Orange 140mm 29er

3 years of work to create a 5 with big wheels 😯

Orange design team must be working over time. 😀

or alternatively, over 10 years of refinement carefully optimised for the 29 inch wheel fad.

Poor troll, how about three years of trying prototypes and keeping an eye on the market to make sure it’s the right bike and right time to release it?

Mr Bonney is a shrewd and clever business man and it makes perfect sense to me to take your time, especially given they still sell Fives as fast as they can make them and the 29ers would arguably take weld and paintshop time away from what’s a proven success.

Edited for 🙄

The more 29ers I see the more I think they just look ‘right’. Never thought I’d say that, but I’m sold, why has it taken so long!?

Not really trolling. I had a five, it was good for some things, bad for others imo. Lack of maintenance probably its best feature. Its more that i can’t believe this is really going to ‘cut the mustard’ with 29 inch wheels when compared to the competition. Surely the main design addition here is an extra 1.5 inches on the swingarm which is going to flex like crazy….and presumably why they are adopting the 142 x 12 rear. Especially given that a 67 degree head angle is very slack on a 29er and therefore its up against the Tallboy LT, Transition Covert.

I would however agree that Mr Bonney is a shrewd businessman.

Or alternatively they could cobble one together in 6 months and it would be sh…

Gotama, I’ve just got a Gyro and I’m very impressed so far. I’ve gone rubber queens and quite hardcore on mine and it totally works.

I mean you either like the Orange SP ride or you don’t really so it’s each to their own in that respect. I can’t say I have any probs with flex in the swingarm on the Gyro but then my Five had 9mm dropouts.

I’d have one

Not a looker, is she? (not that it matters)

Gyro isn’t 140mm, is it?

wallop – Member
Gyro isn’t 140mm, is it?

No- 120mm IIRC?

110mm rear, 120mm front, rated for up to 140mm front though.

The Gyro is much closer to say a Trek Rumblefish than a Superfly for example.

I fully sudscribe to the “evolution” aproach to engeneering and design, but in an industry driven by consumers lusting after what is sexy, new and interesting, I wonder how long it is before Orange would benefit from doing something different.

I’m not an orange hater (quite the opposite in fact), being right about something does not necesarily mean it will continue to be popular.

I dunno…. I’m sure the Gyro is excellent, it’s just not very interesting

it’s just not very interesting

The thing is, whenever they try to do something different, or interesting, it doesn’t last long and they come full circle to what everyone actually wants them to do. The Blood and ST4 have gone, despite both being brilliant and well received, and yet the Patriot is back and the 29ers have been born in the familiar mould.

When Dave Flynn first said they were playing with 29ers, I assumed they’d use the ST4 layout myself.

an industry driven by consumers lusting after what is sexy, new and interesting

Again, perhaps Orange are proof that perhaps that’s not entirely the case. Quite a few on here that have been happy to buy new Cotic Souls and BFes too despite owning an original.

Gary – there’s a vid somewhere of a couple of decent riders (no presumption or offence to your riding skills intended) testing the Gyro and there’s a point where the wheel/swingarm flexes massively. I can’t quite get my head around the math at the moment but surely for the extra travel and therefore longer cs on this new one you’re going exacerbate that further…..on a bike which is even more likely to be pinged around in the rough stuff. But yes, i agree that it probably boils down to whether you like the 5 design or you think its lacking.

3 years to design though as implied by the article, pffft, balls to that unless they’re working on it 1 hour a week….or perhaps that explains the derisory state of uk manufacturing.

Would it be fair to assume that these days you are fairly limited for suspension design? You either licence the VPP, Spesh, DW etc or you go for a variation on a single pivot. If Orange don’t want to impact margins by the licence approach and perceive the variations on the single pivot to offer no benefit over their own design then they may as well stick with what they’ve got.

Gotama, one of those riders was Dave who used to work at Orange and did a lot of the proto testing. The video in question is hardly conclusive unless you were able to film every rival’s bike in the same way from the same position really. Otherwise it’s just speculation on what you can see in an isolated incident. I don’t know what you ride but just because you can’t feel it flex, it doesn’t mean you wouldn’t see it do the same thing in that situation if we filmed it?

Anyway, I’m as keen as you to not get into a riding capability willy-waving fight 🙂 Let’s just say I’m as far away from being a dire rider as I am from being world cup rider 😛 I’ve got a few trail centre descent top 10s on Strava (*spit*) but that probably says as much about the popularity of the given trail centre in question as it does about my ability 😳

The point about the 3 years is that I don’t think they’re claiming they actually spent three years working around the clock designing. I suspect it’s more a case of watching what the market is doing, trying variations, looking at volumes and what kit is available for the builds. Most Orange’s have been 2–3 years in the making and it’s never a question of efficiency I don’t believe.

