There’s a lot of Orange 5 fans on STW. A question then; are they as noisy as the 224? At the world cup in Fort William last week I could hear them coming a mile off – they were the bikes that sounded like they were about to fall apart. Conversely the Treks seemed like they were in stealth mode.

They can be clattery, but pure enjoyment should drown out any noises.

Like throwing a bag of spanners down the side of a mountain!

saves using a bell…?

Like throwing a bag of spanners down the side of a mountain!

that’s the one!

Nothing on my 5 is louder than its rear Pro II hub.

Use an iPod 😉 (I have to on my Tazer but to be fair it’s a lot better since I’ve had the bearings replaced and fitted a decent chain device)

I was always half-tempted to squirt some builders foam into the swingarm on mine to see if it dampened the noise…

My Patriot was pretty loud til i wrapped an old tube around the swing arm, its that big old hollow frame amplifying the sound!! Dude at orange told me about a fella filling his with insulation foam to stop the noise!! Classic.

Mine picks up radio signals from space too. It’s a feature

Oh its signals from space? I thought it was my brakes squealing!

If you’ve ever heard the noise a filling cabinet makes when it falls down the stairs, thats an Orange bike riding down a trail that is. Horrible things to ride near, but they only just pip the Whyte PRST1 for sheer sounds-like-it-was-built-out-of-tin-and-rusty-boltishness.

That said they are fun to ride but unless you have some patriotic reason for buying a Five you’d be better off (in my ever-so-humble opinion) with buying a Cannondale Prophet instead. Better warranty, similar ride and a damn sight less noise.

I was always half-tempted to squirt some builders foam into the swingarm on mine to see if it dampened the noise…

I remember a chap on SDH tried that with his 223 swingarm and due to over-estimating how much foam would be required the swingarm came off a little worse for wear. Be careful, that stuff can expand with some force.

The foam warning is or was on the warranty page on the orange website!!!

I have a Whyte 46 and I thought that was noisy. Wasn’t planning on getting a new bike, but after hearing the Orange-clatter not sure they’d be on my short-list if I was. It would drown out my “wheeee” and “vrooommm” noises 😆

2 years warranty for an Orange 5 is pretty poor. 😕

Puta lizard skin on swing arm to stop chain slap and theonly noise I get is the pro2 rear hub (which I don’t mind)

My riding buddies have never complained about the noise (but they never get close enough to hear it *boom tish*)

But seriously, it never bothers you when actually riding it…

I like the ‘mechanical’ sound. I loved the sound of the 224 taking big, multiple hits. Gone are those days as I’ll be on a Commencal Supreme.

Luckily I’ll still have my Patriot for all things Spanners related 🙂

I filled the swingarm of my Patriot with expanding foam. It was a messy job, but now all those clatters and bangs are damped right down and the bike is pretty quiet.

Only downside is i have found that i might have trouble getting it resprayed due to issues with ovens and expanding foam!

a noisy bike is more fun to ride, anyone with life experience will tell you that! 😆

like a skeleton having a w8nk in a biscuit tin

like a skeleton having a w8nk in a biscuit tin

Just had a coffee over monitor moment. Good effort!

I quite like the way my Hope Pro II freehub is amplified through the swingarm, it’s a reassuringly mechanical sound. I quite miss it when I get on my Turner.

Seriously though, I’ve never noticed the noise when riding and there are plenty of noisier ways to travel across the dirt – like in a rally car over gravel for instance?