mud clearance, bike tracks well, corners well, climbs well and descends well so no fuss from me.

I’ve had sample frames from my builders that are at least 5mm out of track (visual only do not ride)… and haven’t noticed any particular issues on bumpy offroad stuff. I would guess at high speed dirt road, or, er, road stuff, you might well notice.

I’ve had sample frames from my builders that are at least 5mm out of track (visual only do not ride)… and haven’t noticed any particular issues on bumpy offroad stuff. I would guess at high speed dirt road, or, er, road stuff, you might well notice.

Yes yes. I’ve not noticed any effect on ride characteristics, and as Mr Zinn says, don’t muck with the alignment unless you notice it… I’ve chosen to allow this to bother me. A new hanger has been ordered, so when it’s fitted, i’ll report back. 🙂

Hmmm, mine’s pretty much bang on, perhaps 1 or 2 mm out at most but I can’t be sure if I’m just trying to see something and it’s my eyes fooling me.

Well waddayaknow. New bit arrived from Orange today. Fitted this morning, wheel redished, and it all works! There might be a mm or so to argue about, but otherwise it’s all spinning centrally.
Glad to have had this issue resolved 🙂

Nice one.

My 1st sub 5 was well out also. However, I had knock on problems – the mech hanger came loose on every ride (despite the use of loctite), the shock came loose after 35 mins off road, and the whole thing creaked like a bastard. Had it back to the shop about 5 times, then when I discovered it had different length crank arms as well I took it back for good.

JE James in Rotherham were brilliant about it – sent it back to Orange who admitted that it was a “bad example” and that the frame was indeed out of alignment. A proper friday afternoon bike!

Anyway, got full refund and chose something different.

That said, I’ve now had 2x sub 5’s, a 5, a Patriot LT, a patriot 66 & a 224, and haven’t had one problem with any of them.

Anyway, glad its sorted.

Oh. Also used a bit of string running around the headtube to each dropout to check spacing between the string and seat tube – i.e. simple way to check frame alignment. Good news. All even. 🙂

I guess Orange do actually know how to make bikes 😉

interesting thread, when was having mine serviced the other week, i stood with mechanic over rear end of bike with wheel off, and he showed me it was slightly out on the mech hanger side…….ive never ever noticed any problems riding etc with it….it almost feels like it flexes onto the qr a bit on that side, whether that seems normal i dont know, but the qr seems tight, the wheel has just been trued again and running fine…..the only thing i have acquired is a strange squeeking noise on revolution from the rear end….thought for a while it was my drive train…turns out that its actually my rear brake catching….the way of combatting this yesterday was simply spraying a bit of water over the calpier…..

even though its all been trued, the calipers centralised….wonder if the offset of the wheel is'nt working straight with the calpier? or would the caliper centralise itself to the frame direction? seems to do it under load climbing sitting down so it maybe flexing on that side?
any ideas if it could be linked?

anyone??? any five owners experienced something similar? or is it just the rear brake causing the issue and nothing to do with frame being slightly out of align???

🙂

Right,
Just bought an Orange Five off T-inter-web. Also bought a pair of Mavic Deemax wheels to go on it. (I like the yellow wheels with the white frame !)
Turns out the hub, cassette & brake disc fit and align fine.
The tyre & rim however are set central to the hub but are off-set away from the front mech’ by abot 5 or 6 mm.
I am going to book it in to have the wheel “Dished” by a well known local wheely.
QWill report back once It’s done.

Offset rear wheel will make it ace through mud….

See if you can adjust the wheel dish so its central at least. Easy, loosen one side of the spokes, tighten the other by equal amounts and to maintain tru and your rim will move across.

Well, it might work

Right,

On my Orange Five (bought off e-bay a couple of weeks ago) I decided to fit a couple of Mavic Deemax wheels (Yellow), again bought off e-bay.
When the wheels arrived and were fitted I could see the rear TYRE & RIM (not the hub, disc or cassette) was off centre away from the drive side by about 5 or 6 mm.
On closer inspection I could see that the rear wheel that came with the bike was “DISHED” ( Look up “Dishing a bicycle wheel” on You tube ).
I took the bike to Dave Hinde in Northwich, Cheshire to dish the new rear wheel. The same day the wheel was ready to be picked up and just £28.
Note : Some say that dishing does actually effect the strength of the wheel as a whole so ‘ On your own ass be it ! ‘. Personally I don’t think I can destroy a Deemax with what I’ll be up to !
Thank you to the lads at Dave Hindes. Recommended.

my COVE Handjob is probably about 5mm out, i’ve seen a few Stiffee’s and a Hummer the same too – its been on the list for years to dish it proppa like

Right, there’s a couple of things here worth looking at.

First, if you think the wheel is offset, try putting it in the other wa ’round, so the cassette is on the disc side, and vice versa. If it’s still off to one side, then the bike is wrongle. If it’s off – but to the other side – then the wheel is wrongle.

If it’s the frame, and depending on the type of shock bush you’re using (and how meat-headed the installer was) you may have the swingarm poorly aligned. On the Five, take off the dust caps and do a visual check of the bearings, stub axles and swingarm in relation to each other.

You may also want to check how free the shock is in the frame. put the bike in a stand, loosen one of the shock bolts, and gently pull that end of the shock our of the frame. I tend to unbolt the swingarm end of the shock for this.

Very, very occasionally, the main pivot bearings will have been poorly reinstalled (usually by a non-technical owner) and everything will be on the squint. This includes the shock, which might experience premature wear as a result, or bind / suffer stiction in operation to boot.

Wheel dish is important, an pretty much every rear (and front disc) wheels should have it on account of the extra space taken up by cassettes and disc mounts.

HTH