UPDATED | Orange Bikes Calls In Administrators

Still, unfortunately many are still happy to use their ££ spending where it furthers the aims of totalitarian regimes instead.

Say what now? Is that what people are doing in your opinion by buying bikes other than an Orange????

Not liking a particular bike isn’t a crime

Slightly tongue in cheek comment, how much of their recent downturn is due to their inability (on most models) to fit a water bottle?

I would love a simple, well made and more importantly low maintenance and mud friendly bike. Under the down tube water bottles, or worse, having to wear a bag for a short 1.5 hour local blast means it’s off my shortlist.

having to wear a bag for a short 1.5 hour local blast means it’s off my shortlist.

Is that really such a hardship? Where do you stash your tools, pump, flapjack, phone, keys, etc?

Is that really such a hardship? Where do you stash your tools, pump, flapjack, phone, keys, etc?

Tools are inside the pump which is attached to the frame. Phone, snack and keys in my pocket in my case, but nearly all their competitors would have in-frame storage so nothing needed on your person at all

can’t get my head round the youth of today wanting bottles on their frames with the mouthpiece getting spattered with cow and horse $hit when camelbak kindly gave us a solution 30+ years ago. Can understand roadies doing it but then they’re an odd species

My off road bottles have covers for the cap, one of them is made by Camelbak

I choose to ride places where there isn’t shtt on the ground to start with

You can fit a fidlock underneath the top tube on most newer models.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CytOxqTsbhJ/?igsh=MWF5c3liaGppczFieA== 

I can’t understand the need to carry everything on the bike and get it all covered in what mank is being picked up… backpack or bumbag as it all stays clean and frame doesn’t get scratched from the mud getting between whichever straps are being used.
Each to their own though…it would be boring if we all wanted the same thing.

I choose to ride places where there isn’t shtt on the ground to start with

The moon?

The moon?

I think he was possibly meaning literal sh*t

I rode with a backpack until last year actually then decided to go with a framestrap and a bottle cage with integrated toolkit and co2 carts. I much prefer it over bum bags and backpacks, backpack always gave me a sweaty back and cleaning the bladder is more of a faff than washing a bottle, as is drying it, and a bumbag would always fold under my belly and thighs and cut in/chafe while pedalling and slide down my back.Much prefer having everything cladded onto the bike it’s been a game changer.

The bottle cage thing hasn’t helped them TBF.

I’m happy to ride with a bumbag bottle anyway, but it would be nice to have two bottles sometimes.

The newer frame design which does take one is a little visually challenging and must be heavier.

I think he was possibly meaning literal sh*t

Yeah I think everyone understood that.

Unless he only rides on Zwift I’m struggling to imagine how he achieves that, mtb involves visiting the countryside, countryside involves shit whether you like it or not.

cleaning the bladder is more of a faff than washing a bottle, as is drying it,

After the bladder has soaked in clean water with a drip of washing up liquid/Dettol surface cleaner/baking soda and rinsed out, wrap your hand in a clean tea towel and stick it inside, you can easily reach the far corners and dry it out, it’s not difficult

Disappointed but not really surprised to hear this. Grew up in Hebden, 1st proper mtb was an X2 followed by a bunch of other Oranges (X2, Patriot, Ms Isle, another couple of Patriots, Global Racing 222, Patriot 66, another 223, 223 with brake arm) loved all of them, every one of them cracked apart from the Ms Isle but Orange always sorted it out tbf though it was still enough for me to move on to other brands.

It doesn’t feel like they’ve moved with the times unfortunately and deffo had a bad rep for being noisy and cracking for a while. As already pointed out I don’t think the extensive catalogue of bikes or some of their pricing has helped them.

Fingers crossed they can be saved, certainly played a big part in my early riding years.

Two comments

Viewed two Oranges yesterday at Swinley. Sure there was more that I missed and even more when I was not there 🙂

The bottle issue, I have only recently remembered the joy of not having a camelback. New shock means that I have no room for even the small fidlock.

Tools in steerer tube, quad lock lock for phone and I never take a pump.

I had the 222/223. I was never faster than on those bikes and I would have liked an orange again. But their trail bikes were never an option as they didn’t have a bottle cage mount. I’m not alone in that. Don’t like bags for a few hours blast. I barely see anyone with a pack these days. You may think it is easy to clean but take a look around at any popular trail area.

I saw someone joking, maybe on PB that its a thing that bikes are designed around having a water bottle over having better suspension.

