Well today is strictly not the actual new bike day, it was late August 🙁

Hamstring problems have meant its been garage bound till today, needs some fettling (more air in shock and me getting used to LLS) but its rides well, seems easier to pedal that the Smuggler before it even though there is not much in them weight wise, the Stage Evo is 28.9lbs as pictured.

Sold the Smuggler and the Cotic Solaris to try this ‘one bike to do all idea’, lets see how we get on :-0

Spec =

Size = Small in Matt Grey with Fox Float DPX2 Factory
Fork = Pike with Luftkappe and full service plus low friction seals
Chinese Carbon 30mm rims on Hope Pro4 hubs with 2.5 HR on the front and 2.4 Ardent on the rear
11 speed XT Groupset & Brakes with a RF Turbine crank and 1195 SRAM XD Cassette
Renthal stem & Carbon Bars
Specialized Command Post and Selle Italia Seat

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mKQziC]Untitled[/url] by eastham_david, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2mKY8hF]Untitled[/url] by eastham_david, on Flickr

Dream bike right there. Even my size! Enjoy 🙂

Nice 👍

V light too. Oranges definitely look better now with the split swingarm.

I had a stage 4. I could never get the shock feeling quite right. The shock was very short and so I sold it.

That looks like all the good bits of the stage 4 with less of the downsides🙂

I still miss just how quick it was to wash! The lack of linkages and extra bits to get at made a noticeable  difference.

Well that’s lighter than my carbon fibre 100mm travel Giant Anthem ( once you factor in the dropper post ) so I’m definitely going to have to buyone a set of those scales 😉

Dream bike right there. Even my size! Enjoy

Sorry 🙁 and I will

I still miss just how quick it was to wash!

I just washed it and thought the exact same thing 🙂

It looks a great bike!

Very good. Same colour as my Stage 5!

Kashima shock with rockshox forks, you heathen.😄

Well that’s lighter than my carbon fibre 100mm travel Giant Anthem ( once you factor in the dropper post ) so I’m definitely going to have to buyone a set of those scales 😉

My large segment factory is lighter again according to the lbs scales. Orange frames aren’t heavy.

How much for a 13.1 kg build then?

Would love capable mtb at that weight.

Well that’s lighter than my carbon fibre 100mm travel Giant Anthem ( once you factor in the dropper post ) so I’m definitely going to have to buyone a set of those scales 😉

Does your bike also have carbon wheels and bars and is a size small?

My friend once had a small orange 5, 26 inch carbon wheels, bars, cranks, etc. (probably didn’t have a dropper) but it was around 27 pounds. We didn’t believe him so we weighed it at the bike shop on some park scales. The size of a frame makes a big difference.

He now rides a medium carbon 650b bike that weighs around 29 pounds and he always says how much he misses his old five.

@Vortexracing, how is it? Any pbs? up hill or downhill?

Lovely. I have a large Orange 4 that comes in at 31 pounds, including pedals and Hunt Trail Wide rims. With your better spec and smaller frame I can quite believe you’re around 29 pounds.

Hope you enjoy riding it as much as I enjoy riding my 4.

That looks lovely. Always fancied a short travel Orange but a bit out of my price bracket. I agree that they look nicer with the split swing arm too.

Very nice.
The only bike I’d want to change my stage 4 for at the moment.
Looks good in that colour too.
I’ll look out for you up Rivi.

Not a fan of Orange bikes or gunmetal grey but that works really well.

Noice enjoy it.

Does your bike also have carbon wheels and bars and is a size small?

Carbon wheels, yes.

Nope size large. But I wouldn’t expect an additional few cm of the thinnest lightest parts of the frameset to make a huge difference to the weight.

Kashima shock with rockshox forks, you heathen

Sorry 😉

How much for a 13.1 kg build then?

