The Orange Five is dead. Long live the Orange Five!

by Chipps June 8, 2013 1:56 pm25

Orange.
It’s the bike that many riders have been expecting. The Orange Five is dead, long live the Orange Five. It’s gone 27.5in. It’s a move that will please some riders who’ve been holding off buying a Five – and it’ll horrify more traditional Orange purists.

How about that apple green colour?
New, lighter shock mounts
New graphics help distract from the different wheel size

The bike gains many of the overall frame improvements first debuted on the Five 29. There’s a longer shock mount, which allows the force to be spread over more of the down tube. This, in turn, allows for a lighter down tube. There’s a new, forged shock link on the swing arm and 142mm dropouts with a thru-axle. Travel remains at 140mm. The apple green bike here will be around £3,000 when it comes out in July.

The Five gets the rounder swingarm with oval cable exit points
The head tube is shorter now to account for an external headset
142mm dropouts - hooray for that!
Prices:
Five S, £2499.99
Five Pro, £2999.99  (The bike above is a Pro with upgraded fork (to a 34 Factory Float from a 32 Performance Float) and shock
Five SE, £4499.99
Frame only:£1499.99
The new Five will be out in July.

 

The bike is proudly 27.5in, but the tyres still reckon it's called 650B. People seem to be settling on 27.5in

 

Over in the corner was another revamped Orange. The Orange Crush now features 27.5in wheels and a similar cockpit feel to the new Five to help riders who have one of each feel more at home. The Crush also gains an E-type bolt-on front mech and a 49mm untapered headtube.

Orange also has a new marketing guy who seems rather familiar. Oh yes, it’s Sim Mainey who, for eight years has been designing Singletrack.

Short, yet long.
The Orange Crush will be, £1299.99
Frame only: £349.99
It’s also coming out in July.
In case you didn't notice.
The Crush and (to left) the new Alpine, as tested in STW!
Room for tapered, plain, or Anglesets

Geometry:
Five
XS – 14″ Effective TT 560mm
Small – 16″ Effective TT 580mm
Medium – 17″ Effective TT 600mm
Large- 19″ Effective TT 620mm
XL – 21″ Effective TT 640mm

Headangle: 67º

Crush
Small – 16″ Effective TT 590mm
Medium – 17″ Effective TT 605mm
Large- 19″ Effective TT 620mm
XL – 21″ Effective TT 635mm

Headangle: 67º

 

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Comments (25)

  1. pnik June 8, 2013 at 5:35 pm

    5 looks pretty familiar, will it allow 2x setup with 34 or even 36 ring though?
    Just me then.

  2. chipps June 8, 2013 at 5:50 pm

    Probably. My Gyro is running a 2x setup with a 40/29T…

  3. supercarp June 8, 2013 at 6:43 pm

    Why why why? I just can’t see the point of 27.5 are there really any benefit’s over 26? I get 29 but this mid size just seems an excuse for people to be hoodwinked into buying a new model in some belief it will be much better.

    I am an avid orange fan and have a five but this just seems a marketing ploy unless someone can convince me, not knocking orange as all manufacturer’s are at it

  4. Paceman June 8, 2013 at 6:58 pm

    Quote: “Why why why? I just can’t see the point of 27.5 are there really any benefit’s over 26? I get 29 but this mid size just seems an excuse for people to be hoodwinked into buying a new model in some belief it will be much better.”

    Completely agree, 650B is too close to 26″, there isn’t room in the market for three wheel sizes; 26 and 29 are different enough to be worthwhile alongside each other in the shed, I’ll be sticking with those.

    More interesting will be where Orange choose to go in 12 months time with maintaining three wheel sizes.

  5. philfive June 8, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    Paceman, you may be sticking with 26″ but 650B is flying off the shelves.

  6. Junkyard June 8, 2013 at 8:29 pm

    yet to see one anywhere in the real world tbh and only seen a handful of 29 ers tbh

    Still they need to come out with some reason to persuade me to spend £1500 on a frame only …tbh 1.5 inches is not enough to even tempt me to “upgrade”

  7. matther01 June 8, 2013 at 11:06 pm

    Not a fan of the Crush…looks all a bit ungainly…reminds me a bit of Peter Crouch for some reason?

    Loving the green of the Five tho.

    Speaking of 650b…why’s the Sight Killer B frame $2650 and yet the Sight is only $1650…bonkers and a rip off IMO.

  8. chipps June 9, 2013 at 1:36 am

    “More interesting will be where Orange choose to go in 12 months time with maintaining three wheel sizes.”

