orange five or bmc trailfox

millerbear

Hi everyone,I'm just about to purchase my first bike for 10 years and have a budget of up to £2500.
I think I've narrowed it down to the orange five or the trailfox,I would appreciate peoples thought or suggestions of alternatives.
my heads in a bit of a spin with the amount of choice so any advice would be welcomed!!! :roll:

ExeterSimon

With that budget the world is pretty much your oyster.

So I'd take the cash and go to as many bike shops as you can and try as many bikes as you can. You may well find a £1500 bike is better for you than a £2500 bike.

As for suggestions you're going to get a different brand/model/spec from everyone who replies.

For what it's worth my suggestion is the Whyte E120S.

millerbear

cheers for that! Ive seen the trailfox for 1500(the 09 spec) so thought it made financial sense.
goin to get my ass round the shops today and hopefully get a better idea.

joshtp

For me the trailfox wins, the 5 is overweight, over priced and under speced.

but at that budget really have a shop around, there are some killer deals to be had....

what type of riding is it going to be for? maybe less travel may be suitable if its for mostly sc and trails, 140mm is quite alot... all these are things to consider....!

personaly the teptation of a boardman fs team plus a massive wad of cash would be huge..... and the GT AM thingy-majig on CRC for 2.5 k is a properly awsome 140mm beast for the money, if you really are gonna drop that kind of wad...

rmj555

these look ok

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/spe ... e-ec020329


http://www.evanscycles.com/products/lap ... e-ec020976

millerbear

thanks for the help guys,it's mostly trail riding and going to work that I'm gonna be using it for,just gonna go and have a look now.I'm quite liking the whyte e120 now!Feel that I should go Orange though because they are made just down the road.

Pudseyp

Again being biased, have you looked at the Marin Mount Vision 5.8 ? top of you budget for a great spec allround trail bike that gets rave reviews (bike of the year 2008 and trail bike of the year 2009) or another popular rig is the Meta 5.5 Lesuire Lakes are knocking out the UK version from 2009 for £1,599 saving 600 notes....

ExeterSimon

millerbear wrote:

thanks for the help guys,it's mostly trail riding and going to work that I'm gonna be using it for,just gonna go and have a look now.I'm quite liking the whyte e120 now!Feel that I should go Orange though because they are made just down the road.

I like your attitude Bear...

Both Orange and Whyte are British designed for British conditions. I'm currently doing a project build on an E120. After deciding to do a project I test rode a whole heap of rigs looking for the frame that did it for me. I didn't think the Whyte would be what I ended up with but it surprised me.

Give one a test ride...you'll love it. And there's no need for me to harp on about Orange as there are many, many fans on these boards.

gazza74

hi, i have just bought a brand new 5 pro, had a few doughts about spending so much but it is well worth it. brilliant bike.

got it from wheelspin in town they were really helpfull.

Splottboy

I had the BMC Superstroke, lovely bike, fantastic finish on frame.
Great shock, headset...but frame, inc shock, weighed 9lbs !

Ok for All Mountain, but not for the XC climbs up here.
Beautiful ride but too heavy, for me anyway.

Got a Proflex 768, 5.5lbs inc shock. Now, that's more like it !!!

millerbear

got it from wheelspin in town they were really helpfull.[/quote]


called in there yesterday,thought they were really unhelpful if i'm being honest!
dunno if I'd caught em on a bad day!

joshtp

the ange may be made in britain (although its actually only the swingarm they make here, the tubset part is taiwan...) but as with most British made products its over priced, get boardman team FS if you want 120mm and top kit, if you want to spend it up the whyte is epicly good, as is all manner of stuff much cheaper or better value than the 5. if you want 140mm (too much for what you want IMO) then the spech stumpy 010 is great...

bike-a-swan

is the five that hugely over priced? the frameset is some 500 quid cheaper than equivalent american bikes, and a smaller company like orange isn't really going to be able to compete with the likes of trek, giant and so on

ExeterSimon

joshtp/mbukman wrote:

the ange may be made in britain (although its actually only the swingarm they make here, the tubset part is taiwan...) but as with most British made products its over priced, get boardman team FS if you want 120mm and top kit, if you want to spend it up the whyte is epicly good, as is all manner of stuff much cheaper or better value than the 5. if you want 140mm (too much for what you want IMO) then the spech stumpy 010 is great...

I think the British brands compete very well with the big American brands. Plus I'd rather be riding a bike designed for British conditions than some rig tested on dry and dusty Californian trails. And if they can keep the costs down by doing the design work here and then getting it built in the Far East then great!

My Whyte 905 is incredible value and spanks similar priced bikes from the likes of Spesh, Trek etc not just for the ride but for components and finishing kit.

supersonic

So what makes it designed for British conditions?

Most bikes have adequate mud clearance, well sealed pivots and most can be fitted with full length gear outers and mudguards.

The Whyte seems fair value, but certainly no better than the Treks and Speshes at that price for the kit. (though the Trek could spec better forks)

gazza74

millerbear wrote:

got it from wheelspin in town they were really helpfull.

called in there yesterday,thought they were really unhelpful if i'm being honest!
dunno if I'd caught em on a bad day![/quote]

yes i found them a bit like that sometimes, but all in all pretty good.

millerbear

just been for a test ride on the BMC and I think i'm sold!!
felt a bit on the stiff side but for the money I'm pretty sure I'm going with it.
going on a stumpjumper this aft,also had a look at a commencal meta.
thanks for all your advice its been a great help.

Otsdjm

Well I'm hoping the Trailfox is the way to go as I've just ordered the 03 2009 model from Evans sale!