It's over a year since I wrote this opinion, and I've had the bike since January 2002, so I think it's time for a bit of an update, which appears at the bottom:
Steel is dead. Unless you buy a £100 bike from Argos you'd buy an aluminium bike, or even if you were feeling flush, titanium or carbon fibre, right? Steel is so outdated for mountain bikes.
Wrong.
The Orange P7 is a rare thing these days. A mass produced, fairly posh steel bike. In fact, I've just got rid of an aluminium bike in order to get hold of this one, and I love it dearly. I've never loved a bike the way that I love my P7. The company aren't one of the really big boys. Based in Halifax, they are largely unheard of in many countries. Many Orange bikes are made in the UK, but this tends to be their full suspension bikes, rigid bikes are welded together abroad and finished in Halifax.
The P7 is available in five different guises. You've got the option of having it kitted out with Shimano Deore, which fits in around the middle of the Shimano range. If you're starting out as a mountain biker, Deore isn't a bad place to start, replacing parts with more expensive kit as it breaks. Also available is a bike kitted out with Shimano XT kit, great for the more serious rider. Each of these is available with either a rigid Orange fork or a Manitou suspension fork. These four options will take you from £600 for a rigid Deore P7 to £1000 for a hardtail (front suspension) XT P7.
So, that's four options. What's the fifth? Well, £320 will buy you a frame with nothing hanging off it. Just a lump of steel. Popping into the pub for a quick bite after picking the frame up encouraged loads of comments like "Someone nicked your wheels, mate?". I didn't care, I was besotted with my new love. Whilst the frame option may not suit someone just starting out, if you've got an idea of what kit you like on your bikes and want to build your own, this is the ideal option.
The frame has remained largely unchanged for over 10 years, Orange taking the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude. Within the last couple of years a mount for a rear disc brake has been added, but the general shape of the bike has remained the same. After knocking around on aluminium bikes for a while, I was fairly shocked by the welds on this bike. Welds on aluminium bikes are big and chunky. They need to be as welding aluminium is a real pain. Steel is a much better material to weld, and the small, neat welds on the P7 really make the bike look much tidier.
Time to go out for a ride. The P7 was made up using kit mainly taken from my previous bike; wheels, tyres and suspension were identical so there was no difference in ride from those. So why was the ride so much smoother than before? This is why steel bikes are such wonderful things. Aluminium bikes are made with very rigid rear ends. Steel, on the other hand, flexes more with use. The means that whilst it doesn't give the ride of a full suspension bike, everything is certainly much softer than with an aluminium hardtail.
So, that was nice, but the bike is still clean! Is it the weekend yet? Is it the weekend yet? Is it the weekend yet? It is? Yay! Let's hit the trails. Afterall, a bike like the P7 does not deserve to spend it's entire life on tarmac.
The ride starts with a longish and fairly rocky climb. How did it go on the new bike? It's a bit more difficult to put power down through a steel frame, the frame material taking up some of the initial acceleration by flexing, however, whilst this means that starting off is a bit slower the actual climb is far easier. What's that all about, then? Well, as I said, it's a fairly rocky climb. Previously my back wheel was bouncing all over the place and spending most of it's time off the ground, which isn't ideal if you're trying to get up something. The P7 was taking a lot of the energy out of the hits and my wheel was actually going where I wanted it to instead of where the trail wanted it to go! I climbed until my lungs were fit to burst, and stood at the top of the hill mocking everybody else on the way up. Childish, but fun.
As is the nature of mountain biking, there followed a decent. I'm pretty good at falling off on decents. However, the P7 fits me a lot better than my old bike, allowing my weight to go over the back wheel, instead of all my weight suddenly going over the handlebars and lying in a heap on the floor, as is normally the case. Not to say that I didn't go over the bars, but I did it a lot less than normal! Again on decents the P7's flexy rear end comes into play, taking a lot of the sting out of the trail.
As you've probably guessed by now, I deeply love my P7. That's not to say it's without it's disadvantages of course. As I've already mentioned it can be difficult to lay down power. Also, being a steel bike you have to be careful to clean it properly after a mudbath of a ride so that it doesn't go rusty.
Buy a P7. Then go and laugh at people on full suspension bikes.
(And now, the update)
The P7 is still going strong, and I still love it. Granted, it's looking a bit tattier than it was a year ago with paint having suffered at the hands of large rocks and being loaded into cars, but if cleaned and even polished a bit, it's still nice and shiny and a joy to own.
Since owning the bike I've got into going out on longer rides, and having just covered 60-70 miles off road this weekend, I can say that the ride is still one of the smoothest available from any hardtail.
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