[Closed] Orange Five through the years.....

This site illustrates their entire history

http://www.officemuseum.com/filing_equipment_cabinets.htm

Always been the best bike in the world, or so 'they' say....

Seat tube was increased this year.

What year did they add casters for better handling. 😀

I had an early Sub 5. It's heady mix of 5" at the rear coupled with a truly horrific 80mm manitou front fork and v-brakes was amusing.

It died in Switzerland when the front shock mount disappeared into the frame.

Apart from the mismatched suspension, lack of general strength and useless brakes - it was a great bike.

07 bent top tube,
09 folds on front end of swingarm, slacker head with gusset below.
Late 09 down tube cable guides angled.

Whatever changes there is, i think the sub 5 was a far better name.

orange mrxc was a better name than sub-5

started in '99. The mrXc had 4.5" travel, v brake bosses on the back. the 'xtra' spec version came with manitou sx carbon forks (3" travel) and xtr throughout, the rear v brakes of which had a smidge of power before bowing the rear swingarm out.

Not too sure but have bought a few, so here is what I know

06- new curved front part of swingarm
07- bent toptube with old geometry
08- slacker geometry
Mid 09- different cable routing under shock
10- Reynolds top tube
11- larger seat tube and taper headtube

'10 also had a change from stepped headtube to hourglass type, and splayed front cable guides with ziptie fitting instead of guides at the shock mount(which superceded the previous stops above and below the shock mount).

In 2003 they steepened the head angle to make it more of a trail bike, great at everything, singletrack to all mountain use. It was a brilliant bike for the UK.
In 2009 they slackened the head angle again, why? This makes the bike more stable on the downhills but makes the steering lazier for blasting along singletrack and makes the front end wander more on climbs. So why the change, is the country now full of lift assisted red grade downhills? Strangely in the same year Orange introduced the Alpine which effectively (taking fork length into account) has the same geometry as the new 5. So why didn't they leave the 'trail' bike as it was leaving the Alpine for those who like their downhill more?

I miss my sub5.
2002 i think - it had talas 130mm forks - when i got it it was like riding down a hill on a sofa.
I sold it to a mate last year and he loves it too.
I'm now looking for a s/h small 5 frame.ha.
I think the new ones with the tapered headset thingy are a bit of overkill for what i do though.

In 2003 they steepened the head angle to make it more of a trail bike, great at everything, singletrack to all mountain use. It was a brilliant bike for the UK.
In 2009 they slackened the head angle again, why? This makes the bike more stable on the downhills but makes the steering lazier for blasting along singletrack and makes the front end wander more on climbs. So why the change, is the country now full of lift assisted red grade downhills? Strangely in the same year Orange introduced the Alpine which effectively (taking fork length into account) has the same geometry as the new 5. So why didn't they leave the 'trail' bike as it was leaving the Alpine for those who like their downhill more?

fashion. In the early 2000s steep angles were the way, and as fork travel increased manufacturers steepened frame angles so they were essentially the same. More recently, slack angles are 'better' as they give people more confidence.

Trails have evovled though. Singletrack gets more technical, and so maybe more people like slacker bikes?

Always been the best bike in the world, or so 'they' say....

My Sub5 is 2000 (according to Orange) and can be ridden with forks up to 120mm.

" Singletrack gets more technical "

ha ha ha ha!

My Patriot ( 2000 ) has got pretty dialled geo, even by todays standards, when combined with 2006 36 TALAS....

Don't know what they angles are exactly, but wouldn't put them very far off a modern Five or Alpine 160.

you think it doesn't? look at some of the trail centers now, there are 'black' decents on xc loops which simply didn't exist 5 or 10 years ago.

But they black descents are hardly challenging though, are they? Seriously? For the armoured-up weekend warrior, perhaps..

People have been riding bikes down difficult terrain, ever since our two wheeled friends were invented.

This mystical thing called 'singletrack' hasn't got more technical, it's remained exactly the same - chances are, somebody has already ridden down it before you.

I agree, trails haven't become more technical, just more of us are now tackling tougher terrain, i.e. what is considered XC has become more technical.

Therefore sales of bikes more suitable for technical terrain have increased, and designs have shifted in that direction too.

Trails have evovled though. Singletrack gets more technical, and so maybe more people like slacker bikes?

i didnt realise the mountains and hills had been upgraded to make them more technical, when did this happen?

i didnt realise the mountains and hills had been upgraded to make them more technical, when did this happen?

This made me laugh.

I had a 2001 Sub 5, one of the best bikes i have ever owned.
(Dreams about days of old)

i didnt realise the mountains and hills had been upgraded to make them more technical, when did this happen?

I'm not quite sure how to put this, but, bridleways and footpaths were made hundreds of years ago to get people from A to B quickly(ish). Which meant straight lines. These days people spend hours in their local woods (winding people like TJ up as they claim Soctalnd is the one true country and they ride anywhere they like, while the rest of us just do it anyway :p) digging trails with these things called 'corners', 'jumps', 'drops' and 'rock gardens' in them.

Now get back under you bridge/onto retrobike.

p.s. Simon, just buy one! It'll be slacker than your hardtail and about 3ft lower in the BB than your 222.

