Orange 5 vs Santacruz Blur vs ??

[LRdriver II]

Just got my next bike narrowed down to one of these, anybody have any opinions about them or any other dark horse that might be good for full sus XC work with all day ridability?

I am considering both fully buildt or building it myself from a bare frame so spec at this point isnt so important.

Time to add a full-susser to the hardtail fleet..not had one since 1995 Mountain Cycles San Andreas which did alot of ghost shifting.

[beyond rational]

Five fully gets my vote.

[abarthchris]

i think the blur is better than the 5, but i personally would go for a specialized enduro or a giant reign. I prefer multi-pivot/bar suspension systems to single pivots though...

[rico]

Orange full suss are bloody noisy bikes to ride. I'd go for the Blur

[MTY4000]

I'm in the same situation, looking for an all day trail bike, Orange 5 is on my short list. These are my reasons should they be relevant to your situation:

1) its british
2) its a simple design, with the pivot and supension out of the way of the british grime [i.e. I can use it year round without much concern]
3) it looks like I can shoulder the bike comfortably for any unriddable climbs, e.g. boulder / scree slope. I'm buying for long rides in the mountains.
4) the frame got 10 out of 10 in one of the mags this month

Other Dark Horses (ones I am considering):

Specialised Epic
Giant Anthem 1

Shorter travel and move pivots to maintain / go wrong, but I expect more efficient climbers. I like to throw in some road climbs on my mountain rides and want an efficient ride

Orange likley to win for me, as long as I can get comfy with the trade off of the extra travel vs the energy-efficiency of the ride.

[.Adam.]

I've got a 5, which I think is great, but I haven't ridden any of the others. Can't say that I have ever noticed that my bike is noisy though, it just sounds like any other bike! Handbuilt in Britain as well, just like my car.

[madbadger]

I've got an XT/Hope 5 too.

It's brilliant and apart from the discs rubbing a bit sometimes it's not noisy at all.




Edited for carp speeling

Edited by madbadger on Monday 15th January 19:51

[wobert]

I'm gonna be looking later this year and have too got my spec down to two bikes:

Specialized Stumpjumper FSR & Orange 5

The Spec is better-equipped for the money but "mass produced" the Orange trades frame-spec for groupset spec, which IMHO is the right way to do it, upgrade to better bits as and when they break / get destroyed.

I used the same thinking when I specced my Clockwork 13yrs ago, hence thinking of staying loyal to the brand!

[pombstard]

Mate's got a Blur and its a tidy bit of kit. I was looking at a 6" XC all-day bike, Blur LT or a Giant Reign but a Yeti came along. Have a look at a Yeti ASR - I've got a 575 but the ASR is a 4" XC race bike.

Also I've heard good stuff from a couple of riders with Giant Trances - 4" and good spec.

[madbadger]

pombstard said:

...but a Yeti came along. Have a look at a Yeti ASR - I've got a 575 but the ASR is a 4" XC race bike.

Sorry for the minor thread hijack, but

Good to see another Yeti owner on here.

As you were. (Orange )

[LRdriver II]

yea, Thanks for the feedback. I tend to agree, the Spesh is a bit too mainstream for me (two Kleins and a Litespeed Ti in my fleet) and the Orange seems suited to the UK and European weather. I also read the MBK article so am slightly biased now.

ANyhoo, I am off to the LBS to check some rides out. No poxy mailorder stuff me

[rico]

The noisy comment might not have been fair on the 5. I'm just going on experience of 222s and Patriots as they do sound noisy. I think its mainly chainslap so with enough padding on the frame this should reduce.

Turner make some lovely all-day bikes

[LRdriver II]

Woohoo!!
Just back in from my local bikestore. Just ordered an Orange 5 pro in erm... orange with a couple of upgrades (performance pack,Hope pro upgrade and SRAM 9.0 swap instead of XT) Yee haaaa... pretty excited and cant wait this week for Orange to build and deliver it.
my first full suspesion rig...boing..boing..

[Jwb]

Too late then but if you are going single pivot then Santa Cruz Superlight is the way to go. Multi pivot then Maverick Durance or Matic.

[snotrag]

LRdriver II said:

Woohoo!!
my first full suspesion rig...boing..boing..

Sweet ride!

Few hints - take the time to set the shock and forks up properly, this is KEY to getting a good ride.
My first suspended frame was shit till i had it tuned and learnt how to set it up properly.

[LRdriver II]

snotrag said:

LRdriver II said:

Woohoo!!
my first full suspesion rig...boing..boing..

Sweet ride!

Few hints - take the time to set the shock and forks up properly, this is KEY to getting a good ride.
My first suspended frame was shit till i had it tuned and learnt how to set it up properly.

Yep, I bought it from the guys at Bikeactive in Stansted Abbots. They said the same thing and will set it up for me and get me sorted. Top stuff and is the reason I prefer using a friendly local bike store as opposed to online as the service makes the difference.

Edited by LRdriver II on Wednesday 17th January 23:20