Orange Bikes has decided to return to the racing world by bringing together a crew of British pinners to form Orange Factory Racing.
Lachan Blair of the 'Dudes of Hazzard,' top-30 EWS racer Joe Connell, and speedy youngster Tom Wilson will make up the three-man brigade, which will tackle the full EWS, British National Enduro races, and selected UK and European events.
Although Orange is returning from a hiatus, this isn’t the first time the company has supported a fast race team, as Steve Peat, Greg Minnaar, Missy Giove, and the Hannah siblings have all raced successfully for Orange in years past.
The team will race mainly on Orange’s Stage 6 and Switch 6 bikes. The riders will also run Leatt clothing and protection, Formula suspension, Michelin tires, e*thirteen wheels, Burgtec cockpit components, SDG seatposts and saddles, Granite Design tools, and Juice Lubes bike care products.
Must Read This Week
212 Comments
And the seat tube is a sensible diameter.
We just jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.
Also, a lot of four-bar or dual-pivot bikes have the same basic silhouette as in the mid/late-noughties.
But those are details and specifics that can be fixed and I still maintain the opinion that there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the concept of the EU.
Even a triangular one?
In the UK we say “If it ain’t bloke, don’t fix it…"
Why copy what others are doing when they are the best at what they do?
Over a decade ago I rode several Cannondale bikes (I had some good times on the Prophet) that were all true single pivot. Brake jack was noticeably bad. These bikes (and many other single pivots) had a falling rate, plus shock dampers were crappier then (a LOT crappier in the non-piggy back shocks like the old Floats). Linkage driven single pivots can do better, since its easier to get a rising rate. On the old Cannondales, grabbing a handful of rear brake caused the back end to skip around and drastically reduce traction, I think due to the falling rate. On a rising rate bike, the bike will lose some traction, but it mostly just settles into its travel (anti-rise) until it hits the progression curve that balances out the extra torque from braking. This combined with much better dampers means most people don't experience the kind of brake jack that gave Horst link bikes such a competitive advantage 15 years ago.
This orange, while not having a linkage, has some progression; if you look at the angle of the shock body to the main pivot its oblique through most of the travel, meaning the mechanical advantage of compressing the shock diminishes, giving you a rising rate, or a falling compression ratio. It also doesn't have a 15 year old shock on it.
FINALLY, we all mostly ride 29ers (this Orange is a 29er, right?) which means we all have a lot more bb drop than a 26" wheeled bike, and therefore without idler pulleys our rear axle path is essentially forward moving for most of the travel. This further counteracts brake jack.
They pedal better and are lighter than most bikes.
they dont use funky propriatary shocks
they have the best seatpost insertion depths
they offer bikes with better f/r weight distribution than almost every other brand, where the chainstay matches reach well.
they offer somethings almost no other brand does, providing us more variety of options instead of another cookie cutter copy
they offer a more linear suspension rate, which is the preference of sam hill.
they have good customer support
they are easy and cheap to maintain
hey are handmade in the uk rather than glued together in taiwan.
if you care that the bike looks classic or antiquated you are spending too much time oogling bikes and not enough riding them.
It's 469mm. That's a truly dumb chainstay length - and the only reason they've done it is because of the design limitations of running this kind of frame design with 29" wheels and an unbroken steep seat tube. It's a performance compromise to support an aesthetic design choice.
Have you ridden a bike with such long chainstay
Cant wait to demo one!
Given the negativity on here I hope they get some good results & wish them well.
Constant linear rate with coil shock, they will setup their shocks with maximum high speed compression and 10% sag ?
And yeah, I wouldn’t buy an Orange either, but that is because I’m cheap.
@DHhack all bandaids for an outdated design
" It rides how an Orange rides. I don't really like bikes that are really planted with almost a wallow in the link, which some people like. Whereas an Orange, I suppose for me, it's the predictability of it I like, it doesn't have that wallow or that spot, or the ramp up after that spot which catches me out. Just going back to that, I was instantly riding through my feet which I like, feeling the ground and using my heels. I kinda stopped doing that before because the bike had that wallow and I didn't need to, or it didn't benefit me to "
Basically he says that the bike makes you feel the ground and you have to use the heels to compensate, I thinks that's could be fun, but not really that good when you're into racing.
They are not perfect and can be a handful in some situations, e.g. steep and loose or rugged sections where the rear stiffens a little under braking. Not such an issue for pro-level riders, but I will usually take my four-bar bike if I'm going to be riding a lot of that kind of thing.