Any orange blood owners out there?

I recently bought the frame and i was getting ready to buy some 160mm forks then i noticed the 2011 blood is being sold with 140mm forks on.

What size forks you running? And what kind of riding you doing mostly?

170mm Lyriks. Or 160mm 36s (as seen on the cover of the new issue in fact)

I've got the 2009 Blood with 2009 Lyriks (160mm)
Great for all round riding & messing about including XC – have ridden it round the Peak District and the likes of Innerleithen Red & Glentress Black. Bit of a winch on the climbs but a real hoot-and-a-half on the downs

Tend to run the forks @ 140mm pretty much most of the time.

Yeah i thnk something like a lyrik or talas would be perfect but dont think i can stretch that far.

So i have choice of sticking with my 140mm vans or upgrading to some 160mm forks. Which will most likely be 160mm vans as they are relatively cheap and seem to pop up in the classifieds quite often.

Yeah i run 160mm lyric solo air on mine, and use the bike for everything. Damn good fun when pointed downwards! :o)

160mm Van R's for me.

And i agree it's awesome fun going downwards. I've not tried riding up a hill yet. I can't imagine it's going to be swift.

I have been on one quick ride in the peaks so far and i can tell its gonna be a lot of fun as soon as its pointing down. Hopefully going to wharncliffe this weekend to test it out there.

Anyone know why orange have decided to sell it with a 140mm fork? It seems a bit strange since the frame was designed around 160mm.

If you have any pictures aswell then get them up, Im interested to see other peoples builds.

any excuse

"Anyone know why orange have decided to sell it with a 140mm fork? It seems a bit strange since the
frame was designed around 160mm."

Price, presumably. Same as the basic Five model used to say on the website "minimum fork length 140mm" but they sold it with a 130mm Recon.

Huws – Very nice. Are you lucky enough to live near an uplift or have you been pushing up every hill?

Unfortunately not. Mostly been pushing up at Aston Hill, although I did take it to cwmcarn for the uplift but that ended in 4 months off the bike with a broken shoulder.

Before I bought it I had a go round whites level on the skyline demo bike and that eventually got up the climb. That one was quite a bit lighter though.

Fox 36's 160mm. Use it as a short travel dh bike. It's a bit too heavy and slack for a trail bike, probably why orange have steepened and lightened it.

Sorry – couldnt help my self. not a blood but a strange evo five!

I run 160mm Fox 36 VAN RC2s – I demoed a Blood with 140 Vanillas but it wasn't great

If anyone here decides to change there forks im looking for 36 floats/vans etc with 200mm steerer. Email in profile – thread hijack i know 🙂

Never heard of an evo 5, what makes that different to a normal 5?

Why don't all fives come with a short seat tube, or at least the AM frames? I would have it as a custom option if it was available

Had to pay through the nose for it, only 15 made and only a couple made it to sale. Its not much different to the 2011 five am except it is slacker.The top tube is the length of standard 18" bike but seat tube the same as a 16" bike -creates a lot of fun!

That sounds ideal, If that was available to the public i probably would have chose that over the blood.

If you ever get sick of it let me know!

oxfordan – if that ccdb ever needs a new home let me know

can not see me ever selling the frame and the ccdb is what transforms this bike into somthing very special to ride 😀

Oxforddan Sorry mate but thats not an Alpine 5

The 15 only made had a flat top tube and an adjustable shock
travel plate which could take a rear shock to give you upto 6 inches of rear travel, the same found on the 08 Patriot.

The true Alpine 5 looked like a scaled down Patriot so no idea
what you have But probaly a proto type between stage of the Alpine 160
and the Orange 5. But Not an Alpine 5.

he said it's an evo five

As above – he never said it was an Alpine 5, it was one of the Evos that was out this year. He's right, you don't pay attention.

Well spotted Tony!
It is an evo five. 140mm rear travel- it is not the first time orange made a proto like this. They made a proto before the orange alpine five in 2007. This is just a slacker 2011 five am. I have also spotted a strange alpine 160 that had the different swingarm on, I think they are going to produce that one at the end of the month.

I dont think they made this bike for production as it makes the alpine a bit pointless – hence why the alpine is also going to get beefed up