I'm after a good trail bike to replace my 2005 specialized enduro.

I'm interested in the orange 5 and would welcome any views. 

I have 3 concerns as follows. 

1. The reviews are good, there's no doubting that (MBR trail bike of the year etc…) but are they really this good or are the reviews slightly biased as they are a bit of a "cool Britannia" make?

2.  How active us the rear end WRT to pedal bob without the propedal wizardry.  Most other more complex linkages you don't need to be constantly be switched on climbs – how does this compare?

3. I intend to use the 2005 fox36 forks off my enduro, how slack will that make the head angle?

Finally I would like a sub 30lbs bike, with the 36's hope, thomson & XT finishing kit roughly what weight can I expect?

Thanks. 

 

theyre ace. mine is about 31lbs with 721/bulbs, coils shock and coil pikes.

mine bobs a little with a coil shock but then I don't like platform damping so have it turned all the way off.

i'd quite like 36/lyrics to slacken the head angle off a degree of two but rediscovering kayaking is burning up all my spare cash at the moment.

Had mine 3 weeks and it has brought my riding on loads.

The rear shock gets pre "oranged" so no bob that I can feel.

I have the 18" pro with the finishing kit and its a joy to ride.

I don't know about cool britania, what I do know is it works amazingly well for where its designed for, that is rough mixed Pennine slush, sh1t, off camber nonsense and anything else I have the bottle to throw at it (which is not much if I am being honest)

edit:

I have the fox 32 float's, very plush to me

And it looks like a work of art

Run mine with no ProPedal too, never really notice any bob, just a bit more comfy with it off.

Have you looked at the intense tracer? an alternative maybe??

I love mine (2009 AM with 36's & maxle etc) weighs 31lbs. I've been through 6 fs bikes this year searching for MY perfect bike and I think this is it. I've had nothing less than great customer service from orange. And they are manufactured locally at bairstows and assembled locally too!

Wouldn't want to ride round with forks set at 160 all day mind!

there's little doubt that spesh's suspension is very good at what it does. whether or not the 5 suffers by comparison only you can really say. i felt right at home pretty much as soon as i threw my leg over mine. being predominantly a hardtail rider the suspension feels a bit bobby if you stand up and ride, but flick on propedal, and even with the lower compression tune on the orange's rp23 it doesn't feel like you're wasting energy, and of course you're not supposed to ride 'em like that anyway really. switching from a float to the pike with lockout made it a lot nicer to ride like that too – much bigger difference than you might initially think. now it has the kit on it i want and am happy with i really can't see me changing it for a long time.
done a week in verbier and a couple of uplift days at cwmcarn on it. it's not a downhill bike, and i'm not a 'downhiller' by any stretch of the imagination, but i've never felt limited by it. far better bike than i am rider.
it's never felt unweildy like some FS bikes can do either, so i wouldn't leave it at home becuase i wouldn't want to do some rides on it, if you know what i mean.

I've had:

Marin Pine Mountain
K2 Proflex
Specialised XC FSR M4
Rocky Mountain ETX-70

I've now come home to the Orange 5.

Believe the hype. It's all true. Rails like ball in a roulette wheel. Climbs like a grip monster, rides like an eager puppy going downhill.

The only problem is, I'm losing interest in even bothering to read or talk about other bikes – as in, "Dunno mate, I ride a five…"

😀

I love mine!
If I had to buy a new bike today would buy the same again, orange 5.

Get yerself a demo. You'll know straight away whether it's the bike for you or not. As soon as I rode one I didn't bother looking at other makes.It just felt so balanced and direct.

only thing i would add, don't buy one if you like a quiet bike.

a rocky downhill and its like riding an angry drumkit…

Brilliant bike, but recommend you use an adjsutable fork, as I find mine feels a bit 'choppery' on tech-ie climbs.

Get yerself a demo. You'll know straight away whether it's the bike for you or not.

the second I straddled one I knew I didn't like it,didn't even want to go round the carpark on it,and I really wanted one too

Its a single pivot frame at the end of the day and not cheap. Don't get me wrong its good however it has a much lower bottom bracket than you'd imagine in practice. I'd look and test ride some others first and make up your own mind rather than take the mbr's test. Thats not a damning critism of the Five- just a different user-viewpoint (2009 Five frame here with Revelation dual air maxle and XT hollowtech).

I've done my first ride just now on my new Five Pro; I've had FSRs for 7 years now and was sceptical about going single pivot etc.

What a great bike. Feels like my old Enduro SL in geometry terms and it climbs like a beaut (probably not as well as the SL but it was a v wet ride) and is just peachy to ride.

Easy to clean too.

Despite it looking like a piece of farm machinery, it's a great ride.

I hated mine, got really bad brake jack, bottom bracket was way too low and a 5" headtube on a 16" bike was just madness

The noise I hear from 5's makes me lean toward the (somewhat similar) Morewood Shova…

Had my 5 pro for 2 years. Tested a few other bikes from Santa Cruz and Specialized to name a few.
But after test riding 5 no other bike was in the frame.
Balance is almost perfect and even now wouldn't change for anything.
😆

I love my 2010 five, probably the most fun and confidence inspiring ride i have had. With now days shock technology, bob isn't noticeable. The single pivot is ideal for the UK (bearings etc) and way plusher than linkage bikes.
All round top notch build quality too.
You would be best to get a test ride but most love them.

The Five rocks. You won't find a better trail bike for maintenance, simplicity and ride. I had a Prophet before, the Five is a similar single pivot design but they are leagues apart. Any other bike just feels dead now. But as said, test one and find out for yourself.

