Home Forums Bike Forum Anyone else cracked their orange?

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  • Anyone else cracked their orange?
  • DJTC
    Free Member

    Seems a fairly uncommon thing to do but my alpine 160, purchased in feb and began riding in june has cracked in 3 places. At the seat tube top tube brace junction, badly the whole way across the downtube and around the iscg tab. Just wondered if anyone else had similar issues?

    Have been in touch with Orange and they are replacing it after a fair bit of faffing, not even willing to post it to me here, will only post to the UK. Not overly impressed. Just wondering if its bad luck or a common thing?

    matt_outandabout
    Free Member

    I snapped a MK1 ST4 – once through chainstay, twice through rocker link. It was a model with ‘issues’, and although I got upgraded chainstays, the second rocker link just did not fit well, and I was concerned the next break would happen at high speed…..

    Orange were fabulous, and gave free parts even though twice it was out of Warranty.

    luke0912
    Free Member

    I Have cracked three orange alpine 160 frames some very quickly, to be fair orange were very good with the warranty but I got bored and sold up.

    hamishthecat
    Free Member

    Bust my cherry once.

    (IGMC)

    jamesfts
    Free Member

    Cracking Oranges, uncommon? Not sure about that, I think I’ve cracked every one Ive owned (dh and trail bikes) I know of a few Alpines too.

    Orange have however always been spot on when dealing with it so would happily buy from them again… unlike Commencal.

    Marin
    Free Member

    Nope and I’ve given the five a right good beating over last couple of years.

    IdleJon
    Free Member

    One of my riding group has cracked 3 160 swingarms. Seems to be a known problem.

    andeh
    Full Member

    Yep, cracked my 2012 alpine under the swingarm, torsion crack I reckon.

    My mate cracked his Five in exactly the same place. It’s very common to find frames with similar issues on Pinkbike. I’ve often wondered how Orange have managed to style it out and maintain a reputation…..gokd customer service I guess.

    IdleJon
    Free Member

    good customer service I guess.

    I know it’s second hand info but the bloke I mentioned above wasn’t too impressed. One of the swingarms cracked two weeks after being fitted. It had taken six weeks each to sort the first two – this on a bike less than a year old. Good cs would have been to apologise profusely and offer a full refund, not continue to send out faulty parts.

    chakaping
    Full Member

    Used to be a regular thing with the swingarms in our riding group, but we’re all on other bikes now. Disappointing to hear they’re at it again.

    survivor
    Full Member

    I kinda want my segment to crack so I can trade up to a stage 5. Then crack that! 🙂

    ganic
    Free Member

    3 Alpine 160 swing arms, 2 front triangles, in less than 12 months, after the final replacement frame i sold up. Orange were good about it, but i wouldn’t buy another.

    DJTC
    Free Member

    very insightful. Glad its not just me whose cracking them then. I will be getting a new one, which to be fair im fully entitled to. but man has it took some faffing and i still havnt got one. they wont post one out of the uk and i snapped in canada. Despite already agreeing to send me one, they just changed their mind. tempted to sell it when i get a new one and buy something less likely to break, if that exists.

    Bagstard
    Free Member

    MK1 alpine 160 swingarm for me, secondhand so no warranty for me.

    nixie
    Full Member

    If your claiming on a UK why would you expect that they would send it to Canada!

    chestrockwell
    Full Member

    I have had 2x 5’s, a 5 29 and a Segment. None have cracked under my considerable bulk.

    The lacquer on the Segment cracked a bit so they repainted it no worries.

    To be fair, with warranty work you are meant to take your bike back to the shop you got it from who then send it on to Orange. I didn’t as I live near Halifax but that’s what the terms say.

    Paul@RTW
    Free Member

    A mate’s Alpine 160 (not sure which version but he only got it new last year) is on its third swing arm. All cracked in the same place near the brace. Orange have replaced it each time with no particular hassle and even lent him a demo bike for a trip he had planned prior to noticing the crack.

    Alex
    Full Member

    Same as Matt ^^, I cracked the swing-arm on my MK1 ST4 and Orange replaced it with the new model. Spoke to a fella in Warranty and he was fantastic. Few years ago now but I was very impressed. Never bought another one tho!

    julians
    Free Member

    this thread scratches orange off the list for my next bike.

    roverpig
    Full Member

    Don’t Orange claim to have a very low failure rate? I’m sure there is some marketing spin there, but I doubt they can outright lie. In practice, I doubt their failure rate is any worse than any other Alu bike.

    stumpy01
    Full Member

    Hmmm. I thought this was going to be about Terry’s Chocolate Orange & Christmas!!