I don’t know how much that contributes to a companies downfall but mountain bikers are so fad-ish that one minute something is in and then next it’s out and everyone is buying/using something else. Brands have to keep up and stay relevant. Whether thats having the best bikes or a successful marketing team with decent riders doing cool things on video (not BM)

I saw someone joking, maybe on PB that its a thing that bikes are designed around having a water bottle over having better suspension.

all mtb design is a compromise. climb vs descend, weight vs durability, playful vs planted; adjustable vs fit and forget.

the latest “fad” might be having the ability to have a 200+ dropper fully inserted. This is going to affect some suspension designs.

After the bladder has soaked in clean water with a drip of washing up liquid/Dettol surface cleaner/baking soda and rinsed out, wrap your hand in a clean tea towel and stick it inside, you can easily reach the far corners and dry it out, it’s not difficult

Alright there Beadle, there’s no way I can get my hand inside a Camelbak bladder!
Back in the day when I did use a Camelbak, the solution was just to keep it going for a few weeks with no wash, to clean after every ride was a faff… and only ever water too! Bottles FTW.

I just rinse out the bladder and chuck it in the freezer, job jobbed. That said I agree that a bottle is better for shorter rides, and riding without a pack feels much better IMO

the latest “fad” might be having the ability to have a 200+ dropper fully inserted. This is going to affect some suspension designs

I must admit this is one i really don’t get. I’m not convinced on any of my last 10 bikes i could want a 210mm dropper as i don’t think i could actually pedal it. I’m 6’0 and i’ve ran a couple of size M bikes too. My Slayer i had maybe 20-25mm of post i could insert more which would give me i think theoretically 195mm but any more than that i’d need to wear extra shoes 😀

Alright there Beadle, there’s no way I can get my hand inside a Camelbak bladder!
Back in the day when I did use a Camelbak, the solution was just to keep it going for a few weeks with no wash, to clean after every ride was a faff… and only ever water too! Bottles FTW

Yeah, I just love the taste of a sheep shoot covered bottle nozzle after riding along my local farm tracks. TBH I’m not a fan of Camelback bladders either, the Blackburn design that come with Osprey packs are much better and easier to clean.

I must admit this is one i really don’t get. I’m not convinced on any of my last 10 bikes i could want a 210mm dropper as i don’t think i could actually pedal it. I’m 6’0 and i’ve ran a couple of size M bikes too. My Slayer i had maybe 20-25mm of post i could insert more which would give me i think theoretically 195mm but any more than that i’d need to wear extra shoes 😀

That’s the point though. Bikes these days should be designed around the biggest posts available. I will admit I didn’t think it would make that much difference until I had my first 200mm post. It’s more needed now that seat tube angles are steeper. With an extra 5 degrees, seats are far further forward than they used to be and definitely benefit from being able to drop more.

You can fit a fidlock underneath the top tube on most newer models.

Regardless of bottle cage placement/bodging with zip ties, that bike is fugging ugly.

Some of these reasons why they’ve called in the administrators seem to be really grasping at straws now… they’ve called in the administrators because you can’t fit a bottle cage inside the frame?

I must admit this is one i really don’t get. I’m not convinced on any of my last 10 bikes i could want a 210mm dropper as i don’t think i could actually pedal it. I’m 6’0 and i’ve ran a couple of size M bikes too.

I’m 5’8” and have 180 droppers in my bikes, could maybe squeeze a 200 in one. More drop the better I think but we must be proportioned differently…I didn’t think I was that leggy but maybe I am

I had the 222/223. I was never faster than on those bikes

True – I was always in a hurry to get to the bottom of a track just to stop the rattling, also never touched the brakes as it’s magically turn into a hardtail when you did… the brake arm helped with this but also added to the noise level 😆

they’ve called in the administrators because you can’t fit a bottle cage inside the frame?

It’s one of the (many) reasons I wouldn’t buy one tbf. Sod lugging a rucksack around.

*Also long droppers are ace, wouldn’t use anything less than 210mm on an mtb.

I wouldnt reach the pedals with a 200mm post!

The noise of the floating arm was horrendous. I swapped the rear end to a non floating arm and it was faster. Because I think the brake jack stopped it sinking into holes. Probably an age thing though. stick 18 year old me on a current dh bike and it’d be the quicker bike.

I dont think anyone is saying the administrators have exclusively been called in because of a lack of bottle cages. but it is a sign of not being contemporary enough in my opinion.

