First Look: 2022 Orange Alpine Evo is Slacker & Longer with Shorter Travel
Orange has always been about evolution rather than revolution. They've stuck with their true single-pivot suspension design and monocoque alloy frame construction for decades, yet they've been tweaking the recipe that whole time. The Alpine is Orange's 27.5" trail/all-mountain/enduro bike, and for 2022 they're launching the Alpine EVO.
Compared to the existing Alpine 6, which continues to be offered alongside the EVO, it gets a slacker head angle, longer reach and a longer chainstay to boost stability. But at the same time, the EVO has 10mm less travel at either end than the Alpine 6, with 155mm at the rear and 160mm at the front. The combination of shorter travel and longer geometry should make it well-suited to typical UK riding, with steep, but not especially rough, terrain.
Compared to the existing Alpine 6, which continues to be offered alongside the EVO, it gets a slacker head angle, longer reach and a longer chainstay to boost stability. But at the same time, the EVO has 10mm less travel at either end than the Alpine 6, with 155mm at the rear and 160mm at the front. The combination of shorter travel and longer geometry should make it well-suited to typical UK riding, with steep, but not especially rough, terrain.
Orange Alpine EVO Details
• Wheel size: 27.5"
• Travel: 160mm (f)/155mm (r)
• New longer, slacker geometry
• New stronger and stiffer asymmetric swingarm
• New offset pivot for chainring clearance
• Lower main pivot for smoother pedaling
• New UDH gear hanger
• New top tube accessory mounts plus bottle mount under the downtube
• 5-year frame warranty with limited lifetime crash replacement
• Launch edition RRP: £5,900
• www.orangebikes.com
• Wheel size: 27.5"
• Travel: 160mm (f)/155mm (r)
• New longer, slacker geometry
• New stronger and stiffer asymmetric swingarm
• New offset pivot for chainring clearance
• Lower main pivot for smoother pedaling
• New UDH gear hanger
• New top tube accessory mounts plus bottle mount under the downtube
• 5-year frame warranty with limited lifetime crash replacement
• Launch edition RRP: £5,900
• www.orangebikes.com
The suspension kinematics have been tweaked too. The EVO is slightly more progressive to improve bottom-out resistance, but it's still quite close to linear (the leverage ratio offers 4.7% progression from start to finish). Perhaps the biggest difference is that the main pivot has been brought a bit lower to reduce the anti-squat levels and pedal-kickback. This should make the new bike smoother to pedal over rough terrain.
The lower pivot is made possible by an asymmetrical pivot, which offsets the bearings away from the drive side. That frees up space between the pivot and the chainring so Orange could move the pivot down into the same real-estate as the chainring while still being able to run a chain guide.
The pivot now sits roughly aligned with the upper chain line, which provides more modest anti-squat values compared to the Alpine 6, which has very high levels of anti-squat. This means the new bike won't rise up as much in its travel when pedaling and should be smoother over bumps under power too, but may feel less snappy when sprinting out the saddle. There's less chain growth too, so the suspension won't be as affected by the derailleur/clutch and you might feel less pedal-kickback if you huck to flat at low speed. Anti-squat values are still fairly high (115% at sag in the 50-tooth and higher in the smaller sprockets), so it shouldn't pedal like a sofa with this lower pivot position.
SRAM's Universal Derailleur Hanger should make sourcing spares easier
Why not make an authoritative comment about weld quality below?
Orange has also re-worked and further refined the swingarm. The new version is asymmetrical; the non-drive side strut is lower down than the drive side as it doesn't need to clear the chain, and this creates a higher stiffness to weight ratio. Orange says the new design offers a 20% increase in longitudinal stiffness and a 15% increase in overall strength compared to the existing Alpine 6, without increasing weight.
Geometry
The EVO has considerably more reach per size than its predecessor, with numbers that are pretty on the money for a modern trail bike. The head angle is super slack at 63-degrees and the effective seat angle is steeper, if not the steepest, at 76-degrees. The chainstay has grown a few millimetres, and now sits at a middle-of-the-road 445mm.
Orange Alpine EVO LE - Launch Edition
For now, the EVO is available with one build, which costs £5,900. The specs include:
• Fork: RockShox Lyrik Ultimate 160mm
• Rear Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate 230x65
• Drivetrain: Shimano XT 1x12spd drivetrain with Hope Crankset
• Brakes: Shimano XT 203mm/180mm braking
• Dropper: SDG 150mm dropper post
• Finishing kit: Renthal/Hope/SDG
• Tires: Maxxis Minion DHR2/DHF, EXO
• Wheels: E13 rims /Hope Pro 4 hubs
Joe Barnes in suitably Alpine terrain.
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Totally.
My Orange Four was considerably lighter than my Santa Cruz Bronson CC.
The weight of all those bearings soon adds up
thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0314/03/vintage-metal-file-cabinet-industrial_1_933c078ad1f26662ba611b55365e453c.jpg
Perhaps I'm swayed by knowing how much fun they are to ride as well, but I've unexpectedly found myself grumbling about other brands being "disposable plastic tat" and these being proper engineering.
