so had my orange five diva for 2 years and just very recently im having constant creaking/cracking annoying noises in the area of where the bushes/bushings go…is it bushes or bushings ? lol
anyway,on the down stroke of the pedals it creaks and now it creaks with normal riding or going uphill under pressure… theres no play in anything else, and ive done the usual losen/ tighten the rear quick release loads of times, the noise is coming from where the swing arm is bolted to the frame…im guessing the bushes need replacing…yeah lots of you on here say its a simple job to do but when your not mechanical minded about stuff like that its a problem (lol)… anyway when i got home some random guy stopped outside my house whilst i was cleaning my bike and he said he builds orange bikes and that i could ring the orange factory up and send it direct to them…would this be the case…so is creaking of orange fives -bushes problem and the need to replace… cheers in advance of any advice 😉

The bushing is in the shock eyelet, sounds to me like your bearings have failed.

Before you go down that route, take out your rear QR skewer, grease the shaft lightly and the brass cam bushing where it contacts the lever. Re insert do it up and test ride. A number of Orange Five owners who have thought bearings/bushings have worn and are creaking its been down the Hope rear skewer!

A squirt of GT85 or similar on the suspected offending frame bushing will make it go quiet (temporarily) if it is that causing it.

I wouldnt be squirting that stuff in bushings, bearings on my bike.

ive done the greasing of skewer and the brass thing already today after washing my bike..so done that already… still creaking… we undid rear bolts of the rear sus so the swing arm was loose and rattles it side to side and it creaks, ..i cant tell you how annoyingly loud this creaking is now…grrrr… no i havent squirted GT 85 on the bushes just so you know…

Er no only after eliminating the rear skewer. To be fair normally a worn bushing will allow vsible movement too. Grab hold of the back wheel and waggle the swing arm-you should see lateral movement at the pivot.

Have you checked the shock bushes and the frames pivot bearings ❓

Looks relatively easy to do-was in one of the bike mags the other month.
Failing that if you live near an Orange dealer or Orange HQ take it there and get it done.
One other option-treat yourself to a new bike 😛

new bike ????? ive just been told i have the best bike in the world apparently ! and thats from a guy who builds them…lol
going to ring orange tomorow for advice then….

Have you removed the back wheel and the shock and run the back end gently through it’s travel, also put the front end under your arm pit and see if there is any side to side play?

There are some guides for shock bush checking on this thread

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/slight-rear-suspension-movement#post-2881426

so just a follow up..i rang the Orange factory this morning for some advice…. and they said tighten the quick release which i did alot of yesterday…. The Bearings/bushes are SEALED say Orange so dont need replacing too often ! one more thing to try is to take out the Bearings and to GREASE them….. so i think i mite try that…see if that stops the creaking… 😉

The bearings and bushes are different things, right? On the Five there are 2x pivot bearings, 2x shock bushes.

The Bearings/bushes are SEALED say Orange so dont need replacing too often ! one more thing to try is to take out the Bearings and to GREASE them.

At 2 years old, if regularly ridden and cleaned, surely it won’t be too premature (nor cost a great deal) to swap out the lot anyway. Friendly LBS can sort it fairly quick. If you’re thinking of having the shock serviced at all they fit new bushes as a matter of course.

But you’re sure it’s something to do with the suspension right? It’s not a crank issue or anything else?

nope done all the necessary checks…. another possibility is to change the bearings in my raceface bottom bracket too…. anyway sending it to bike shop see what they can sus out… 😉

If there is no play in the BB and it’s relatively new, I would say it’s frame sus. bearings or bushes -bushes are designed to fail to avoid damaging the frame or other components.

Nick

Orange 5 has 2 PIVOT BEARINGS

The shock runs on 2 reducer bushings

She is talking about the PIVOT BEARINGS

can we all make sure we are talking about the same thing!

Have you swapped out the seat and/or the seatpost for another ?

😯

My money is on the lower (swingarm end) shock eyelet/reducer/spherical 😉 bushing having a little play in it possibly in conjunction with worn shock spacers

elaine do you run pro2 rear hub by any chance?

So the spacers, normally cheap, act like bushes ?

NickScots, nope, once the eyelet bush wears a certain amount so there’s enough movement the spacers will also start to wear.

what are the bushes on fives?? the mounting kit? or is it specifically in the shock itself?

If it helps read the following – and buy new bolts when you change the bearings.
dark-foreboding-creak-from-orange-five

There are bushes pressed into the eyelets of the shock, the reducers,spacers or ‘top hats’ push into these and they’re 22 M8 either end

so having a sparkly new shock means i wont need to worry about bushings etc? 😆

Not at the moment no 😀 Is it still very Gold?

The bushes themselves are small metal sleaves, usually with a special coating on the inside. These are pressed into the shock and don’t come out without the use of a hammer/vice…

The top-hats then sit in the bush, and are held tight by the frame mount and once done up, these should not move. The shock then pivots around this, with the bushing wearing over time.

Am not sure if it will work the same on a Five, but on my 5-Spot I can tell when the shock bushings are worn by lifting the back of the saddle slightly, with the wheels on the ground, and seeing if I can feel any play there. If they are worn there is a little bit of movement before the wheels lift…

😆 great news! pivot bearings were done about 3 months ago too, so should be sweet for a while!

back to elaine, if you do have a pro2 rear hub, please please please please please please please check the flanges (bits where the spokes go into the hub) clean the hub right up (completely clean so its gleaming) and have a look in good lighting for any hairline cracks, seriously, as mine was pretty dirty from oily grease etc even after cleaning, it took me ages to see it….if you want some pics of what mine looked like i can email you on what to look out for!

i spent ages, and a small fortune tryign to cure/find the creak, and it was a cracked pro2 rear hub all along, fixed FOC by hope and has been absolutly silent since, for 3 months now!

save yourself the stress of spending money, and please check your hub first!

Polymer eyelet bushes FTW now, lasting considerably longer than the standard metal ‘coated’ ones.
The team have been using these all season endurance racing and I don’t htink I’ve had to change one yet, they’re doing serious miles too.

funkynick,

Same as me. After cleaning the bike, if I hold each bearing/mounting etc you can feel a bit of play then time to replace.

I fitted TF Tuned sleeves on my fox seems to have lasted longer than the originals so far…..

LoCo – Member
Not at the moment no Is it still very Gold?

indeed it is mate, no chips/marks so far (touches wood), a bit of the gold seems to be duller over the eyelet bit (not actually on the shaft fortunately) likes it was worn, but it was like that when i put it on so not worried by it, but the shaft is still as gold as a gold thing!…and its so silky smooth, its been up the thick of the peak so far and its totally transformed how smooth the rear end is, again couldnt tell you if thats the kashima or boostvalve…either way its been a cracking buy! im well impressed!

pivot bearings on a five are pretty easy to spot if they need replacing, well was for me, the rear swingarm literally moved left to right stationary….upon removal the bearings were dry, rusty, covered in muck and the out casing of them cracked….original orange ones im guessing arent that great! bearings were one year old!

ohhh and must add elaine, this was at the same time as my cracked pro2 before i knew it was cracked, so thought the bearing change would fix it! it didnt! so as worn as my bearings were, with loads of movement, it still didnt cause a creak!

Luckily all my frame bearings are industry standard, that’s engineering industry. So I just went to the local bearing shop, and all the bearings were off the shelf, less than a pound each !

Grangemouth has a huge Petrochemical industry. Actually Brad Pitt was and is there, filming a Zombie movie, used Grangemouth Plants for a backdrop.

I had a creak on my 5 and a riding buddy recognised it a the hub……….Elaine defo worth gettig the hub checked 😀