Considering buying one of these but have never seen one on the trails or reviewed in a mag. Is it a case of a quality frame with lower quality components compared to the opposition? What sort of weight is it and is and is a comfy for an aluminium frame as Orange claim?

I had an Evo2 for years and loved it to bits – bought the base model and upgraded it over a year or two, ended up very, very nice. Light too.
I did everything on it – heavy XC use, trail centres, urban messing around, races, long-hauls, enduro and adventure racing, even some dirtjumping a couple of times (but I killed a wheel in that process!).
Great bike – even ran mine with my Marzo Marathons at 120mm and it still handled great.

I rode it at C-y-B with a load of Gletressers all on 5 – 7 inch trail/FR biased bikes and kept up everywhere (oh – and killed them on the ups).

Got a Five now, but i’d still have the Evo back as a second bike if my mate would sell it back to me!

Thanks for that. Anyone else?

my wife has one its her third bike and she loves hers

mine weighs 11.5 kgs. I find it’s not as harsh on the back end compared to my previous ali hardtail.

I had an EVO2 it snapped:( just where the joined seat stays were welded into the rest of the frame

I nearly bought the 2009 frame only, but it was pipped at the post by the latest incarnation of the Giant XTC frame, which Giant now at last seem to have got right for UK racing and trails.
My pre purchase reasearch threw up worrying small ammounts of feedback on this bike/frame.

Hmmmm, that’s cleared that up then. I’m looking for a hardtail under a grand as that’s the max I can spend on my employers cycle to work scheme. The Focus Black Forest Expert from Wiggle looks tempting spec wise, just thought the Orange would have a better frame.

No, no I wouldn’t get the EVO8…

…I have discovered this hidden gem of speed and strength and want to keep it to myself 😉

Unless you’re doing a lot of jumps I don’t think it will disappoint you – it has great upgrade potential if you want to turn in into a racing machine. Orange repair/replace EVO8 frame for any damage for 4 years after purchase – I wouldn’t worry about that.