What have I become?
I'm looking at you Fido.
I've pleaded with them to go back to external routing and they weren't budging.
2) What does the frame weigh?
These are key bike metrics for riders, that manufacturers try to hide. Come on PB, it’s your job to find out and publish this kind of stuff..
2) I can't force brands to release information they don't want to divulge. Even if they did want tell me, how could we be sure they were being honest and not weighing a size small, no hardware, lightest sample they could find, etc.? Short of breaking into Orange, stealing a bike, stripping the frame and weighing it, there's no practical way to know for sure.
Also, since when were actual seat angle (as opposed to effective) and frame weight key metrics for MTB?
But for taller riders, there are plenty of bikes out there where effective STA is measured at stack height or at a 720mm saddle height or whatever, such that the actual STA will still end up cantilevering these long-limbed freaks (meant lovingly, and possibly with just a tinge of jealousy) way out over the rear hub.
I’m not saying anything revolutionary or obscure here, so I’m surprised to see the interest in this metric so casually dismissed by PB tech staff. Seems like a weird take.
1) As other people have said, it’s super important for anyone who wants to run their seat higher than whatever point the manufacturer has chosen to measure effective seat angle.
2) Bike weight is a key factor for riders. It’s nuts that a manufacturer won’t share it, for starters. But if that’s the case, call it out and say they refused to tell you. That’s relevant info right there.
3) You seriously think Orange would lie to you about the weight of the frame? Why would PB trust any of the geometry statics then - did you independently verify them all? Anyway, I take it that from now on, PB won’t publish any bike stat that it hasn’t been independently verified themselves.
- Reach numbers are perhaps beyond "on the money", 475mm on a medium is pretty progressive IMO
- Swingarm redesign looks clever and makes sense in the context of how the previous bikes ride
- Not sure about those graphics, is that going to be on all the frames now?
- Welds look lovely
Kinda?
However, every time they evolve a bike, the review always reads the same.. it’s a bunch of numbers and %s that get swapped around, confirming this is better, that is better etc but with a similar end result (a bike that rides great, IF your a great rider, and rides even better, off the brakes)
You could probably say the same with Santa Cruz (apart from the braking bit) !
There’s just way way to much going on for a single pivot to be fully effective.. without modern shock technology they would be up the stuffer
(But if your a decent, fit, fast rider they great)
When you say this people moan because they can’t do that or are too lazy with their riding, my Five transformed my riding ability as it forced me to ride off the brakes.
Not everyone gets this or can do it so granted Oranges aren’t for most people.
Not that they aren’t good riders rather just lazy as you need to be constantly thinking about your inputs, again this isn’t want some people want from a bike so fair enough.
Until you have ridden one it is totally stupid to criticise the design or ride characteristics.
Personally I love the looks and handling, only gripe is I like external cables.
If you watch MX you’ll understand that no suspension is capable of dealing with all
bumps, that’s where skilled use of the terrain comes in and learning technique to work with it.
In summary I’ll be getting one of these
Tbh I’ve never ridden one in anger, but have ridden other single pivots bitd
Your are bang on though with all your comments. They are definitely not for me, but I’ll always be a little jealous of Orange riders in terms of maintenance, mud clearance and the one bearing !
Also, if a bike forces you to ride off the brakes, I find that fascinating. I guess it will only make you think FAR more about everything your doing .. I.e getting the perfect speed into corners etc.
Riding it with a Storia V2 coil shock now and it's fine. A lot of fast riders (including the Dudes and the Factory Team) seem happy with coils on them.
I asked Joe Barnes about it and I think he said the predictability and consistency of the coil worked well for him. Which I'd agree with now I've tried it myself.
The longer travel Oranges do seem to need a good damper though.
Super expensive and looks like a bunch of girders welded together, has to be an Orange. They haven't changed since 2002.
nickchapple.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/dsc_0101-e1357593974684.jpg?w=2000&h
Its not a high pivot as its a straight forward single pivot with the chain following the rear stay for the main forces.
The high pivot design ideally needs a linkage to remove pedal kickback.
So if Orange left their base and made something completely different if could be a high pivot!
kinda why I said no need for it to be although my comment probably was a little too general and short.
My favourite quote from Santacruz.
We’ve been using VPP™ suspension since 2001. Rather than contracting a series of kooky inventors to try to build ever more complex and wack-a-doo suspension designs or proprietary shocks so the Marketing department has something to talk about, we’ve stuck with what is an extremely versatile and high-performance mechanism.
We do this so you have the very best performing full-suspension bike imaginable rather than having the best performing marketing jargon ever.
And high pivots don't need a linkage to handle pedal kickback. That's what the idler is usually for.
You might also enjoy watching this guy.
Best thing about theory is it's as good as the inputs it uses. Luckily us riders don't come in 3 sizes like a frame does. Lol
youtu.be/7qkBpOfJ4wA
Retired Brits???