[Closed] Lusting after a bike from a brand i swore never to buy from.

just been looking at a enduro, heck of a nice bike for the same money.

spec lists for the 2 are like chalk and cheese.

Get the Orange. Join us. Come into the light.

How's your panniers supposed to fit to that ??

How's your panniers supposed to fit to that ??

😆

The pockets on Ton's cargo shorts will be bigger than most panniers 😀

Allegedly.

cyclomonkey - Member

Its blue, an orange shoudnt be blue.

My Orange was blue. It was a cause of much inner turmoil.

My Orange is green.

Feels like all ive posted this week has been to say how awesome the Alpine Five is.

Ton - its awesome (depending on if youre going to use it properly). Its like a small downhill bike, rather than a trail bike. It eats trails.

Just get a BMC Trailfox
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bmc/trailfox-tf03-slx-2014-mountain-bike-ec054230

Cor

Mates just got one, got a cracking deal from Drakes cycles https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/dealers/yorkshire-humber/drakes-cycles/leeds/

Old suspension and frame technology, that's before I start on the looks and fugly external cableing etc etc etc etc

In the same boat, broke 3 Oranges and swore I'd never have another. 10 years or more away from them and the Segment has me interested again but not sure how much of that is because I can get it as a frame only. On One Codeine I may take a look at though...

just been looking at a enduro, heck of a nice bike for the same money.

Gotta laugh at a camber being better than a five lol.

If you like Orange bikes, get one of these if you can afford it:

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Don;t beat yourself up so much. I was a hater as well, but after having to swap 9 chuffin bearings in the back end of my PYGA a couple of weeks ago, Orange here i come, once they've jumped on the long top tube bandwagon (27" would be about right for me).

The only thing I'd do is grab the rear wheel and the seat post and pull the wheel side to side.

That ought to curb your enthusiasm.

😉

Well. Depends if you think stiffer is better really, flex isn't all bad. I got annoyed on the gyro that it wouldn't go round a corner without rubbing the tyre against the swingarm but it wasn't so bad on the Five and it felt like a big part of it was the cheapo wheelset.

Gotta laugh at a camber being better than a five lol.

Agreed. They are not so nice.

camber [b]EVO[/b], different bike 🙄

orange is off the list now. I had a good long think last night.
once bitten twice shy and all that. I forgot how crap a company they were to deal with when a problem arises.

bikebouy has it nailed. Ridden the 650B and you can feel the back end flex. I weigh 85 kg kitted up. The demo 29er has hardly any paint on the inside of the chainstays with only a 2.2 tyre. There are better things out there ton. Much as I like Uk produced stuff it would be a no from me. Had the Five Rs for a couple of weeks while my fork had some warranty work done and I was glad to give it back, gonna get flamed for that from the Orange lovers.

Yep. I have absolutely no rub on the insides of my swingarm, and I don't know anyone else that does (that's err.... five ... Alpine Fives that I know of).

Could be the wheels, everyone I know runs Pro2s on Flow Exs - although spoke tension isn't high on these.

I've never noticed rear end flex on mine, each to their own, discounting a bike off your list because:

- You don't think their customer service is good
- You don't like the looks
- You don't like external cable routing
- You think it's old hat

Are all good reasons - and if you have those thoughts then I don't see why you'd blow £3k on the bike, but they're subjective - so others wont feel the same.

don't ponder...blow the cash on the tables, dogs or nearest massage parlor no worries 😯

First ride on this last night.
Boring, predictable, old fashioned, heavy, dull, slow, filing cabinet, built by Harland & Wolf etc.
Yep. 😉

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I forgot how crap a company they were to deal with when a problem arises.

I'm not an Orange fan boy and I've never owned a Five but I do have a Clockwork HT which is 2 years old, (the only Orange I've ever owned). I also appreciate different people have had different experiences with Orange, but my recent one was definitely not a reason to dismiss them as a choice.

Took 6 months off work to tour around Australia and took the bike with me. After what was luckily my last intended ride I cleaned up the bike ready to pack it up and found a hairline crack on the seat stay. I took some photos, emailed them to Orange UK and the distributor in Oz and the customer service could not have been better, they both came straight back (got a call from the Oz distributor on a Sunday) and even came up with options on how to get me a replacement frame shipped out to Oz if I wanted. In the end I decided to sort it when I got home and the frame was waiting for me when I got back. Pretty good service for a pretty low cost frame.

Personally I like the Alpine 5 but would probably want a frame only option and self build.

The rear wheel does not rub the swing arm on my 5 29. It's a great bike and much better (IMO obviously) then my mates Camber Evo.

Orange have been great whenever I've had dealings with them as well.

Good to see loads of people have strong opinions on bikes they've not riden, as per the STW way.

