If you end up choosing a Zesty, now’s the time to buy … Discounts on 2011 Zesty’s have started to be advertised … 10% at Evans for 514, 714 & 914 but you can get better.
I got 18% & i950r included earlier in the year – so better deals will be available now.
2012 has been altered a little, geometry, bb height, chainstay design …gilding the lilly? Depends on your point of reference.

Orange 5 = Landrover (British, ugly, rock solid)
Zesty = An Alfa (European, beautiful, can require a bit of time/money to keep them running sweetly)

Both great bikes, try both and see which you prefer. I went with a Zesty for what it’s worth.

All good bikes, the pitch is probably slight too dh orientated for the op.

I went for a 5 (again).

Phew !! From all of the above posts I gues I need to try the Pitch and decide once and for all which is the best for me, thanks for your opinions. Lisa.

I have a Five.. its great.
am looking to keep it built up in full XC guise
and buy another 5 and keep it in AM guise.. cos am sick of swapping bits to swap between modes …

alternately I could get an Alpine 160 instead.. hmmm..

HTH.

Rode the Alpine 160 last week, bloody good downhill, weight is 33lbs just under 15kg so can be a bit of an effort at times. Nice bike tho!!

Picked my new five up today and rode ti for the 1st time didnt climb as well as my remedy 8 but was so much more fun on the down its great for just flicking the back end around. Test rode a Zesty at the start of the year found it climbed amazing but it didnt seem as chuckable as the five but still descended well. Can’t comment on the specialized. When your looking at that price range would you not be better off considering the stumpy evo

Had a pitch comp, they have a very long wheel base, I’m 6’1 and the large seemed like a barge, whereas now I have a Santa cruz heckler, also 19″ large and it is perfect.
If you thinking orange then consider a heckler or as they have been compared numerous times and seems to be evenly split. Comes down to vfm, preference on looks I suppose. Could t justify an extra 500 for a Five or £400 if you count the rp23 upgrade.

Wouldn’t buy any of those , I have a blur Xc 2nd hand frame built up by me, if I wanted a longer travel bike like you do I’d get a blur lt , the vpp is excellent don’t even use the lockout.

If you thinking orange then consider a heckler or as they have been compared numerous times and seems to be evenly split.

I have a 2011 Five and my brother has a 2011 Heckler.

There is no similarity whatsoever except they are both single pivot, they don’t ride at all like each other. In fact they couldn’t be farther apart in terms of how they ride.

As mentioned above, I think a Stumpy (either regular or Evo) would be a better bike from the Specialized line up if you’re comparing to a 5 or a Zesty. Pitch is quite a lot cheaper and heavier.

Ok didn’t really consider Stumpy, will investigate

Flow, where did I say they ride the same, I say evenly split. Not trying be funny but.why are you getting so arsey about it?

I wasn’t saying you did, or getting arsey, just pointing out to the OP that they ride nothing like each other.

Spesh warranty is on the FRONT END ONLY – not the swingarm.

I went through 2 front ends, couple of chainstays and seatstays during my Pitch ownership.

I’m riding the same trails…. and just as hard… on a yr 2000 Patriot frame. I know which company will get my money come shiny new bike time!

I went from Stumpy to Zesty, IMHO because the angles were very similar but the Zesty is just such a more capable bike and it seemed to have that ‘relentless zing’ that seemed missing in the stumpy which I really liked as well. It was a safer bike to ride and thats not ment in a bad way. Guess my riding has moved on. Very happy zesty owner who hits the UK and European trails 😉

xiphon, I guess no company is perfect, but you are the only pitch wrecker I have heard of. From eight mates on orange half had frame issues and got zero love from the warranty department. Maybe it depends on where you get your bike, my LBS always sort me out.

Of the 3, I’d get a 5 or a Zesty for Swinely/your riding (and I own a pitch!).

My Pitch is great, but I took mine to Swinely and it made it hard work, it climbs as well as any other 30lb bike that slack, but Swinely rewards something nimble and steep, the pitch handles more like a very light DH bike, whereas the zesty is more like a very slack trail bike?

The Pitch doesn’t come into it’s own untill it’s out of its comfort zone, you have to be really pushing it through some propper terrain before it leaves eveything else in it’s wake. Even on FC black runs it feels stifled, so the hardtail still gets a lot of use.

Spesh warranty is on the FRONT END ONLY – not the swingarm.

No, its 2 years swingarm and 5 years front end. Orange is 1 year for each???

The Trek EX series are very good bikes. Well priced too, worth a look (and I don’t even ride a Trek!)

Personally I wouldnt buy a bike based on riding one week a year in the Alps….especially if you ride some where like surrey the remainder of the time.

What realistically are you riding? Are you not doing jumps/gaps at the moment, but looking to, or not really bothered about doing stuff like that + looking to do lots of DH stuff?

If you really like climbing and enjoy it equally to going down hill then I’d certainly look at bikes that will be better at climbing.

Personally Ive never liked the Orange 5, never seen why so many people like it…

No, its 2 years swingarm and 5 years front end. Orange is 1 year for each???

