Orange Patriot 66 XCEL

Advantages: Gorgeous piece of kit
Disadvantages: Needs to be looked after to avoid rust

...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 Steel is so outdated for mountain bikes.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... Read review

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Advantages: Built in Halifax; good for UK conditions / sorting out queries
Disadvantages: Chainsuck, but due to short BB

...The Orange E4 is built in Halifax Yorkshire. The E4 is their top of the range XC frame made from Easton 7005 aluminium. (Easton is an American tubing manufacturer & their tubing is well known as being one of the best available). The frame is custom Butted (the tubes have a varying wall thickness along their length to maximise strength to weight ratio) & comes in at about 3lbs stripped. The orange runs a bi-ovalized downtube & S-stays to maximise comfort, strength & also maximise mud clearance & enhance braking power. This Frame is light & comfortable on a long run, the frame is forgiving in the rough stuff & is an excellent climber. The paint finish on the Oranges is a powder coating which is resistant to chips & scratches, I took mine downhilling in the Alps for a week & came back with one chip under the Bottom Bracket... Read review

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Advantages: Great fun, 'do anything'
Disadvantages: Poor customer service

...A Stinky was my first 'proper' downhill bike although not necessarily my first choice, I would much rather have had an Orange Patriot but the five month waiting list deterred me. I wouldn’t say I regret having bought the Kona with its reasonable weight and specification, it certainly seemed to perform pretty well off-road. My Stinky is now a couple of years old and this is the model which I will review although I can say that the newer model does strike me as being of a much higher spec and better value for money. So, I bought my Kona and the first thing I did was upgrade it from v-brakes to disk brakes (come as standard now) and the bike rode fantastically, especially once the Marzocchi forks had bedded in, no complaints whatsoever. For the next few months the bike rode beautifully and I was more than happy, no problems... Read review

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