Don't subscribe to the brake jack comment. I ride hard and don't notice it, sounds like rider error to me 😉

Never noticed brake jack on my 5.

i have a five….. gonna replace it soon……..with another five 😀

i have a shite fox coil with no propedal on mine (i like jumping) and dont notice any pedal bob

I rode a 5 and a Zesty back to back, I like the 5 for what it is but I'd not buy one, the Zesty's cheaper (like for like) and IMO a better ride. But then, the 5's far lower maintenance. They both seem like speederbikes from the future to me, though, both ridiculously awesome at what they do.

lol sorry bout this but i just read out the question to my other half…

he said go ask NASA…
lol
i have an orange five pro' and i think its great…. the only downside is the front fork doesnt have 'lock out' …but im a light weight so this isnt too much of a problem..
its a great fast bike and i get a buzz out of it everytime i ride..
i started on a hardtail..specialized myka elite and put some beefier forks on it….. a year later i wanted a more beefier bike… and had a demo on the orange 5, and that was it…no going back to anything else….trouble was a couldnt find another bike that fit my size being only 5ft small….. so the womens five pro in the 14 inch frame(short)…just fit me perfect….. still whizzing round the 'home of 'singletrack' fells with a smile on my face…lol

Love my five really really do one of those shit I'll never find a bike as good as this ones! My mate however hates it!!!! Better get a test ride fella!!!

I have had a 2005 and 2007 Five I really enjoyed both rode at loads of different places, it was good reliable bike but the 2007 felt comprimised with 160mm travel up front but excellent with 140mm on it, never noticed brake jack, but did find in the alps it would blow through the rear travel real easy (even when setup well), then I sold it and bought a Pitch and then a Chumba XCL, each of these has felt better than the Orange when I look back I don't hanker after a Five.

I was a die-hard Orange Fan but decided to try different stuff which I am glad I did.

They are good but as they say other brands are available and do a damn fine job too, just test a few.

Thanks for the replies guys, as a friend said to me it looks like it's a marmite bike, but on the plus most are lovers not haters!

I had looked into other options, 2010 Spesh enduro, 2010 trek remedy, yeti 575, intense tracer, Santa cruz nomad, lapierre spicy

the intense, trek & specialized being front of the list of I don't go for the Orange.

I will take advice and take out a test bike but hope I can get an "AM" version to test as this will mirror the geometery ofy setup.

Out of interest, if the remedy and nomad are on your list, have you considered the alpine 160?

I wouldn't even look at the five as a new bike because of the frame warranty. 2 years? It is to laugh.

Beyond that they look like shyte and are expensive. Now, they might be truly great rides – but this is 2009. There's a surfeit of great bikes out there that have serious frame warranties, don't look like filing cabinets, and are competitively priced.

I've had mine for 2 years now and love it to bits. I swapped the Floats for a pike which has worked out really well so i'd say 36's will be great.

There may be better functioning suspension designs out there, but i've never had to change either of the 2 bearings and have only changed a bushing once.

Garry….has it occurred to you that perhaps Orange don't actually need to offer a long warranty! because they build bikes that last.

After all, i can think of a few big manufactures who need to, judging from the frequent posts on here regarding cracks etc.

I havn't seen any such thread (about Orange) on here in the 10 months i've been on here.

As far as being expensive goes, you are aware that in 2004 a 5 Pro was £2099.95, my 2009 was £2,500. Whats that….£80 a year! For a bike thats designed and MADE in the UK thats pretty good. If it supports UK manufacturing then thats great too. 2010 bikes from most manufacturers have seen lower specs to meet price points, all Orange had to do was swap an XT front mech to a SLX one. Hardly a vital component.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

"Garry….has it occurred to you that perhaps Orange don't actually need to offer a long warranty! because they build bikes that last."

That's pretty backwards, if the frames are so durable then they've got nothing to lose by offering a better warranty. Not that they seem to have much to worry about, so why not? It's a bit odd. Especially as the warranties vary so much from bike to bike. Interestingly, it's the far eastern models that get the longest warranties and the UK built ones that get 2 or even 1 year (1 year on the Blood and Alpine, that's really pretty poor)

I'd like a 5.
Might just have a test ride.

You're comparing a Five to something like a lapierre spicy? 😯

Northwind – Well it may seem backwards to you…..clearly it doesn't bother alot of other people.

What kind of warranty comes with a bike isn't something i consider TBH but i appreciate that to others it's clearly a big deal. Maybe i don't keep my bikes long enough to ever need one.

RE: warranties, I've said this time and time again, it's just a numbers game. Orange haven't sold millions of Hardrocks and Rockhoppers which go practically unused and will never require the lifetime warranty thus offsetting all the broken/faulty enduros…

Please don't tell me you think Spesh offer lifetime because they think the product is well built enough? They can just afford to offer it, and to be fair, I'd only entertain a spesh because of it. On the other hand, when I bought the Orange I didn't even bother looking at the warranty, the shop I'd bought it from (and they shift a fair few and are friends so wouldn't lie) have never warrantied an Orange full susser.

How big of a bike company are Turner? Smaller than Orange? They offer an awesome warrenty so i believe.

On the other hand, Ive heard of several stories of 224's cracking and then the owner being charged full price for a replacement part. Why not do it at cost?

There hardly a bike for life, the frames that they know will get a bit of stick are only given a year warrenty. Thats **** in my opinion

Its only a years warranty? I didnt realise that. That says to me there must be a few failures after a certain point.

I read an interview in a mag with the chief welder/fabrication guy at Orange and he said they make sure their frames are of the highest quality so they dont dent when a rock flies up and hits the underside of the frame 😆

I would like to add that if Luffy (Drop-off cafe owner)can manage to not break one then thats good enough for me 😀

Which can't be said for the 3 Meta 5's he broke a few years ago!

Fancy that….a flat suface doesn't deflect a rock quite so well as the round profile of a tube 🙄