The Bike Place 2015 - Bluegrass, Orange and Burgtec
The Bike Place enters its fifth year in 2015, situated in the iconic 'Wing' building at Silverstone Formula One Circuit. This year the trade-only show welcomed over 50 exhibitors, showcasing the latest products from independent retailers and distributors. We only had time for a hot lap but picked out these three, brand new products.
Bluegrass Brave Helmet
![Bluegrass new Brave helmet]()
The latest version of the Brave helmet. In its previous incarnation a three time Megavalanche winner, BMX World Champion and DH World cup winner. The new Brave is constructed from VID Composite which is 40% stronger than traditional fibreglass, it has improved moto-style ventilation and has undergone extensive, aerodynamic testing. Internally the padding is designed to avoid hearing loss so you can hear 'rider' or 'Strava' being screamed and get yourself out of the way, the cheek pads are easily removable which could help keep you cool on Enduro liaisons. The most interesting feature may be the D3O inserts, which can take up to four impact tests while still complying to multiple safety standards. There are 5 colours and sizes to choose from with the Medium size weighing in at 1033 grams.
Orange Five
![The new Orange Five]()
Fifteen years old, the Five has undergone yet more evolution. Geometry wise, the head angle has slackened by a half to 66 degrees and the effective top tube has grown 10mm across all sizes giving the medium size an ETT of 610mm. Orange have stuck with the single-pivot 140mm travel, 142mm x 12mm dropouts and a 1.5" head tube. Firstly the new Five top tube is fabricated in-house (opposed to the Reynolds tube of old) along with the rest of the frame, the strategically shaped tube is married to the seat tube at two points to add stiffness. A smaller shock-mount with a modified shape improves load dispersion on the down tube. New dropouts are 29% larger to increase stiffness but maintain the same weight, and the curved shape is a little more pleasing on the eye. Weight has been shaved from a few other areas and Orange have added slight folds and a radius curve to the swingarm to improve stiffness to the old flat sides. ENVE wheels will soon be an option on all builds. Still hand built in Halifax with a five year warranty. If you need the warranty you must be unlucky or a hucker, over the last twelve months they have a a 0.47% failure rate on this classic bike.
![The new Orange Five]()
Burgtec Clip Pedals
![Burgtec prototype clip-in pedal]()
An interesting prototype product from the home of 'Flat Pedal Thunder'. Burgtec may be looking for a new slogan soon, and off the top of my head I've already come up with 'Clipless Chaos' and 'SPD Pandemonium'. Anyway, the pedals are based on the Penthouse Flat Mk IV and this second generation prototype will have a few tiny modifications for the third prototype. The system is Burgtec's own and will use a standard Shimano SPD cleat. Dan Critchlow from the brand is also the UK's tallest downhiller, and says they are toying with the idea of the system being removable so people can use flat/clip for when they are learning, or have the option of either. This change of direction from the flat pedal pushers could see some clip-in curiosity from the die-hards.
MENTIONS: @Bluegrassboard
Bluegrass Brave Helmet
The latest version of the Brave helmet. In its previous incarnation a three time Megavalanche winner, BMX World Champion and DH World cup winner. The new Brave is constructed from VID Composite which is 40% stronger than traditional fibreglass, it has improved moto-style ventilation and has undergone extensive, aerodynamic testing. Internally the padding is designed to avoid hearing loss so you can hear 'rider' or 'Strava' being screamed and get yourself out of the way, the cheek pads are easily removable which could help keep you cool on Enduro liaisons. The most interesting feature may be the D3O inserts, which can take up to four impact tests while still complying to multiple safety standards. There are 5 colours and sizes to choose from with the Medium size weighing in at 1033 grams.
Orange Five
Fifteen years old, the Five has undergone yet more evolution. Geometry wise, the head angle has slackened by a half to 66 degrees and the effective top tube has grown 10mm across all sizes giving the medium size an ETT of 610mm. Orange have stuck with the single-pivot 140mm travel, 142mm x 12mm dropouts and a 1.5" head tube. Firstly the new Five top tube is fabricated in-house (opposed to the Reynolds tube of old) along with the rest of the frame, the strategically shaped tube is married to the seat tube at two points to add stiffness. A smaller shock-mount with a modified shape improves load dispersion on the down tube. New dropouts are 29% larger to increase stiffness but maintain the same weight, and the curved shape is a little more pleasing on the eye. Weight has been shaved from a few other areas and Orange have added slight folds and a radius curve to the swingarm to improve stiffness to the old flat sides. ENVE wheels will soon be an option on all builds. Still hand built in Halifax with a five year warranty. If you need the warranty you must be unlucky or a hucker, over the last twelve months they have a a 0.47% failure rate on this classic bike.
Burgtec Clip Pedals
An interesting prototype product from the home of 'Flat Pedal Thunder'. Burgtec may be looking for a new slogan soon, and off the top of my head I've already come up with 'Clipless Chaos' and 'SPD Pandemonium'. Anyway, the pedals are based on the Penthouse Flat Mk IV and this second generation prototype will have a few tiny modifications for the third prototype. The system is Burgtec's own and will use a standard Shimano SPD cleat. Dan Critchlow from the brand is also the UK's tallest downhiller, and says they are toying with the idea of the system being removable so people can use flat/clip for when they are learning, or have the option of either. This change of direction from the flat pedal pushers could see some clip-in curiosity from the die-hards.
MENTIONS: @Bluegrassboard
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that's probably cause they are mostly ridden on smooth blue routes by people with too much money lol
WTF's with that proto lookin' ass end? Looks like they just weld a piece to a piece to a piece to a piece until it reaches or something LMAO. No thanks. I'm crude enough as it is, I don't need my bike to be too. :/
now that orange have the 1.5" headtube, the 150mm rear will be the icing on a fantastic cake from them! being handmade is what puts the soul into the frame, i believe.....
Waki’s link ( www.canecreek.com/resources/products/suspension/dbair/air-spring-graph.png ) is a good example about what the REAL reason for linkage bikes not getting as much of the apparent single pivot faults everyone loves to talk about. Take the Heckler and Bronson, the 2 have the same amount of travel and yet both have different size shocks... & yes it is the Bronson that has the smaller shock. Why... because a smaller shock takes more force to activate it whilst riding and that magic suspension design that everyone believes is to do with the frame design is actually them accommodating for a smaller shock. More and more bikes are being designed with smaller shocks these days and that IS the reason for it.
A large amount of frames are "hand made"
Just most are hand made by virtually slave labor in China or Taiwan.
POC already have EPP foam which can withstand multiple impact, but their helmet lack both comfort and fit at the same time (fixed by adding foam on mine).
if someone interested pls click the link as follows:
www.gzcycling.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=186352&highlight=%CD%B7%BF%F8
As for the single pivot/lots of money argument. There are plenty of multi-pivot frames out there for almost twice that money, but nobody seems to have a dig at them? Aren't they the real fools?
I rode my 2011 Five in some DH races and it felt pretty good......my only complaint was a slight flex in the swing arm when hammering it but it looks like they've sorted this now
but then again Orange must be laughing all the way to the bank, same design just more expensive