GaryLake:[/b] How ‘horrible’ is the Scottish stuff you’re riding?

The short answer to that is “not very, but maybe one day”, which I guess is Northwind’s point. I’m an ideal candidate for the Gyro. I like Orange bikes and I bet I get off and walk down stuff that the rest of you sail through without a thought. So I clearly don’t need a bike as big as the Five29 (or regular Five). But even I worry that a Gyro might limit what I could ride in the future and wonder whether the bigger Five29 (or 26″ Five) might be a safer option. Although I’m pretty sure that’s not really the case. Presumably you are not saying that you couldn’t ride a Gyro down Snowdon, Torridon etc. You just wouldn’t choose it if that were what you were riding every day.

Whether the Five29 or Gyro survive long term probably has more to do with fashion and how they are received by the press than their actual abilities. The Five29 does seem to be getting be being launched just as the market seems to be agreeing that 29ers only really work for XC and shorter travel trail bikes. Also, despite having been on sale for a little while now I can’t find any reference online to anybody actually owning one. All the sites that showed them as being in stock the day they were launched are still showing them as in stock. Various people have tested them but the conclusion always seems to be “bonkers fun, but I wouldn’t buy one”.

Northwind:But I could be wrong

Yes, me too 🙂

Presumably you are not saying that you couldn’t ride a Gyro down Snowdon, Torridon etc. You just wouldn’t choose it if that were what you were riding every day.

Bingo, but finding the limits, I did the FOD DH on mine and was well comfortable, and popped in some top 10s on Strava, it’s by no means an incapable, timid a bike.

The Five29 does seem to be getting be being launched just as the market seems to be agreeing that 29ers only really work for XC and shorter travel trail bikes.

You mean as Spesh announce their 29er Enduro? Love it or hate it but the Enduro is normally a significant barometer of the market…

We had a 529 and a Gyro pro out on a Tuesday night a couple of weeks ago and we rode the Borrowdale bash just so we had a good idea how they performed on a ride we know well. I rode the Gyro and fair play it went up…. and it went down. What a really nice bike to ride. I was convinced on our terrain it wouldn’t climb too well but I was wrong. The extra grip you get is quite astonishing! Out of the two it was the bike I would want out all day….however GavGas rode the 529 and when I got to the bottom he was grinning from ear to ear and couldn’t believe how fast he had got down. Faster then ever (usually rides a nukeproof). I would need him to talk about the climbing and riding specifics! The two are are different bikes not just versions of each other… definitely.

clareymorris:[/u] Did you get a chance to ride the Five29 as well, or was it one bike each?

Looking at a few videos of the Borrowdale bash it looks like a pretty good test and if Gary can take a Gyro down a downhill course I’m sure it will handle anything that I can throw at it. But I’d still like to know what you actually lose with the bigger Five29.

I’m looking at those Revelation RCT3 forks. By all accounts they are as stiff as the Fox 34s. I think this guy is running Revelation 32s on his Five29, for example and they can run at 120 or 140.

Five29 Enduro

So, I’d basically be building either up with the same kit and it comes down to 120/69 vs 140/66 plus probably not much weight. I still think 120/69 is probably the sweet spot for trail riding, but I did have my old 2006 Five running at 150/66 for a while and was surprised at how good it felt. Loads of confidence going down and I couldn’t detect any penalty going up over the same bike running shorter and steeper, which surprised me. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the 18″ frame was just a bit too small for me and that however it was built it was always ~10% slower than my Trance, I’d probably have kept it.

GaryLake:[/u] Good point about the Spesh. I really shouldn’t pretend that I have a clue what the market will do when I don’t even know what I will do. Actually I do know what I’ll do. I’m off to Glenmore lodge for a skills course this weekend. So I’ll wait until I get back from that before giving any more thought to a new bike. I’m guessing that I’ll have a very different view by Monday.

roverpig – Member

if Gary can take a Gyro down a downhill course I’m sure it will handle anything that I can throw at it

I reckon you’d kill the stock build pretty fast, but yeah the handling is up for it and a tweaked package would improve that. (those wheels in particular, I landed the drops on the 4x track dead flat, like a dobber, and they were not happy)

Wouldn’t be my first choice mind. But yep it did not feel delicate or “too xc”. TBF I don’t think Orange are in the habit of making bikes that can’t exceed their pay grade 🙂

I got some feedback from Orange on whether the chainstays on the 140mm Five29 really were as short as on the 110mm Gyro. Basically the answer is yes:

“By manufacturing our ‘forward seat tube’ and using an e-type front derailleur, we managed to get the swingarm of the Five 29 down to the Gyro length. Even though it’s got 140mm travel”.

There is also a lot of stuff in the marketing for the Five29 about lighter shock mounts, head tubes etc. Orange don’t release frame weight, but as they stand I wonder if the Five29 frame really is much heavier than the Gyro. Maybe a pound at most?

If you are looking to buy a frameset (always the best way to buy an Orange I reckon) and build it up yourself it does look harder to justify going for the Gyro frame over the Five29. The latter has more travel, will take more abuse but is probably not much heavier and has the same length chainstays. The main difference is at the front I guess: 120/69 vs 140/67.

Of course what matters is how they ride. So far I haven’t heard of anybody who has ridden them both and preferred the Gyro, but then again there are very few people who have ridden them both. I was speaking with somebody who has sent back a Gyro frame (because the rear tyre was rubbing the frame at full travel) and swapped it for a Five29 frame, but he’s not had a chance to ride it yet.

I’m not sure I agree with roverpig.
Surely the 30mm at the back end will make the ride feel different between the two bikes.

I ride a Gyro and a Horsethief only 10mm travel difference; yet they feel vastly different on the trail (to be fair the Fox 32 v Fox 34 140 also make a difference).
The ride of the Gyro feels firm and similar to my previous SC S/Light.
The ride of the H/Thief feels more like an Orange 5 for example.

They are in my opinion different bikes for different applications; one will do almost what the other will; but one will be more suited.

However I would love a go on a Orange 5 29.

Fair point. I certainly felt that the ride on the Gyro was pretty firm too although I was putting that more down to the shock tune than the travel. Descend mode on the Evolution CTD shock seemed too soft, but Trail was pretty firm and I would have liked something in between (which would hopefully be provided by an upgrade to the Factory shock with “trail adjust”). But you could be right, it could just be a feature of the shorter travel.

OK, I guess somebody doesn’t like the Five29!

Three Week Old Five29 for Swap

I personally think it was a mistake naming the Five29 after the Five

because the Five is such a linchpin of their business that they want some of the fairy dust to rub off onto other bikes in the range.

So many of their sales are of Fives theyre worried the bubble will burst and when the 26″ Five is no longer loved their market will collapse. The ST4 proved they could waste a lot of time and money developing the sort of bike people “should” be riding and not have it sell and the same could happen with the Gyro. A safer bet to update their mainstay to embrace 29″ than confuse or deter buyers with a new model name with no reputation or ‘traction’?

You mean as Spesh announce their 29er Enduro? Love it or hate it but the Enduro is normally a significant barometer of the market…

Worth considering carbon versions will be a couple of pounds lighter than a 529 frame. Nothing against Orange BTW.

So has anyone ridden both or own a 529?