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I have just bought an Orange Gyro on impulse. Sadly i cant get to ride it for a few days, so its www research for me.... Im aware that it's been replaced by the Segment for 2015. Having a look at the geometry it appears that the only difference is a 2° slacker head angle on the Segment. So if i put a Works -2° headset in, then i have the same bike? When ive read about the Gyro the only criticism seems to be that the headtube is too steep. So this seems to be a simple and cost effective fix. Any thoughts on this action?
Its come with Deore brakes and shimano 180 rotors. The rotors are stamped with " use resin pads only" or some such warning. How good are these brakes? Can i not use sintered pads at all? My other bikes have XT brakes, and as a horder i have a spare set in the man - cave along with shimano rotors with aluminium spiders. Should i use any or all ot these components on my new steed? I need a bit of help as ive only ever used XT and Avid Elixir CR brakes for the past few years.
The man - cave also has a pr of Fox Float 34 140mm forks. Has anyone got any experience of using longer travel burlier forks on a Gyro either with or without an Angleset. Im guessing a slacker head angle and some longer forks may give me a bike that turns like an ocean liner....
As ever any suggestions and observations gratefully received
Ian
Try it first. My Gyro feels just about spot on to me (previous bike being a 26" Nicolai with a 67° head angle). I'm running Manitou Towers at 120 mm but they do have a slightly longer a to c measurement than the equivalent Fox and Rockshox offerings.
Saying that - if I could afford it some Revs at 130mm might be nice.
The head angle is the biggest difference and an angleset will change that and lower the BB height closer to the Segment's.
Slacker HA will lower your BB a gnat's, but a longer fork will counteract that.
If it comes with a 120mm fork anyway, I'd give the 140mm one a go. Could be awesome.
Why not sell the Deore brakes while new and use your XTs if they're the current version and in good order, save a few grams and a few quid.
The XTs are brand new, and i have them on other bikes, so if i removed the new Deores and rotors they could be sold. I quite like that idea!
The rotors will be fine.
Slacken it out and fit the longer forks and see how it goes.
20mm increase in fork length slackens the head angle by a degree, combine that with a 1* headset and you'll be close.
Ace, thanks for your input guys
20mm increase in fork length slackens the head angle by a degree, combine that with a 1* headset and you'll be close.
Do not do this, it shitted up the handling on my SX trail when I went from 160 to 180.
130mm fork + -1.5 degree head angle set will be a good compromise. It will keep the bike a bit lower.
Hi Tom, what exactly did it do to the handling?
Can you expand a little for me please?
2 degrees off the HA should be fine.
I took 1 degree off my 29er to make it 67deg, which feels great. Yours would still be a touch steeper.
The chainstays are longer on your bike of course, but you'll be riding it so fast that you'll probably be glad of that and you'll be able to do awesome skidz.
Im loving the idea that i might be riding fast! You have rekindled a dim and distant memory of my youth!
Just wait and see.
Hi Tom, what exactly did it do to the handling?Can you expand a little for me please?
Front end was to high, everything was just plain weird. I'd ridden slacker bikes that had better feeling front ends with more feeling.
I guess if the Gyro ends up similar to the Segment in terms of BB height and front end height then it should be fine.
Has anybody ridden the Gyro and the Segment? I agree that it looks as though a few degrees off the head angle is the only real difference and if I had a Gyro I'd be looking at an angleset, but there may be more to it than that e.g. stiffness, front end height etc.
It's tempting when reducing the head angle to increase the travel in order to compensate for the lowering of the BB, but a quick bit of trigonometry suggests that 2 degrees off the head angle makes very little difference to BB height, but 20mm more travel is quite significant.
Personally I'd go for a -1.5 degree angleset to put the head angle at 68 degrees, but leave the travel at 120mm.
Ive abandoned the longer front forks idea. It sounds like it will make the front too high for me.
Im going to source a -1.5 or -2.0° angleset and see how that works out.
Thanks for all your input guys. Im also going to email Orange and see if they can quantify the differences between the Gyro and Segment for me. I will post any reply.
Well, no reply from Orange sadly.....
I didnt ride the bike with the standard headset, but can confirm that with a -2° headset it is completely fab!
I have glitzier bikes to ride, but this is my go to....
Though they changed their minds, originally the Gyro was warranted for up to 140mm by orange, Chipps seemed to happily run them on his long term Gyro. Testing the Segment again this weekend but am still tempted to go Gyro & add an angleset
Just about to buy an angle set for my own gyro, which one did you go for? Easy to fit? Any negatives?
Cheers Pete
The Segment is also 7mm longer in the effective top tube, with a slightly steeper seat angle.
I did run the Gyro with a 120mm fork, but the 140 was fun. I'd probably go for a 130 and hedge things.
Are you going to run the Segment at 140 (or 130)?
I've run it 140 and I now have it at 130.
I'm still playing with the rear shock tune, but my early impression is that the slackness (especially with a 'too long' fork) encourages speeds that reveal the lack of rear travel. I'm going to run a 130 fork for a while and get some volume reducers for the rear shock to ramp up the spring curve and see if that evens things out.
Fascinating. Thanks. I suspect that you hit things a lot faster than I would anyway, but it does make you wonder about the apparent decision to drop the Alpine Five if a 68 degree head angle makes you want more than 110mm at the back.
Still, it sounds as though you are having fun with it. Look forward to reading the long-term review 🙂
roverpig
but it does make you wonder about the apparent decision to drop the Alpine Five
Are they dropping it like ??.
Don't know, but Lummox seems to think so:
[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-offset-fork-for-orange-alpine-five ]what-offset-fork-for-orange-alpine-five[/url]
I didnt ride the bike with the standard headset
sigh.