Orange Switch 7 : Linkage bike from Orange unveiled

The Orange Switch 7 is a 170mm travel MX wheeled enduro bike using a linkage-driven trunnion shock, mounted low in the frame.

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By ben_haworth

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Linkage bike from Orange! Switch 7 unveiled

That looks really good and nice addition to the range. Really like my Stage 5. And good to see a simple and frank write up from the Orange team.

Room for a bottle in a sensible place too! Too much bike for the likes of me but very nice.

Anyone else translate the last answer as “no because we’d annihilate our current sales if we said yes”?

Very interesting.

I have ridden a Stage 6 as my main bike for the last few years and it’s been amazing, but if it has a weakness it’s the chassis stiffness (also a strength, obvs) and the effect on grip and comfort.

So the fact that they have identified this issue themselves is intriguing.

But also… £7,400

:O

But also… £7,400

That was my first thought too.

Anyone else translate the last answer as “no because we’d annihilate our current sales if we said yes”?

Nah, I don’t know if you’ve ridden any of their bikes from recent years – but they are very light, stiff, sprightly and fun.

It works really well in a trail bike, and it’d be a shame to mess with that formula, but for longer-travel applications they can demand a firm hand.

I like everything about this apart from the Trunnion shock. So I’m out.

Like this a lot, I like how they’ve kept the Orangey look while doing something new with it… Not just the linkage but there’s a load of finessing and detail improvements that really stand out.

TBH I’ve always felt like the compromises of single pivot sit best on a big bike- I have a 224 evo that I love, it’s unsophisticated and frankly does some things obviously badly but it’s so simple and functional, it’s the only dh bike I’ve ever had that I can not ride for months and then just hjump on and go. Whereas short travel ones have never really worked at all for me, I thought I’d love the Gyro but it just felt like it had all the inefficiency and unsophistication of a long travel bike, and so not much of the benefits of a short one. And the ST4 was ace. So I’d kind of expected linkages to come back on a trailbike not a # bike but then for sheer speed it makes sense?