3 years for both on the 5.

Just been on the Orange site to check their warranty details… Orange 5 frame is warrantied for 3 years only, but they warranty the pivot bearings for 5!

PMSL!

I want to like the 5, I really do, but that is just ridiculous when a company is saying basically they’re less confident their frame will last a period of time than the pivot bearings… And on a £1400 frame too!

If it was my money and I was after a 140mm trailbike, I’d be spending my money elsewhere… Shame Cannondale killed off the Prophet to be honest, but I really like the look of the Saracen Ariel.

Shame Cannondale killed off the Prophet

For a post slagging off frame failiures thats an odd ending!

The reson I went for the pitch over the ‘dale was the prophet seemed to be a return to their good old ‘crackandfail’ days.

Just been on the Orange site to check their warranty details… Orange 5 frame is warrantied for 3 years only, but they warranty the pivot bearings for 5!

No, it means they believe that any manufacturing defects should become apparent within that timeframe, if you break any frame that’s your own fault, if the frame brakes thats a manufcturing fault, spesh put this quite well somewhere saying words to the effect of “if the frame snaps it’s a defect, if you do a gap jump, come up short and bend a tube that’s your own silly fault”. A warenty is not a crash replacement scheme.

Spesh – when I had my pitch – front end was lifetime, back end was 1yr. Parts were 1yr too.

lifetime on main frame and 5 year on seat-chainstay according to this.
http://www.cyclesuk.com/pub/files/Other/1301069853_Specialized%20-%20Warranty%20Guide.pdf

but then this says xiphon is correct.
http://cdn.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/pdf/manuals/OM0232_Warranty_r1.pdf

Mboy posting negative comments on a thread about Oranges bikes, what a surprise 🙄

Grow up!

Its been a long while since I’ve owned an Orange, and they’ll never see another penny of my money, mostly due to their piss poor customer care an attitude when I went through a couple of their sub5’s back in the day.

As it transpires, I prefer the ride of a decent four bar system. The question is, what do you prefer?

They’ll give quite a different ride – you might like the way the orange stiffens under power so it feels firm, but hooks up more readily of square edged bumps, or you might prefer the more fluid zesty that will track rough stuff better under power, but may feel squishy and slack.

What do you want from your bike?

I guess something that will be steady going downhill but still allow me to climb as well. I’m fairly new to MTB but ride a fair bit and my confidence is growing. I’d like to progress to small drops/jumps eventually; nothing too outrageous!!

What about a Spicy – anyone had experience?

wrecker – Member

The Trek EX series are very good bikes. Well priced too, worth a look (and I don’t even ride a Trek!)

them orange 5;s dont half dent easy..

The Trek EX series are very good bikes. Well priced too, worth a look (and I don’t even ride a Trek!)

I had an EX9, it was shite downhill, fast up and along though.

Remedy = nice

thread closed. 🙂

FunkyDunc – Member
Personally I wouldnt buy a bike based on riding one week a year in the Alps….especially if you ride some where like surrey the remainder of the time.

I actually have a view on that. I ride my Pitch around Surrey all the time and also ride it in the alps. Out there it has the forks out at 140mm, no pro pedal as well as dual ply tyres and DH tubes. The saddle also never comes up. In surrey I ride it mainly at 120mm, single plys and raise the saddle for climbing (although there are plenty of hidden trails in surrey that require the full travel etc – hence why you find Brendan Fairclough and Bernard Kerr ragging it around the local trails down here). It rides excellently in both places. I agree with the previous poster that says the Pitch rides best when it is pushed out of its comfort zone though.

I think its a good choice, but it can require some muscle to manoeuvre it up hills at times, but then mine is a 9 speed.

Pitch rides best when it is pushed out of its comfort zone though

That’s when it breaks.

Maybe dragged kicking and screaming into a completely different comfort zone, rather than nudged ever so slightly?

“I’d like to progress to small drops/jumps eventually; nothing too outrageous!!”

So you would be fine on any 100/120mm bike.

There appears to be alot of marketing and hype at the minute that you need to get long travel ‘All Mountain’ bikes to even ride out of your door, when all most people do is ride around trail centres an XC stuff. Certainly if you enjoy climbing I’d look at shorter travel and steeper geometry bike that you will enjoy now, which can hand small jumps and drops easily. Then if you skills improve you might want to buy a more freeridey bike.

Of course I’ll get flamed for saying this…

You should buy my 2008 Cannondale Prophet frame that I’m about to sell!

Pitch is quite a lot cheaper and heavier.

29.2lb without pedals, stock but with high rollers not eskars.

I’m slowly transfering lighter bits over from other bikes and might buy some new wheels. Aiming to keep it sub-30lb with flat pedals, reverb and maybe a coil shock.

That’s when it breaks.

You do seem to have a pretty big downer on them! Don’t you usualy acompany it with the pic of a big gap jump and the tag “1st ride out”. It’s still a 30lb trail bike, not a freeride/downill/hucking machine!