Orange P7 to Crush

rolf_f

Opinions needed!

My much loved 2009 Orange P7 has been found defective and I therefore need a new frame. It's in warranty and Orange are being very helpful. However, the problem is that they don't make the P7 anymore. And infact they make knack all 26 inch hardtails. All there is is the Crush and that's what they are offering me.

So, the thing(s) is(are) this.

1) I've never been keen on alloy frames - it's steel or carbon for me.
2) I keep bikes. The P7 was meant to be my only MTB but sadly it wasn't. However, any replacement has to do me forever. I'm not into playing around with a bike and flogging it the next year. It has to be the right bike.
3) For an alloy frame, I understand it is heavy. The description talks about all sorts of bracing and ultimate stiffness. I weigh 9.5 stone. I don't need chunks of alloy gusset making a frame I won't flex even less flexy!
4) I'm hardly an aggressive trail centre monster -

Tough, fast and built to go the distance, this is the hard man of hardtails. Make no mistake, the new Crush goes anywhere you dare.

- this doesn't sound like me at all!!

And worst of all the wretched things are matt black - the worst colour in the world (I know, my P7 was matt black!).

However, I want to be open minded and I can't be doing with hassle so I want to give the idea a chance.

So, the question is, is it mostly a reasonable equivalent to a P7? Aside from the wierdly compact frame and lack of rack mounts, it seems similar in most ways to the P7 and the geometry is pretty close. Does it actually save some useful weight over the P7?

I really don't want to start trying to get a cashback on the old frame even if it found me something more suitable from Genesis or Planet X. I know the P7 probably wasn't right for me either but it would be good to know if the Crush was a bit nearer the mark. Lately I've mostly just been doing icy commuting on the bike but otherwise Dales cross country and the odd trip to Dalby is the main sort of thing I used the P7 for.

Thoughts much appreciated.....Rolf

supersonic

It's still a lighter (at least a pound), an in my opinion, a better frame than the P7. The P7 was a lard bucket for what it was.

rolf_f

Thanks for that! Positive helps! Doesn't look like many on here have experience of both frames though........

rockmonkeysc

The P7 rides a lot nicer than the Crush though.
I rode them back to back when I was thinking of buying a P7 and there was no contest. The Crush is a pretty harsh ride and I didn't notice the weight difference.

Lagrange

I like my p7. One solution to this is to accept the crush and sell it and buy a second hand p7.

rolf_f

I knew it wasn't that straightforward!!

Harsh ride is not what I want. And neither do I really want the hassle of selling a frame if I can help it though it is a good point. Why does my P7 have to be the one that goes rusty?

supersonic

Large tyres with slightly lower pressure and a good saddle will get rid of any harshness.

Lagrange

Rolf F wrote:

Why does my P7 have to be the one that goes rusty?

Is rust the problem - mine - which is a 2010 model has some rust but nothing is compromised by it?

rolf_f

Lagrange wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Why does my P7 have to be the one that goes rusty?

Is rust the problem - mine - which is a 2010 model has some rust but nothing is compromised by it?

Rust is the problem. Corroded chain stay - perforated so they say. Orange have been very helpful about it so far though. Mine covered a lot of winter road miles so that may have given it a harder time than the average MTB useage but then my Dawes with 501 main tubes and any old gas pipe stays is looking fine despite similar use over 20 years.

Yours I presume is Reynolds tubing so I don't think you can assume the same will happen to yours and I'm sure I was unlucky as I didn't find any online trace of a regular problem on these frames before going to Orange.

supersonic wrote:

Large tyres with slightly lower pressure and a good saddle will get rid of any harshness.

This makes a whole heap of sense. Saddle is SDG Bel Air which at the time got good reviews and it seems OK to me. I could imagine a Crush on Marathon Winters might be a bit tiresome though.....

supersonic

Also a light seatpost (maybe carbon), light carbon bars and foam grips make a heap of difference. To me the frame feel is a small factor in comfort, tyres the biggest factor.

ilovedirt

True that, got big chunky tyres on my ragley, and it doesn't feel at all chattery except over really bumpy rock gardens. Pretty sure that's mostly down to the tyres and not the frame.

rockmonkeysc

Disappointing that they have discontinued the P7. It's one of the best trail hardtails I have ridden, it was just overpriced like a lot of Orange bikes

rolf_f

Took a while but I now have an Orange Crush frame. There was a bit of a delay with the delivery and then I had to say that there was no way I wanted another matt black bike and could they repaint it for me. Which they agreed to straight away with no arguments!

They also agreed to shorten the brake cables on my new SLX brakes to fit and bleed them so here is what the frame looked like when I took it away from Orange. Orange also provided the new seatpost and headset. The downtube decal is actually from a Clockwork only back to front - Ben at Orange modified it to fit and it looks pretty smart to me; it's certainly the only 2013 Orange Crush so far! I'm building the frame up with mostly the original components from the P7. SLX brakes the biggest change and also an SLX crankset but first I'll see if the old Truvativ crankset has any life left in it. I think it may have been skipping on one of the rings but I repainted the crankarms so I might as well find out if that was as much a waste of time as repainting the old seatpost was! All the components have been refreshed a bit so it should look almost like a new bike (aside from the slightly used looking SDG Bel Air but I think that will be staying). I'll post a new thread when it's all built up.



I was also pleased that Ben let me have my old P7 frame - which does have quite a few holes in it! Still, I went through a lot with that bike and the beadblasted steel looks pretty cool so it will hang on the wall of my bike room with some honour! Thanks for the advice and comments from all who did!

thelonegroover

Ask if they have any R8s left.

G1983

Hi Rolf,

Was it the 2012 or 2013 Crush frame you got? How are you liking it?

I am looking at both the 2012 and 2013 models just now...

Cheers

snoopsmydogg

G1983 wrote:

Hi Rolf,

Was it the 2012 or 2013 Crush frame you got? How are you liking it?

I am looking at both the 2012 and 2013 models just now...

Cheers

Guessing from his previous posts it's 2013.

More info here - viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=12899817&view=unread#unread