    There are only two remaining wheel sizes. Sorry!
    It’s not hype. It’s just what appears to have happened overnight. See the editorial in the new issue for more…

  9. rOcKeTdOg June 9, 2013 at 7:32 am

    RIP 26″ you will be remembered fondly, we had some fun times together, go now and play forever on the dusty singletrack in the sky *wipes away tear*

  10. mojo5pro June 9, 2013 at 9:14 am

    I wonder why orange has the new five with 27.5″ but the new Alpine 160 has stuck with 26″?..anyone?

  11. danielgroves June 9, 2013 at 9:57 am

    ” RIP 26″ you will be remembered fondly, we had some fun times together, go now and play forever on the dusty singletrack in the sky *wipes away tear* ”

    Amen.

  12. supercarp June 9, 2013 at 12:02 pm

    Still not been convinced that 27.5 are any better than 26. These changes seem to be for marketing rather than a genuine innovation

  13. patriotpro June 9, 2013 at 1:32 pm

    Th Crush wouldn’t look out of place in Halfords.

  14. accu June 9, 2013 at 8:49 pm

    seems that it is time to upgrade my 2009 five to the 2013… 26″ inch version…
    already have an 29er so no need for a third wheelsize..

    but…at least..it sems that the crush has no bottlebosses on the seattube anymore..

  15. satchm00 June 9, 2013 at 10:18 pm

    As above good opportunity to grab a 26″ bargain (ish) before there all gone.

    My only frustration if I was to buy a 27.5 or 29er for that matter would be my spares (wheels, winter tyres, tubes etc) are no use.

    It looks really nice in apple green!

  16. bigmeister June 10, 2013 at 8:48 am

    I’ve never ridden 27.5″ or 29″ (well, other than cyclocross…) so I’ll remain open-minded about them until I do. But I also suspect the perceived abandoning of 26″ is marketing-based, and of course it’s a very clever move – to ‘upgrade’ you pretty much have to buy new EVERYTHING!

    It’ll be interesting to see if there’s a move back to 26″ in a few years time, when all the early 27.5″ adopters are itching to upgrade again. Oh, and the line I hear from UK bike shops, that 26″ is dead and has been in the US for years, is not quite right I think. I was in California last month, visited as many bike shops as I could, and they were full of 26″ full-sus and 29″ hardtails. Nowhere had 27.5″ and all the guys I spoke to were dismissive of it as a concept.

  17. molgrips June 10, 2013 at 10:21 am

    I love this. I hardly ever want the bikes that get showcased on sites or in mags, but I want this one. Why? Cos it’s like my old 5.. so that means I still love my old 5 🙂

  18. the00 June 10, 2013 at 10:23 am

    It’s not just wheel size is it though? I’m riding my 5 year old bike and hoping that the next bit to break will be economical to replace, rather than be an excuse for a major upgrade.

    Gears, should I stick with 9 or make the leap to 10?
    Forks, suddenly 32mm stantions look very spindly.
    Frame, might as well go to a bigger headtube if the fork legs are so much bigger..
    Wheels, QR doesn’t cut it anymore 🙁

  19. simonm June 10, 2013 at 10:25 am

    Its industry led. Its pretty clever really. Built in future incomparability will fuel purchases in a few years.
    Its already difficult to buy a straight 1 1/8″ steerer fork..all are now tapered. So your old forks wear out, and you can’t get anything but tapered, so your forced to upgrade.
    Same for 650b, start producing everything now in 650b, in four to five years when your 26″ stuff / frame etc. is ready for a change you have no choice but to change lots of it or even the whole frame. Clever.

  20. johnellison June 10, 2013 at 12:11 pm

    650B is a marketing ploy, pure and simple; 26″ I get; 29″ I kind of get even if I don’t understand/see the need. But 27.5″ – no need really, is there?

  21. SimonR June 10, 2013 at 12:25 pm

    Might be a daft question but with the extra weight of the 27.5″ wheels on the Five and the Alpine 160 going on a bit of a diet how close do these bikes get in terms of weight? Any ideas?

  22. hepstanton June 10, 2013 at 3:08 pm

    Damn this industry and its insistence in making things work better. I really wish things would stop progressing and we could just ride old stuff that swaps around really easily.

  23. flowmtbguy June 10, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    +1 what hepstanton said.

    my fork + frame aren’t compatible with that old set of QR wheels I was keeping for a rainy day.. but the new stuff is better… those old wheels probably don’t have disc compatible hubs. Damn those “marketing” people making our bikes better…

  24. hodge June 10, 2013 at 6:43 pm

    The latest IMB editorial is worth a read, better than Singletrack’s

  25. bigrich June 11, 2013 at 4:22 am

    I like how Orange have ticked pretty much every current innovation box. For a small manufacturer they really are keeping up (ahead?) nicely.

Comments are closed.