Oh wait, have I ridden one ? Yup.
Did I like it ? T'was mediocre at best.
Did it bounce to the point of making me want to get off the ferry in a storm? Yup.
Did the rear wheel rub the stays? Of course it did.
What conditions did you ride it in? Nidderdale loop.
What was this bike you speak? Giro 29'er.
Would you recommend the bike to anyone you know? Yes, but then explain its faults and that you could buy something more suitable.

I really have nothing against Orange. For a UK company they have done exceptionally well in a very crowded marketplace. They have a very long list of loyal fans, support for their ethos and take the filing cabinate jibes rather well. But i do think we should be in at least the 20th Centuary for bike design.

Everyone has their favorite bike and brand, thankfully Ton asked a decent question to which he's gotten some good answers, including mine.

You must have a high opinion of yourself to think that was directed at you.

But i do think we should be in at least the 20th Centuary for bike design

Do you mean specifically in suspension design?

With a decent shock with proper damping a single pivot is as good a DW/VPP/Maestro/SplitLink. (I suspect you rode the Gyro with a Fox EVO CTD shock, which is horrific).

It's the geometry that matters, not the tech. And Orange have that totally bang on, to the exclusion of most other long travel 29ers.

Most are far too short, so you have to size up, which means either low stand over, or not being able to slam the seat (or riding a gate).

I'd rather have proper geometry that fits me than the latest tech that means you can get away with a poorly damped shock.

EDIT: Damn, I've become an Orange fan-boy somehow. I never liked them, then I rode a properly setup Alpine Five, and within a couple of minutes of descending had to have one.

ticsmon - Member

I'm biased but

like the look of the quaterhorse, or the niner steel long travel thing.

Niner ROS9? It is rather lovely and I probably would, even though it's stupidly priced for what it is 😳

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What about this stonework D0NK?

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My dealings with Orange weren't great. My bike was visibly out of alignment and the shop agreed with this. The shop sent the bike back to Orange as they do (very helpful shop by the way) and Orange phoned me with......" It's within our tolerances, because it's hand built it's hard to get them perfect", to which I asked what their tolerances are. 5MM was the answer, FIVE millimeters!!!!! Are they serious?

Never again.

I like the look of Orange FS and think the HT's above look awkward and minging. Seems none of us are right.

It's heavy and those tyres are crap,

that question was answered a page back.

I've always been surprised at the success of the 5. Every one I've ridden felt basic and flexy straight away.

bantasanta - Member

Why the hate on conti trail kings?

Despite the price of the bike, Orange fit the OEM spec ones- ****-all grip, they're made of bakelite. When I testrode one in that spec, I crashed it on dry tarmac 😆 They are [i]incredibly [/i]awful.

Real trail kings are good.

My first proper mountain bike was an original Clockwork. I replaced that with a Gringo in 1999. I replaced that with a R8 maybe 4/5 years ago. I went to buy another Orange this month. I wanted either a carbon hardtail or a FS XC bike. They do neither, not to modern standards, and the best Clockwork was well below my budget and BLOODY ALUMINIUM.

Lost customer!

Ton, if you've got £3k to spend and want to make a good decision, can you not go to some demo days and compare bikes ?

Orange themselves schedule demos at this time of year:

https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/demo-day

And I think you get demo days where you can try out different brands.

I've never had the luxury of buying a complete new bike, but if I did, I'd love the chance to try them out.

Oh no, here I go again. Admittedly it did take me a while to get used to my Orange. I was very lucky and had one on long term loan so was able to test on my local trails, enough to convince me to press the button. Then somehow I effed up the suspension settings and nearly sold it on cos I couldn't get it right. Reset everything, started again and noted down all settings and bingo! I am now a fan of short travel 29ers.

I built up with a set of carbon wheels and this made a mahoosive difference - no rub on the swingarm and improved the 'stiffness' issue immensely. Expensive way to go though.

Slack head angle, 51mm offset Pikes & dropper post has turned it into a very fast trail bike indeed!

So to answer the question: try one (you may have to upgrade it as you go) you might like it!

Ive had mtbs as long as I can remember. I have never had an Orange until this year and I have never had a 29er.
Im not an Orange fanboy, but i quite like them. But, not enough to spend my money on one.

I bought a Gyro as it was too cheap to ignore, and im a hoarder.

I thought a low tech single pivot bike would be ok for the N Wales winter. I wasnt really expecting too much but thought that modern shock technology would help a low tech suspension design.

I must say im absolutely delighted with the bike. I am setting decent times and the odd Strava KOM and whilst im riding as hard as i can, i dont get any tyre rub on my swinging arm. I ride the OE Contis and they are decent, but some 600g Schwalbes await fitting to lower the rotational mass. I fitted a Reverb and a frankly superb -2° Angleset. This bike rocks.

I have a 650b 160mm carbon 'enduro' bike, and a 26" carbon HT. At the moment the bike i take out is the Orange.

Try it.....you may like it!