First Look: Orange Surge the latest E.P.O from Orange Bikes

Andi headed down to Orange Bikes HQ to snap a few photos of the newly announced and completely redesigned Orange Surge, Shimano Steps eMTB.

Could it be eBike season? After all, we’ve seen teasers from Merida, upcoming bikes from Alutech and a BT-E8035 equipped bike from German brand Propain, but the latest new eMTB to hit our radar isn’t from halfway around the world, or even another country, the latest eBike to launch is from just around the corner.

Orange Bikes launched its first eMTB last year. That model, the Orange Alpine E was the first motor assisted bike from the Halifax based company and was loosely based on the popular Alpine 6 enduro bike. A year on and Orange has tweaked the Alpine 6 E so much that they didn’t feel it was even the same bike anymore, enter the Orange Surge, not the Serge.

As with the newly launched Orange Five and Six earlier this year, the Surge might look like the previous eBike but take a closer look and you’ll find a bike that is has had every aspect of it changed.

In a move that is slightly off trend, the Orange Surge is very slightly shorter and 0.5° steeper than the outgoing Alpine 6 E, but at the same time the chainstay length has been increased and rear travel bumped up with an extra 5mm of wheel movement.

Then take a look at the actual shapes of the tubes, and you’ll notice some major changes in tube size and profile. For example, the large downtube is now less bulky than before and the rest of the frame is more in proportion to hide some of its girth. The front end is much stiffer now thanks to those new tubes, and the addition of a gusset at the very front. Even the open swingarm, which looks similar to the one from the Orange 327 downhill bike, has been designed to handle the added torque an eBike must handle on a day to day basis.

If we look back at that new and slimmer downtube, we find that the 6 bolts which were used to keep the Shimano STEPS 8010 battery in place before are now replaced with a simple locking key design. Orange realized that riders wanted the convenience of an easier to remove the battery for longer days out in the saddle or to simply lift the bike on to a rack or up the stairs at home so the new battery lock makes a lot of sense.

Interestingly, Orange hasn’t made the move to Shimano’s new BT-E8035 battery unit on the Orange Surge and is still using the BT-E8010, meaning that slimmer downtube is even more of an achievement. Each bike in the Surge range will come with Shimano’s top of the range STEPS E8000 motor system.

The Surge comes with a 170mm travel fork up front, and 165mm of rear wheel travel and rolls on 27.5in wheels, which begs the question “when will a 29er Orange eBike be available?”.

Pricing for the Surge starts at £5600 for the Orange Surge S rising to £7800 for the Orange Surge Factory build, and bikes are available form Orange dealers right now! Want to see us review an Orange Surge? Then let us know in the comments section below.

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