Quite like this and I’m not a 29er fan. So what would this compare to in the 26er market? I’ve got a 5 and assumed the Gyro was the big wheeled version. If that’s the case would this ride like a Alpine (i.e ace downhill but a bit of work up it)? Sorry for being thick but I’ve not taken much notice of the 29er boom.

I wonder how long it is before Orange would benefit from doing something different.

don’t see many oranges in end of year fire sales like you do with other brands..

perhaps Orange are proof that perhaps that’s not entirely the case

Yeah, and (I get the impression that) Orange are doing pretty well for themselves with their current approach – but what about in 5 years time? The 5 will still be as good then as is it is now (no doubt improved by further tweaking), but what will everybody else be doing to part us with our hard earned cash at that time?

but what about in 5 years time?

For me personally, the big advances in the last five years that have made a difference to my riding have been tyres, brakes and forks/shocks. Suspension platforms always feel different but I’ve never been able to hand on heart say ‘better’. The next big thing is 650b right? So I think suspension platform advances are getting to the point where they’re about to run their course; and single pivots are still in there, so no reason why they won’t be in five years time. 650b Fives and Hecklers right? 😆

I’ve got a Superfly and I think ABP is fantastic. But then so was my Five, and so is my Gyro. I thought the VPP Tallboy was pretty special too. I’ve never been 100% on Specialized bikes but the new Whyte 29ers are true 4-bars and I really liked those.

The Gyro is technically an ST4 replacement and this new one will be a 29er Five I guess. However, I’m quite happy with the Gyro as a 29er Five and I think this new one will feel bonkers big, especially if they stick 34s on it! Whether this new one ends up being the ‘Five’ or the ‘Alpine’ will probably come down more to tyre and wheel choice than travel as the limiting factor.

Whenever people say a 29er hardtail feels like a short travel rear suss 26er, I think they’re talking crap. But I do think a 29er FS is worth about 20mm of travel over the equivalent 26er FS. All IMO 🙂

don’t see many oranges in end of year fire sales like you do with other brands..

Presumably because they keep tight control of supply demand and also people buy new in the confidence that the design is not going to change in the next model year.

Chestrockwell – If i had to have a stab i would say more aggro end of the 5 than Alpine but that is a pure guess as i clearly haven’t ridden one.

Gary – agree to disagree on this one? Obviously i’m speculating based on my 5 amd having ridden a tallboy LT as to what would happen with these orange 29ers and we could go on until the cows come home. I’ll leave you to peacefully fudge your strava times 😉 😀

I’ll leave you to peacefully fudge your strava times

😛

agree to disagree on this one?

It all sounds a bit too amicable to me for STW, but you’re on!

I’ve got a few trail centre descent top 10s on Strava

I don’t want to come across all stalker-ish or anything, but can I have your autograph please? 😛

PayPal gift ok? 😉

To be fair, when someone suggests you might be shit on a bike, there’s not a lot else you dredge up to defend yourself 😥

HA too slack and chainstays looks loooong. Maybe in another 3 years they will release a 650b version.

Gotama – Member

Gary – there’s a vid somewhere of a couple of decent riders (no presumption or offence to your riding skills intended) testing the Gyro and there’s a point where the wheel/swingarm flexes massively.

Yeah, but, hmm… Stiff isn’t always good. Or at least, not everyone agrees that stiff is always good. Sometimes flex is a useful way of dealing with the forces on the bike (other times, it’s orrible). Honestly I reckon my Hemlock was slightly nicer with its old, flexier swingarm (otoh, the new, strong one hasn’t broken in half, so it’s swings and roundabouts)

Taking the wheel out of a 224 and squeezing the ends of the swingarm together is an eyeopener though! Boing!

Long chainstayed, single pivot filing cabinet.
No thanks.
I’ll stick with my TB LTc.

Well it’s certainly got us interested 😉

Yep, think I’ll resist the temptation for a new bike until I can have a go on one of these.

I need to go for a rest now as I’ve realised I’m actually considering a 29er. 😳

I saw some fellow up at Cwmcarn on one last week, not sure whether it was a prototype or if it was the Gyro, it was bright green and he was going very fast with a big sh*teating grin on his face – looked pretty sweet.

I saw some fellow up at Cwmcarn on one last week, not sure whether it was a prototype or if it was the Gyro, it was bright green and he was going very fast with a big sh*teating grin on his face – looked pretty sweet.

Sunday? That would have actually been me 😳

’twas a Gyro

I need to go for a rest now as I’ve realised I’m actually considering a 29er.

😀

don’t see many oranges in end of year fire sales like you do with other brands..

Hmm,quite ! 😉

Garylake, gis a go on yer bike mister 😉

I like the sound of this for properly big, rough, fast riding! Sadly not something I get to do enough of…