I’m loving the old Five I built earlier this year, but I feel the need for a wagon wheeled version of it to steamroller over my incompetence. I love the idea of a 5-29 or Alpine, but wonder if it might be too much, and if the Segment might be a more tame-able beast.

Anyone ridden both?

I haven’t ridden the Segment so I can’t compare the two but I do own a Five 29’er. I bought it for trips to Wales, bike parks and trail centres but ive found it to be very adaptable and pleasantly surprised as to how well it copes with general xc riding.

Yeah, I’ve only ridden the Gyro and Five 29 and not the segment but even on tame stuff like glentress red the Five didn’t feel terrible- lots of pop and easy to handle. Does smooth the trail out alot but that’s not all bad. It’s a unapologetically big, big hitting bike but they can still be fun for other things.

Basically it’s more like a more capable, faster five than a bigwheeled alpine, though it does both jobs. I loved it, I’d happily use one for XC and that with the right parts. The Segment might be ace too, I dunno.

I had a demo on a Segment and really liked it. I ended up buying a Transition Smuggler instead, but even I’m not sure why 🙂 Actually I’m loving the Smuggler, but I’m sure I’d have loved the Segment too. It was fun in the way that Orange bikes always seem to be. I thought it felt a bit more balanced and stable than they Gyro (which I tested a few years back) and a bit more snappy than the Five29, although I’ve only had a short ride on one of those and it may not have been set up properly for me.

I have tried all three and settled on the segment. I loved the Gyro, but it felt a little too xc but had plenty of pop, the alpine 5 was too much of a gate for me, it sat too tall and was not very planted. The segment ticked all the boxes for me, burlier and slacker than the Gyro, but with the same pop. It sits lower than the Alpine 5, it can take the same hits but keeps you planted. I run the segment with 800 mm bars and 50 mm stem and it is amazing.

I demoed the Segment and thought it very capable but thought the short travel shock struggle with those of a larger nature. Excellent bike otherwise IMO, though other (forum) reviews I read suggest that they thought it much more of a light weight than the five-29… So if you doing big mountains/lots of rock garden, go for the 5-29, if you just want a 5 with 29er wheels to do all day stuff go Segment. No doubt some-one will appear to say you can do all day stuff on the 5-29er, I don’t doubt it, but would suggest the Segment is the better tool for that type of riding

I put a -2 degree angleset in an Orange Gyro. Its a fantastic bike. I have several mtbs in different wheel and travel configurations and the Gyro in 1×10 is my go to bike.

Basically it’s more like a more capable, faster five than a bigwheeled alpine, though it does both jobs. I loved it, I’d happily use one for XC and that with the right parts. The Segment might be ace too, I dunno.

This. I went from a 26″ 5 to 5 29 and love it. Typical Orange ‘feel’ but just loads more capable compared to the smaller wheels. Some great deals about at the moment too.

I demoed the Segment and thought it very capable

But you bought something a whole lot more capable altogether though right…?

😉

Too bloody right, loved the Segment (except the shock) but it was like a ‘blunt force’ instrument, you just pointed & ran over anything in front of you.. Which is why I was amazed by the stw forum reviews saying they thought it light weight compared to the 5-29. My current bike, [that receives even more STW hatred than even a Orange thread does (always from non-owners)], is a lot more subtle & elegant in the handling department… Though it did take time to get the rear shock (another RS) to a pint where I was happy with it..

Soz for the highjack…

roverpig…are you still liking the Smuggler? I am very tempted myself

roverpig…are you still liking the Smuggler?

In short; yes. Coming from an Orange (26″ Five) it took me a while to get used to the extra stiffness of the Smuggler. I’m still not convinced that stiffer is always better. Like most things with bikes it’s just different. The stiffer and shorter rear end of the Smuggler (compared with, say, the Segment) does make it a more efficient climber and that was something that I was looking for. It’s also a bit easier to move the bike about and generally more precise (i.e. more likely to go where you point it). But if you point it in the wrong direction it is less forgiving. Where the more flexy Orange will just snake around things and let you get away with a poor line choice, the Smuggler needs to be ridden with a bit more precision. But when you do that it is very rewarding.

Of course we are talking very subtle differences here. The Smuggler is still a slack 29er and will roll over all sorts of crap and the Segment climbs just fine (especially with a decent shock) and can still be moved about pretty well. It’s the subtle differences that steer you more towards one bike than another, but these subtle differences in the ride are just one part of the overall mix. If you’ve got another reason for prefering any other slack 29er, even if it’s just that you prefer the colour or the company, then I’m sure you’d be just as happy with that choice.

Just for my tuppence worth, so I went from an old gen. 26″ Five to an Alpine5 / 5-29 (via a Pyga OneTen). And my thought is that unless you’ve really got the terrain then the 5-29 is overkill. Its a big tank of a thing, that once you’ve spec’d it with some wide rims and tacky tyres, its not going to be the most pleasant thing to pedal uphill. Its also a more physically demanding bike to ride (to make the most of it) – long days in the hills I find leave me significantly more tired (than a comparable bike).
Just to add to the discussion – I’ve recently bought a Smuggler and RP is correct in that whilst it needs to be ridden with a bit more precision it is an immensely capable bike for the travel it has. It pedals / climbs better than the Orange for sure and the suspension action IMO is better. The Smuggler is one of the most impressive bikes I’ve ridden for a very long time. I ride the Smuggler more now than the 5-29 I would say.
The other thing I would say on the 5-29 is that I wasn’t particularly impressed by the Float-X; stuck a Vorsprung corset sleeve on it and thought it much better.

20% off bikes on the Orange site today. Alpine 5 for £1600 anyone?

FWIW I love my Segment. It’s the best full-susser I’ve ever had for climbing (most of my previous FS bikes have been XC-orientated) and descends like a much longer travel bike. It’s slack but not to the point of being wandery on the climbs.

On the ride yesterday I remembered something else that took a bit of getting used to with the Smuggler. Coming from the Orange (Five) I’d got it into my head that any shock movement when climbing was bad and had got into the habit of wacking the pro-pedal on as soon as the trail pointed up. That seems to work well with the Orange as there is still enough flex in the bike to keep it feeling springy without losing too much energy in the shock. Doing that on the Smuggler just seems to make it feel harsh without really gaining much (if anything) in terms of climbing speed. Basically (I think) the suspension on the Smuggler is designed to remain active when climbing so, unless it is really smooth (e.g. on a road) it seems to be better to leave it open.

Talking of roads, that’s an area where the extra stiffness of the Smuggler (compared with the Orange) can really be felt. I know that wont matter to most folk, but some of my favourite longer rides end with a few miles on the road (usually with a decent climb). On the Five those sections (coming at the end of a few hours of riding) could be a real chore as it seemed that (even with everything locked out) the flex in the bike was sucking up what little power I had left. But lock both ends on the Smuggler and it feels pretty damn stiff.

Again, I should stress, that it isn’t better or worse, just different.

Ridden both and went for the Segment, just felt more lively and more fun to ride.
The Alpine was fine but felt like it needed winding up to get it going, I had a SB95 before and that was similar.

Segment is an awesome bike, I run a Cane Creek on the rear and have put a 140mm fork on it, handles everything around here in South Wales. All natural stuff and the Bike Park. I tested it down 50 Shades when i was running a 120 mm fork and it handled that well.

Great bike, mines a large if you want to ride it sometime. Obvs no idea where you are…