Orange unveils the Brand New 5

Orange, Halifax based master purveyors of the single pivot, have unvelied the all-new 5 at the Bike Place Show at Silverstone. It maintains the 140mm travel single pivot design of previous 5s, but it’s longer, slacker and stiffer. The new model will be available from mid-February.

Here’s the press-release in full:

It is no secret that the Five is our best selling model, and it wears that crown for a reason. When push comes to shove the Orange Five is designed to step up to the mark in just about any situation. To tip our hats to an old fairytale, it’s the Goldilocks bike in our line-up. Not too big, not too small, for people in the know (and even those who are not) it is ‘just right’.

With this new version, by comparison to the previous incarnations, it’s a little longer (10 mm to be precise), a little stiffer (15% to be exact), a little slacker (0.5° to be accurate) but overall it is still undeniably a Five, it always will be. Still 140 mm of travel, still handbuilt in Britain, still single-pivot reliable, still loads of fun out on the trail.

The new refinements bring a longer wheelbase, improving climbing capability, reducing the front’s urge to lift on steep ascents, and makes an already benchmark descender even more sure-footed and confident. A new lighter shock mount has been designed to improve stress dispersal through the downtube. Not that we had a problem there really, it’s always good when we can make things a little better. There’s a new swing arm too. Refined drop-outs are mated to more rigid arms to make this the best tracking chassis we’ve made to date.

Built to go anywhere and back. Since we we launched the first Five over ten years ago we have had an incredibly low frame failure rate. In the last 12 months it was just 0.47%. That’s not a made up statistic, we double checked our records to be sure. It means the five year warranty we provide is rarely called upon.

There are three basic model packs available, Five S, Five Pro and Five RS. All of them customisable to the degree you expect from Orange Bikes.

Geometry

Specs

Five RS

RRP: £4000

• Brand new frame design
• Handbuilt in Halifax, UK
• Five year frame warranty
• 27.5 inch wheels
• Aggressive trail geometry
• Longer top tube and wheelbase for high-speed stability
• Internal dropper routing
• Suspension: 150mm front, 140mm rear
• RockShox Pike RCT3 150mm fork
• RockShox Monarch Plus RCT3 shock
• SRAM X1, 1×11 drivetrain
• Shimano XT brakes
• Hope Pro II Evo/ Mavic 323 wheelset
• RockShox Reverb Stealth seatpost
• Kore Torsion 50mm stem and 800mm wide bars

Five Pro

RRP: £3,200

• Brand new frame design
• Handbuilt in Halifax, UK
• Five year frame warranty
• 27.5 inch wheels
• Aggressive trail geometry
• Longer top tube and wheelbase for high-speed stability
• Internal Dropper Routing
• Suspension: 140mm front and rear
• Fox 32 Float Evolution 140mm forks
• Fox Float Evolution shock
• Shimano XT drivetrain
• Shimano XT brakes
• RaceFace Evolve double/bash chainset
• Hope Pro II Evo/ Mavic 319 wheelset
• RaceFace Ride cockpit

Five S

RRP: £2,600

• Brand new frame design
• Handbuilt in Halifax, UK
• Five year frame warranty
• 27.5 inch wheels
• Aggressive trail geometry
• Longer top tube and wheelbase for high-speed stability
• Internal Dropper Routing
• Suspension: 140mm front and rear
• RockShox Revelation RL 140mm forks
• RockShox Monarch RL shock
• Shimano SLX drivetrain
• Shimano Deore brakes
• RaceFace Ride cockpit

Barney Marsh

Barney Marsh takes the word ‘career’ literally, veering wildly across the road of his life, as thoroughly in control as a goldfish on the dashboard of a motorhome. He’s been, with varying degrees of success, a scientist, teacher, shop assistant, binman and, for one memorable day, a hospital laundry worker. These days, he’s a dad, husband, guitarist, and writer, also with varying degrees of success. He sometimes takes photographs. Some of them are acceptable. Occasionally he rides bikes to cast the rest of his life into sharp relief. Or just to ride through puddles. Sometimes he writes about them. Bikes, not puddles. He is a writer of rongs, a stealer of souls and a polisher of turds. He isn’t nearly as clever or as funny as he thinks he is.

More posts from Barney