@thegeneralist

Its a bit of a mongrel TBH

The forks were £300 in 2016 from Rose bikes and the service plus Lufkappe etc was £225 this August (TFT)
The XT groupset was from the Evans sale rack @ about £200 as was the seat post @ £100
Cassette was £100 off here
Wheels are LB rims and the set cost £500 ish with a mate building them for me
Tyres £60 off here and ebay
Renthal bars and stem new in August £165
Pedals £30
Crank was off here (new) £100

Frame only (not shock) was acquired on the C2W (Orange had no shocks in stock) so that was £1200 and the Fox shock was full price from TFT @£635 (gulp)

so all in all about £3.5K

I’ll look out for you up Rivi.

@ chakaping and I you 😉

BTW, your review on your blog about your Stage 4 swayed me in the end <thumbs up>

@damascus

Any pbs? up hill or downhill?

just looked at Strava and the climb from the gate at the bottom to the Pigeon tower up Rivvy was my 2nd best effort, which I am chuffed about seeing as my PB was :-

On a Titus Fireline @26lbs, in the middle of summer and I was 1/2 stone heavier, plus this is my first time on a bike properly since August. 🙂

and I was 24 seconds slower on a 7 min climb

Just seen this, I’ve said before on here but I’m this >< close to ordering a stage evo frame, doing the exact same as @Vortexracing – two bikes into one.

You’ve done well on the price too, the frame cost has gone up a chunk whilst i’ve been holding off.

Looks a fast, I like it.

Looks nice. Not many 29ers available in small I believe. 381mm seat tube, must be tight back there if you ran a longer dropper and slammed it.

me getting used to LLS

It’s an interesting one, maybe an outlier, on the “long” front – short reach (440mm), long chainstays (443mm).

@bikesandboots

must be tight back there if you ran a longer dropper and slammed it.

it will be, there is very little between the seat and the rear tyre at full travel when the post is dropped, might be able to just about get a 125mm dropper in there but it will be very close.

The reach is not that short, its quite a bit longer than the Smuggler before it. 406mm vs 440mm

BTW, your review on your blog about your Stage 4 swayed me in the end <thumbs up>

Great stuff.

Interesting that the frame now comes with a SuperDeluxe piggyback shock as standard – with a £50 upgrade option to a Cane Creek DBinline.

Much better dampers than they used to put on their short travel bikes.

@chakaping have you any experiense of the Super Deluxe? I’ve actually emailed Orange to see if they can sell me a frame only with the Float X (as per one of their builds) but I expect the answer will be no. I’ve always been a Fox man, so I’m unsure about the RS.

I’m absolutely certain I want something better than a DPS though, as it gets a little overwhelmed on my hightower too. I’ve never run anything other than bog-basic rear shocks depsite spending a lot on decent forks – I think a good shock is going to be key to not feeling unberbiked on the Stage Evo.

@chakaping have you any experiense of the Super Deluxe? I’ve actually emailed Orange to see if they can sell me a frame only with the Float X (as per one of their builds) but I expect the answer will be no. I’ve always been a Fox man, so I’m unsure about the RS.

Only on demo bikes and other people’s bikes. It was amazing on a Trek Slash but I think that has a special design. Pretty good on other bikes and friends seem to rate them highly.

There’s a big upgrade cost for the Float X and I can’t believe it’s that much better than the RS. The DB Inline is only £50 upgrade and I know that’s a great feeling shock, but again – is it any better than the RS?

When I spoke to TFT, they put me off buying the Float X and recommended the DPX2 instead.

TBH if the RS SD shock had been available I would have had that.

in August the range of available shocks was VERY limited. TBH I’m not sure its any different now 🙁

Sounds like a similar situation to me. I bought a used stage 4 in July then somehow ended up with a warranty replacement due to a crack in September.

I now have the same frame but with the stage 4 kit on it. I had to increase the fork travel and change the brake lines etc but cant complain. I even got a sample fox float X shock which hasnt even got stickers available yet.

I have had some hip issues that are healing nicely and haven’t used it yet. I think there will be some epic fork and shock tuning rides needed to get it set up properly. I cannot wait to be bike fit so that i can get out on it.

If I love it as much as i think i will then some lighter wheels are my next step.

Yep Orange bumped the price up this month when they finally had some RS super deluxe available.
I do suspect uor right and the Float X factory wil be a BIG upcharge.

The cynic in me thinks the new Cane Creek options are more to do with availability rather than preference too!

