I’m looking for an inexpensive playful bike for holiday use. Long story short I want something I can leave at a place in the hills and use (probably very occasionally) when on holiday. I saw an old Orange Alpine in a shop a thought it looked just the job. Should ride well and not that many moving bits to keep working and the price was OK. Anyway that got me thinking so I did some internetting and found a couple more but I’m really struggling to find the differences between the models or when things changed or what is worth having. So firstly this blue one, which is is the more expensive but looks newer to my untrained eye. It has an adjustable shock mount

And this orange (the colour) one, which I think is older. Its more of a bits-er with a mix of components but all seemed reasonably well spec’ed

Is there much difference in the frames (I’m OK with the components)? Is there something I should be looking out for? Am I barking up completely the wrong tree?

The blue one is definitely the newer one as it has the straight top tube and less chunky swing arm.

I’d buy that one if you can afford it.

https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bike-archive/

I have a 2011 like that orange one. My wife has the last (possibly literally) of the 26ers which may have been 2016 possibly 2017 (can’t remember when we bought it) which looks like the blue one.
The newer one is lighter, but properly spec’ed there isn’t much to chose between them ride-wise.

That said if they’ve been own by hooligans or left in a shed then the newer one will be a better bet – other things being equal

You’ll get an opinion or seven from lots of pals and mates at the Orange Riders group on Facebook. Probably more than you bargained for but there’s plenty for sale on there and you’ll get the low down on which model years have the frame failures (not sure about the old ones). The only Alpine rider I know thrashes the arse off his but there are anecdotally plenty that get ridden by aspiring towpath shredders.

I’ve got a 2011 Alpine 160 with Cane Creek DB coil shock that I’m looking to sell on.

I’ll PM you the details.

My two have been ridden by a complete moron with a distainful lack of respect for line choice and an overconfident faith in the ability of the bike to sort everything out. They seem to have coped.