Sorry to be a sales whore .....but

i'm just about to sell a Black 2002 Sub 5 - 16inch.
e-mail me if interested.

The last Sub5 was the 2003 - I had one

In 2009 they slackened the head angle again, why? This makes the bike more stable on the downhills but makes the steering lazier for blasting along singletrack and makes the front end wander more on climbs. So why the change, is the country now full of lift assisted red grade downhills? Strangely in the same year Orange introduced the Alpine which effectively (taking fork length into account) has the same geometry as the new 5. So why didn't they leave the 'trail' bike as it was leaving the Alpine for those who like their downhill more?

I agree, the new Five and the Alpine are too similar. A more nimble Five would have fitted in the range better IMO. The ST4 was probably supposed to fill that gap but hasn't been well-recieved.

When was the annoying creaking noise introduced? 😉

lol at the above...its ****in annoying that creak aint it.....i solved my tho !!!!! not telling you how tho-its top secret 😉

If you run a QR rear, make sure it's nice and tight. The creak can sometimes come from there.

I've only ever had one "5" - my latest bike.

Marin, Proflex, Specialised, Rocky Mountain. All those wasted years! 😥

Oh well, I've got one now though! 😀

Whatever the changes down the years, I think MBR have said every year that last year's was perfect but this year's is more perfect 😉

Whatever the changes down the years, I think MBR have said every year that last year's was perfect but this year's is more perfect

Until this year, not a mention of the Five in their Bike of The Year article.

Still won their trail bike of the year back in April/May though.

Still won their trail bike of the year back in April/May though.

Yeah, strange journalism that, as it doesn't even appear in their shortlist 4 months later.

Clearly Orange haven't been generous with their advertising budget in MBR this summer 😉

I've never ridden a Five so I cannot comment other than to say that the Black special edition one I saw in Hebden Bridge a while back almost caused a wallet haemmorrage.

09 folds on front end of swingarm, slacker head with gusset below.

Slacker head was '08. I know this because I have one. 😉

Definitely 2009 on for slacker head angle. 2007 and 2008 frames were the same, and the best! I have a 2007 but demo'd a 2009 and didn't like it.

' The big change to the Five Pro is the geometry — the 2009 bike has a 67-degree head angle. Last year’s bike was relatively steep at 68.5 degrees...'
http://www.mbr.co.uk/products/bike-test-orange-5-pro-2009/

Orange don't do model years though do they? They just sell it as and when they've finished playing with the prototypes so concievable that a later 2008 bike would be the same as one tested a year later in MBR, and different to one MBR had a few months beforehand?

Here's my old deore disc model (2002 I think). My first foray into full suz and served me well. Sold it a couple of years ago for £180. Looking back I gave it away for that price.
[IMG] [/IMG]

You could have swept the path

You sold the whole thing, or just the frame/shock?

I paid around that for my Patriot frame + shock - mrs xiphons was around 2/3 of that.

billysugger - Member
You could have swept the path

Posted 2 minutes ago # Report-Post

but even so it still was a steel.

I think you'll find even back then they were an aluminium alloy 😉

Bugger, schoolboy error from me.

🙂

i didnt realise the mountains and hills had been upgraded to make them more technical, when did this happen?

Haven't people been out in your local area putting new trails through the woods and hills? They have round by me, and they are definitely more technical than the old trails were!

*sniffs* The one I bought:
[img] [/img]

after Ric of RicsBikeShed leant me one for a day (1st generation one):
[img] [/img]

07- bent toptube with old geometry
08- slacker geometry

Total wrong

07 did have the new bent top tube with new geometry complete with new down tube and
without the two gussets at the top of the down tube, also they used the FOX RP23 rear shock instead
of the Manitou due to failure problems.
Also the 07 was the start of new CNC shock mounts to the down tube and swing arm.
New swing arm Orange put the same to date swing arm has the Patriot.

08 Same geometry and graphics But with a re tuned FOX RP 23 due to the pro pedal settings.

Never really like the old Sub Five's but loved the Patriot when it first came out! Think it was about 1999 and that was proper phwoar!

09 Slacker head angle with redesigned front end of swing arm which is ment to be lighter
with the option to have the maxle axle on the swing arm.
and a new top tube using a Renolds mix of aluminium Also a new revised FOX RP23 rear shock
and new graphics.
New narrower down tube with an under mounted gusset between the down tube and head tube
Also new revised cable holders on the down tube to help with cable rub.

010 Same has the 09 with up to date FOX RP23 rear shock.

011 New seat tube and new tapered head tube and up to date FOX RP23 rear shock
Also new the ISCG mount for chain device, Orange finally find a device that works with the
swing arm.
Complete with new graphics.

The 07/08 design was spot on in my opinion, since then the Five has become too similar to the Alpine 160 etc.

I love my Sub 5, 2003 or so I'm led to believe, 140mm pikes (sound to be fitted with U turn Rev internals as it has never been good at switchbacked ascents) bearings were changed recently and I have to assume they were the originals as they really didn't want to come off). I don't think I'd ever sell this one.