Performance level Fox kit, which would be my usual choice, is basically unavailable currently, Forks and Shocks. I suppose if you can only make limited stock, you make the stuff with the biggest (kashiman coloured) margin!

I’m derrailling the thread anyway… OPS bike looks ace and I’m well jel as they say.

The reach is not that short, its quite a bit longer than the Smuggler before it. 406mm vs 440mm

What I was thinking was, many 29ers don’t come in small, so the reach is on the short side, and also the chainstay is on the longer side. The reach is a smaller proportion of the wheelbase than most 29ers.

You can see the upcharges for shocks here:
https://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index.php?product_id=11347&15738=71896&15740=71900&15741=71907

A ridiculous £350 for the Float X.

My Cane Creek Inlines performed better than most Fox or RS air shocks I’ve owned. The Fox X2 was better but then it should have been.
They did blow up as well, but that was ages ago and apparently they are much more reliable now.
Slick and Slide recommended one for the S4, but I don’t really mind the DPS.

OP, Love your bike, been eyeing one for a while, quick question, what fork offset do you have and if as I suspect it bigger than the recommended are you noticing? Might sound like a trivial question but when on these new LLS XL’s it takes quite a bit of retraining to weight the wheel!

Its a 51mm offset Pike, as opposed to a 42mm one which is what i think is on the full bikes from Orange. Not tried both types of forks so I’m sorry I can’t give you feedback on the difference between the two offsets.

I don’t know if this is useful, but I’ve recently gone from a 51mm fork to a shorter offset on my Stage 4 and it’s a little bit better.

I never noticed much downside to the 51mm offset like I did on my other bikes, possibly because I wasn’t riding steep switchback-y trails on the S4 though.

I ride 51mm offset on my Stage 5 that was designed for 42mm. Makes no difference as far as I can tell.

@Vortexracing is that Matt Charcoal Grey?

is that Matt Charcoal Grey?

Yes, same as mine.

Thought this was a good place rather than a new thread. NBD for me too this weekend, I’d prattled on about if for a while on here but I went for it. Frame turned up before Christmas and took a bit of parts hunting. Some bits from my old bike and some new (e.g. the 12 speed stuff).

Like @Vortexracing this is replacing both a slightly longer travel bike and a Hardtail.

I’ve gone for the new 2022 Fox 34 after reading all the glowing reviews and they are right – they are indistinguishable to my 2019 36s so far but usefully lighter. I’ve had 34s in the past (2018) that have been a touch wibbly). The Grip 2 damper helps I’m sure.

And whilst I have owned various nice forks before I’ve never had anything other than the ‘standard’ rear shocks on most bikes, Monarch R’s, Fox DPS etc. Much like the fork I wanted to go with less, but better – so I got the 2022 Fox Float X factory too. One of the immediate improvements I can tell over the the DPX2 and the DPS on my Hightower and also my old Stage 4 is the use of a DHX style proper elastomer bottom out bumper, it feels much more forgiving when you thwack it into something a bit too fast. Single firm mode switch is a good match for the Orange, perfect for tarmac/smooth draggs uphill.

Oh and numbered adjustments! At last!

And the Shimano Rhythm Step Casette gives me all the range I want/need whilst being a bit lighter than the dinner plate options with nicer gaps between the ratios for climbing. I can see why the XC pros use this option (with a much bigger chainring than me!).

14kg on the nose with pedals, reasonably big tyres and loads of sealant. Its fast.

Massive Respect to All Terrain in Wetherby – as my nearest dealer the Orange website sent me their to get the sizing right. I was deliberating for ages until on Black Friday they let me (contravening their own Ts and Cs) special order the frame and suspension all at a healthy discount, which given how hard it is to get anything reduced let alone brand new in demand 2022 stuff was much appreciated. Made the decision easy for me and got agood customer.

Beautiful.

Got about the right amount of orange highlights on there.

Think very carefully before adding any more though.

😉

There will be no more. I found the Orange Hope Spacers in the box and thought them more appropriate than black carbon ones, thats all. I did have to buckle and use Carbon bars though for the comfort!

@snotrag – More importantly what are the MSC Grippers like?