Ok, I thought I’d write this because there are very few reviews on this bike floating around the internet. I recall Chipps had one for a bit, but his reviews seemed to dry up for this one, and I don’t recall a conclusion of any sorts. Furthermore, the Dirt review was possibly the worst I’ve read for anyone looking to buy one – I mean, the origin of Neon??
I got this bike to test because I’d always been curious about it. I’m a bit of an Orange fanboy having owned numerous full bouncers and a 2010 crush. I keep coming back because they fit me perfectly, always ride better than any of the competition I’ve tried, and excepting my 1st sub-5 I’ve never had any issues or warranty claim.
I’ve always been a long travel hardtail fan, and find it easy to adapt my riding style, ride the forks and let the back end follow any which way it can. This meant that the mismatched travel – 125mm at the back and 160mm at the front didn’t seem that odd. In fact, having some “get out of jail” travel at the back made perfect sense to me. I reasoned that it should still feel “engaging” like a hardtail, but allow me to push on on bigger terrain. I have a mate who lives in Morzine so generally have an annual Alps trip plus the Mega to look forward to, so any bike I have needs to be up to a few weeks of full on battering with minimal fuss. The Blood is incredibly solid at the front, much like a circa 2006 224, and I’m certain it’ll take it.
What I’ve done is order a demo bike in through my LBS. Unfortunately it came with the 2011 spec’; gone are the 160mm Fox 36 forks and double and bash, and in come the triple and 140mm 32 floats. This is not how I would build it up, and having ridden it now for a few days, I think it is a mistake on the part of Orange – perhaps they think it overlaps the 5 AM and the Alpine too much??
On the trail – the bike rides like a decent bike should. It has a low bottom bracket, which I like, but have had a few pedal strikes just on normal woodland trail riding. It is very easy to chuck around but oddly the front is a bit harder to pick up when compared to my 2011 5. Looking at the Orange website it shows that the Blood has a slightly longer wheelbase and chainstay than the 5, so that would possibly explain this. Also, I think the shorter forks place my weight too far over the front. It feels like my Titus SuMo did when I replaced the 36’s with Pikes. It puts weight on the wrists and shoulders and doesn’t encourage wheelies, or bunny hops etc.
Having said that, in its current form on smooth groomed trail it is simply brilliant. It’s possibly the best trail centre bike I’ve ever ridden. Every big root or tree stump begs to be popped off, and skids have suddenly become fun again (I turned 40 last weekend and this seems plain wrong). The back end is very stiff; it’s quite overbuilt and has a maxle, which may affect things.
However, as good as it is on the groomed trail, the RP23 xv just doesn’t seem to suit it. Either it’s the cold weather or this particular shock that is knackered. Its very noisy for a Fox, with a lot of sucking/squelching noises. Back to back with my 5 with the same shock (albeit a different tune), shows some odd behaviour. The rebound is virtually ineffective – its on fully wound in and still feels like it needs calming down a bit. As soon as I rode a section of downhill that is a very bumpy frozen bridleway, which is well chewed up by hooves, it was trying to bounce my feet off the pedals and me over the bars. The great feeling of being able to pop off anything in sight soon become a chore of trying to keep my feet planted. I don’t even get this on the hardtail so I’m certain it’s the shock. Having said that, the forks also struggled to keep up with the rear. They constantly wanted to dive into their travel. They are the 32 RL versions and nowhere near as controlled as my identical set or my more basic float r’s. I think their readiness to dive actually exagerated the rebound speed at the back. In short I was not impressed with the balance of front to rear, but something tells me its not the frame design but the shock and forks. Does cold weather affect damping this much? I thought it would actually thicken the oil as it got colder.
It is a very good climbing bike. It obviously has a steep seat angle, and this seems to overcome the slack head angle. This may be helped by the 140mm forks, which I personally wouldn’t fit. Turning pro-pedal off helps traction for climbing, but I think this is because it softens the pedal stroke a bit by absorbing some of the energy. Turning the pro-pedal off also helped the downhills slightly but it was still a bit too lively for absolute caning it.
I don’t really know what to make of this bike – it is seriously overbuilt and could take a real beating, but the way the shock works, on a big mountain, it would try to kill you in the process. Again, I think (In fact I know) this shock is a bad example, and I think a good coil shock would suit it more. The 32mm 140mm forks do not suit it at all; for my personal taste it needs to be higher at the front to be fun and comfortable for a longer ride. As it is, I struggled for much over 1 hour before wrist and shoulder ache started creeping in. In fact I found it fairly tiring to ride this bike for much over the hour. Some may argue its not designed for this kind of riding, but if I was to buy it, then it would have to.
To sum up, it has a low bottom bracket and I think the triple ring setup is wasted on this bike. It seems to suit the big ring better than the middle so maybe a double + bash with 36 or 38 teeth ring as the big one would be the way to go, or a 1×10 for those who fancy that. 160mm forks would be ideal to lift the front a bit. The rear is a bit “springy” and needs calming down. It has that typical Orange fit (i.e. sat in not on), that is possibly helped by the low BB. It is fast on the smooth more groomed trail but a handful when it gets very bumpy and fast. It is very stiff but not that heavy.
If anyone is thinking of getting one be sure to test ride it. I’ve got it for a few days more so if anyone wants specific measurements doing just give me a shout.
