Can’t decide between the two… I ride at uk bike park around once a month and puddletown and purbecks every fortnight the rest is just small bits of singletrack around where I live. Also planning to go to the alps this year. Im tempted to go for the Alpine but the sizing is really fustrating me, the 17″ 5 AM seems like it will be the right one for me at 5,10, but the Alpine most people at my height are between the two sizes. I was thinking about the 5 and using offset shock bushes to slacken the bike a further degree when uplifting and in the alps? or do you think the alpine is the right choice if so what size? Also I currently ride a 180mm 65deg HA freeride bike but am looking to sell for an all rounder. Any opinions?

5 AM is pretty damn slack, half a degree slacker than an alpine

Had a 5am, prefer the alpine I have now

oxnop- what differences did you find between the alpine and five AM?

Id sum it up by saying that the AM is trying to be somthing it is not. The five is ace at 140 but the slackness of a five with 160s made it feel dead and slow. I ended up leaving the talas at 130 in the main.

My Alpine is built as 1×10 and coil shock and weighs just under 32lbs, heavier than my previous bikes (mojo sl/ blur LTc etc) but still climbs fine. I can get up anything that I can on my Soul no issues.

The Alpine is just a great bike, angles are perfect, long wheelbase and lowish BB all contribute. It’s a capable descender and hasn’t felt out of shape on anything including a recent trip to the alps

The Five Pro has a 67 degree HA with a 510 axle to crown. The Five AM has a 66 degree HA with a 545mm axle to crown, a difference of 35mm. Surely that makes the Five AM slacker than the quoted HA of 66 degrees on the Orange website.

Definitely feels more than 1 degree when you ride them thats for sure.

I would just stick with the Five Pro, Alpine is heavy and not really necessary in this country IMO.

There was another thread yesterday saying much the same thing about the five with 160 forks. Which is a shame as I’ve just gone and bought a pair of 160 coils for mine!

I would go for the alpine, but the 18″ looks slightly too big and the 16″ slightly to small.. thats why im swaying towards the 17″ AM, why cant orange realise most people are 5’10 and always between their sizes 😡

i have 160 coil forks on my five and i find it spot on for everything from tow paths to dh!

Think im going to get a 5 AM would rather be underbiked 25% of the time than over biked 75% of the time. Plus I have a set of pikes I could put on for trail use and use the 160’s for UKBP and Alps. Thanks for advise

Not tried a 5 AM, but I do own a 2010 5 and Alpine 160, and although I am no trail god, I do prefer the 160. I am 5’10” and both are 18″, yet for some reason, I feel more comfy on the 160. Climbing wise, the 5 is lighter, but also more prone to the nose getting light (150 Revs) on steep bits. The 160 goes up anything at its own pace without drama. Its when you point them down that you notice the difference. The 5 is very good, the 160 is AWESOME.

Sticking 160 forks on a 5 will help it towards performing like an Alpine 160, but its a compromise !………shorter travel rear, not so good shock/travel ratio, and the split clamps on the bearings don’t help rear end rigidness either, all add up to a back end that will never cope a swell as the 160.

The only area I find the 5 better, is on twistier singletrack.

I am 5’10” and prefer the 16″ as it is much more chuckable and gives me more flexiblity. The 18″ is great for day long riding.
Definately Alpine 160 over the AM.
Go and ride both, the top tube length isn’t too different, try it with wide bars – 720mm plus as well…

is the AM heavier…..my son demo’d both bikes some time ago and found the AM alot heavier he went for the Alpine. 😉 and loves it !

i cant see how a alpine is lighter than a 5 with 160 forks on it? the 5 frame must be lighter, so is the difference in the wheels? my bike is a 2009 5 with 160 forks not a am..

They don’t do a 17″ Five AM.

Also the AM has different TT lengths compared to the Pro this year.

Pretty sure there is 17″ AM for 2012 and the TT is different because of the 160mm fork raising the front as I understand..

Definitely no 17″ AM

Putting 160mm forks on a bike will not change the top tube length.

check the geometry.

Effective will change, wont it?

17″ is listed HERE

Just checked orange site, there is no 17″ listed for AM.. was going to build from frame though.

Nothing will change the effective top tube length

Got a 5AM, it’s great. Bit heavy but it goes anywhere and love the tallas forks on it but they need a service every year. Why don’t you bite the bullet and go for a patriot, that’s my spring purchase.

Want to keep up round trail centres, think the alpine 160 would be pushing it, the patriot would be complete over kill, if I could afford two bikes then definatly a 5 and patriot. Alpine and 5 are too similar to have both imo.

You know despite what I said if I were you would go for 5pro with a tallas fork upgrade!

Sam- i demod these 2 bikes before i bought the alpine, first i tried the AM and thought it was awesome on the downhills but was poor on the climbs, i felt that the AM was alot heavier on the front which made it a poor climber! so i demod the alpine and it was awesome on the downhills and awesome on the uphills, the alpine seems to balance the bike out no matter what your doing, as said in reviews its a bike made for the job lot! tbh imo i would go for the alpine, im running the ccdb shock on the back with the sun-line bars stem and pedals and it just makes it a bigger monster than it already is ;p up to you though mate let me know how you get on cheers! chris_mbuk@hotmail.com

17″ AM not being on their website is probably just a mistake on Orange’s part, we’re showing it as an option on our website, and the frames are all the same regardless of spec.

Can’t comment on the 5AM, but love my alpine, as said above it just feels right. It feels just as confidence inspiring pointing down as my old DH bike which had a 64 degree head angle, but so much more versatile, love it!

Got a 5 with 160mm Talas fork to the front and coil shock on the rear. What people are saying about the 5 with 160mm forks is true – makes it harder to climb and less nimble on twisty singletrack. That’s why I put the Talas on the front. For most singletrack I wind the front end down to 130mm and the bike is much more responsive and turns very well. On climbs I wind the front down to 100mm and the front isn’t at all light in feel and climbs as well as any bike of this kind I’ve owned.
Once you point the bike down the fast, steep stuff, wind the fork back up to 160mm and you’ve transformed it into a lightweight downhill bike.

Best of all worlds in my opinion.

Personal choice re: the coil shock at the back. For me, the added control of the back end and loss of ‘chatter’ on steep stuff more than made up for the small weight penalty which you don’t notice in the saddle anyhow.

Putting 160mm forks on a bike will not change the top tube length.

It does change the effective length

Perhaps the site has just been updated, but the 17″ AM is an option on the Orange site. If you click ‘Spec/Options’ you can pick 17″

http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/five_am/

Coil shock + TALAS forks = excellent combination (Van RC / 36Rs here)

i’m 5ft 7 or 8 (not sure might be 7.5 ha haa ).

i’ve got a 18 2011 alpine and fits me perfectly a thought the 16 would be too short , i use this for mainly xc but can take it ti local dh track and it excellent , highly versatile , climbs fine too run it single chainring and 11-36 10 speed

It does change the effective length

The effective top tube length is different it because the top tube is shorter.

17″ AM not being on their website is probably just a mistake on Orange’s part, we’re showing it as an option on our website, and the frames are all the same regardless of spec.

Looks different to me, only a few mm though so you wouldn’t notice, so its pretty pointless.

FIVE AM

Frame Size AM 14″AM 16″AM 18″AM 20″

C. Top Tube 442 559 577 601

D. Effective TT 564 580 600 620

FIVE PRO

Frame Size 14″ 16″ 17″ 18″ 20″ 22″

C. Top Tube 542 557 570 576 596 616

D. Effective TT 564 582 602 602 620 640