Cheers for that. I was in the market for new jacket for cx/road jaunts. Just snapped up a black one.

If you follow the suntans route to Mumbles you can dive off a mile or so short and try the red trail in Clyne valley. And very nice it is too.

http://www.clyneriders.co.uk/page3/about.php

I was another one in the £1k C2W cyclocross boat…..and went for this because I liked the pretty colour. Tiagra and CX expert brakes And probably a few quid of Bianchi tax over the equivalents but Giant and Spesh’s CX bikes were over the £1k limit (my company uses Cyclesoultions so no option to ‘top up’).

Been on a 650b crush for the past year and it’s been fantastic. Binned the Avid Elixirs and went 2×10 pretty much straight away but that’s sorted with the latest model. Now got full XT drivetrain, 35mm stem fatbars, bigger rotors…it does everything I ask of it, ups, downs, and jumps flawlessly.

. I would like to know why this five is visually nicer than all other gives that’s all. Is it the head tube, gussets, swingarm, position of the shock, colour?

It’s the straight top tube and seatpost brace for me. I’ve always liked the Alpine 160 frame. This is very similar now.

It’s definitely put me in a bit of quandary. I was pretty much set on a Transition Scout frame. I really disliked the previous Five’s top tub for aesthetic reasons. I’ve got a ’14 Crush here which only need a rear wheel ( QR vs 142×12) to swap the kit across to the new frame. Damn you Orange. Damn you. . Might have to pilfer that little extra from the wedding savings now.

It’s gonna be £1700 with a custom colour. Black red or white just aren’t Enduro enough surely?

Z1ppy, the Geometry is on the Orange page now…

http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/five-s

I’m just about to build up a 650b FS trail bike. Just missing a frame at the moment. The five would be the natural progression from my Crush but stacked up against the other options, they’ve really priced themselves out of it for me against the NP mega, Transition Scout, SC Heckler etc.

Did you order the new model? I think it it looks a bit more up to date now. £100 dearer for a frame now though. £1700 by the time you’ve chosen a colour. £2600 for the cheapest full build. I’ve always been an Orange fan but there much better options out there value wise.

Thanks for the review Dave. Got my heart set on building one of these up imminently, just need to go try one for size.

Transition Patrol? £1499 frame only with Monarch Plus. Nowhere near as cheap as last years Mega at CRC prices but then it’s not painted in horrid JCB colours either.

Orange charge £150 for a hardtail respray and postage back to you.

Think my day off is Thursday next week, I’ll give you a call early in the week to see how it’s getting on. That gives me enough time to figure out how to syphon funds from the wedding savings.

^ Applogies for the hijack but…have you built that Scout demo yet? I need to come up from Swansea for a cuppa and a sit on it…

New Transition Patrol/Scout have 73mm threaded BBs

I’ve been on a 17″ 2014 Crush for just over a year and I think it’s superb. It’s used for everything, Brechfa and Afan trails, local bimbles, child seat toddler duties etc. Mine came with Avid Elixir brakes which were shite, so got swapped for XTs and went 2×10 w/bash but it appears all that is sorted for the 2015 model. Wish the revelations were available for my model but it was Fox 32s or Sektors.
My only gripe was I hated the colour of mine so it’s getting stripped this week and sent to Orange for a repaint.
It’s running 780mm bars and a 35mm stem, and the handling is great both up and down. Can’t recommend it enough.

Work got in the way today so had to ride this around. Built burly but corners like she’s on rails.

Spesh Air Tool MTB here. Takes CO2 as well. Presta only tho

I’ve been on a 650B Crush (Fox 32 version) for the past year and it think it’s fantastic, changed a lot of it now though. 1×10, XT brakes with 180/180s, Fat bars, 35mm stem. I’ve never felt it lacking in anything I’ve used it for. Got a reverb ready to go on but it’s just about to be shipped back orange for a respray in new Charcoal grey. And maybe some Pikes after that.