“cleaning the bladder is more of a faff than washing a bottle, as is drying it,

After the bladder has soaked in clean water with a drip of washing up liquid/Dettol surface cleaner/baking soda and rinsed out, wrap your hand in a clean tea towel and stick it inside, you can easily reach the far corners and dry it out, it’s not difficult”

Precisely; it’s a faff!

Precisely; it’s a faff!

Actual LOL, I only ever put water in my bladders for this reason.

I do love STW sometimes, 10 pages to conclude that Orange are in receivership because the generally accepted MTB ‘Uniform’ changed and people stopped wanting to wear the sweaty 90s backpacks 😀

In other news, Orange have appointed a ‘Specialist Business Rescue Advisory firm’ J9 Advisory with a view to restructuring their business.
My company is a creditor to Orange so I thought I’d check J9 out. Didn’t find anything about Orange but in their news section is a client testimonial from STW favourite Nigel Farage

“It was a pleasure to work with Johnny Abraham and J9 and to achieve a newsworthy outcome.”

The noise of the floating arm was horrendous. I swapped the rear end to a non floating arm and it was faster. Because I think the brake jack stopped it sinking into holes. Probably an age thing though. stick 18 year old me on a current dh bike and it’d be the quicker bike.

Fondly remember cutting 100s of little washers out of a sheet of teflon/plastic board to try to quieten down the brake arm. It worked but they didn’t last long unfortunately.

I’m 5’8″ and have a 200mm dropper on the enduro bike but only 170mm on the hard tail and boy does it feel like it’s in the way on steep, tight trails.

Came for deals on cheap oranges, sees random argument about water bottles…..

“cleaning the bladder is more of a faff than washing a bottle, as is drying it,
After the bladder has soaked in clean water with a drip of washing up liquid/Dettol surface cleaner/baking soda and rinsed out, wrap your hand in a clean tea towel and stick it inside, you can easily reach the far corners and dry it out, it’s not difficult”

Precisely; it’s a faff!

And also does exactly nothing to stop the green gloop building up in the inaccessible part of the hose behind the bitevalve.

Didn’t find anything about Orange but in their news section is a client testimonial from STW favourite Nigel Farage

Something something jingoistic flag-waving…

A bottle can be squeezed in on some Orange frames. It’s a bit Heath Robinson though and also shock specific as there isn’t a lot of room there.
I mostly use a bladder and use the bottle when it’s hot out and I don’t want a sticky back.
Can’t see me getting rid of this bike. Almost 7 years old, still hasn’t let me down and still rides well

Some really interesting opinions on why Orange bikes are in their current state, but almost nothing mentioning the current cost of credit, like the kind Ashley probably used to purchase Orange in 2015/16 when the BoE base rate was about 0.25%. A quick look on their last filed accounts does show bank loans & other debts. It’s tough times for many businesses that don’t operate with bank loans/PE/VC and for those that do, I’m sure it’s a hell of a lot worse.

Running a successful business can be a giant PITA so being involved in 2 (Orange & Bairstow’s) that are going through administration must be horrendous, then throw into the mix that they are both family businesses too just for extra spice. I’m no stranger to running a family business & whilst those involved are often super knowledgeable about their enterprise & industry, it’s not un-common for there to be holes in peoples knowledge about how to ‘run’ a successful company over the long term.

Personally I feel for everyone involved & hope they come out of this with their sanity intact.

Probably some interesting convo’s round the dinner table at Christmas, ‘hey Steve, fancy raiding your piggy bank and buying Orange back for 25pence in the pound?’

Meanwhile, just this week 2 people on the orange bike owners club facebook group cracked their frames, in the exact same places on 2 different models from different years with the exact same design fault. Probably a bigger issue than bottle cages…

weeksy
Full Member

I must admit this is one i really don’t get. I’m not convinced on any of my last 10 bikes i could want a 210mm dropper as i don’t think i could actually pedal it. I’m 6’0 and i’ve ran a couple of size M bikes too. My Slayer i had maybe 20-25mm of post i could insert more which would give me i think theoretically 195mm but any more than that i’d need to wear extra shoes 😀

That’s kind of the point, surely? Long travel bikes should all be able to take a long seatpost, not all of them can. And it’s not like it was hard to see coming as posts got slowly longer over time, and some manufacturers did see it coming- my 10 year old trek trailbike could take 190mm with average legged me on it.

I’m not sure Orange were necessarily being especially foresighted with this one, their “look” and suspension design does naturally favour it, but they got it more right than many manufacturers I think.