    soulrider
    Free Member

    Orange Patriot (from 2000) rode it hard for 7 years eventually throwing it off a bit of a drop…..landed to flat and rode it out with alot of suspension kick back.
    very faint crack at the shock mount.
    Orange gave me a 20% discount on a new frame
    So I got a Five (08 model) ragged that senseless with 160mm forks on it for 5 years.. eventually the beating cracked the bike around the pivot..
    I still havent replaced it with another trail type bike as I ride more road and XC than anything else

    markshires
    Free Member

    My mates cracked his alpine twice and he hasn’t had it a year yet.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    The conversation you could have with every 224 owner:

    “I love orange bikes mate, they’re so bombproof and reliable”
    “It cracked at the suspension mounts though?”
    “Well yes but… strong and stable”

    It wouldn’t be a proper Alpine if the swingarms didn’t crack. But they’re usually good about it and the warranties are stronger now, a lot of their stuff used to be 1 and 2 years

    darrenspink
    Free Member

    Well, was thinking of going Orange but not if this still goes on, also just noticed that they have a 1 year warranty if you race 😯 https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/support/warranty/1_year_racing_warranty

    chakaping
    Full Member

    That’s a bit stingy. They should at least give you a full warranty if you’re a slow racer.

    selaciosa
    Free Member

    What a joke – particularly the racing thing.

    I spotted some paint cracks on my Bronson… warranty claim online with pics. Next day I get an email asking me which of the two available colours I wanted – zero faff. I could say you get what you pay for, but Orange are pretty much the same price as SC.

    ThePinkster
    Full Member

    Having seen the quality (or lack of) of the welding on their display bikes at he Cycle Show the other week I’m not surprised they’re cracking – it looked like it’s been done by a first year apprentice on his 2nd week of day release.

    I used to quite like Orange but having seen that welding I don’t think I’d be buying one any time soon.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    To be fair, the welding on mine was ugly and wandered around like a drunk, and some of it seemed like it was bridging gaps in the metal, but it was never actually a problem- that mode did crack a fair amount but not usually at the major welds. It had obviously been painted in the dark, too, they’d missed some bits. But it was a bloody good bike to ride, at the end of the day. I’d have shat a brick if I’d paid full price though.

    dougieb
    Free Member

    I’ve owned a five which I quite liked, however, cracking aside, I think they are now way overpriced for the kit that’s fitted. If you look that the kit that you get on a 3.3K Jeffsy vs 5.7K Orange, it just represents poor value for money. I know it’s UK manufacturing costs and all that but I just think why would you drop 5.7K on a five !!

    cokie
    Full Member

    I know a few people that cracked their Oranges.
    Most recent was a Four that was 2 months old in Pink.
    Replacement was not Pink.. so I think it was a blessing 😛
    It wasn’t ridden hard though. Local footpaths cheeky trails and bridleways, plus the badlands of Swinley every few months.

    chestrockwell
    Full Member

    I spotted some paint cracks on my Bronson… warranty claim online with pics. Next day I get an email asking me which of the two available colours I wanted – zero faff. I could say you get what you pay for, but Orange are pretty much the same price as SC.

    Pretty much the same service with my Segment. What’s your point caller?

    joefm
    Full Member

    222,223,224. Never having another orange so not a problem!

    Rorschach
    Free Member

    I’ve owned a five which I quite liked, however, cracking aside, I think they are now way overpriced for the kit that’s fitted. If you look that the kit that you get on a 3.3K Jeffsy vs 5.7K Orange, it just represents poor value for money. I know it’s UK manufacturing costs and all that but I just think why would you drop 5.7K on a five !!

    Wrong thread.

    loughor
    Free Member

    My 2001 E6 cracked at the steerer tube. That was in 2015 though!

    martinhutch
    Full Member

    Well, was thinking of going Orange but not if this still goes on, also just noticed that they have a 1 year warranty if you race https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/support/warranty/1_year_racing_warranty

    I thought the whole point of Orange stuff was that it was supposed to be ‘robust’? Given the number of people who dabble in the fun side of enduro, it will be interesting to see what happens if they ever try to enforce these terms.

    I wonder if they’ll look people up on Roots and Rain to see if they’ve done the ‘Ard Rock?

    Northwind
    Full Member

    I remember when they made a lot of noise about one of their guys racing the endurance dh on a Five, it was all over the website, in the press, etc, look what our bike can do. But then they mentioned that they broke the brand new frame in a day’s riding and would have refused warranty on it. I raced my already battered Hemlock in the same race, not a bike known for toughness and when it broke a week later Cy warranties it…

    survivor
    Full Member

    survivor

    Subscriber
    I kinda want my segment to crack so I can trade up to a stage 5. Then crack that!

    Posted 4 months ago

    Well after posting that four months ago, I’ve created the segment! Doh……

    fossy
    Full Member

    Oops, how ?

    raybanwomble
    Free Member

     I know it’s UK manufacturing costs and all that but I just think why would you drop 5.7K on a five !!

    Especially when you look at the ridiculous quality of the Hope HB160 (conservative geometry aside) that you get for 5.5k.

    Orange have gotten a little too comfortable….

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 42 total)

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