Steel vs Alu- Orange bikes

haydenm

Hi guys,

I spend most of my time in the road section despite being a mountain biker first. Quick conundrum, will likely come down to spec rather than frame material but here goes. I've decided to postpone replacing my enduro bike until the summer, tidy it up and keep it for racing/uplift days. It's a Kona Process 153dl, love the bike but I don't like how it climbs. In the meantime I need the new bike fix and have decided a hardtail would be fun. I'm hoping to ride everything I do on the enduro bike with the ability to do longer day rides/get more done in a day than on the full squish.

These are the options so far, 2017 orange P7 s:
https://www.startfitness.co.uk/orange-2 ... 17p7s.html

2017 Crush pro:
https://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index. ... 3wQAvD_BwE

2017 Orange Crush s:
https://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index. ... ory_id=143

I am currently siding with the P7 plus a dropper, but that will likely end up being more than the Crush pro for a worse spec. I love steel bikes, one of my road bikes is steel and I used to have a Charge Blender, but is it worth losing out on the decent spec Crush just for steel coolness?

Also, I can't find the weight figures anywhere but I'm assuming the Crush will be marginally lighter

The only other option could be a Clockwork Evo, which could be pushed into more XC orientated events should I ever don lycra off road.

Which would you go for and why?

JBA

Much as I like Orange bikes for the price you are looking at I'd forego steel and take a serious look at Bird Bikes, and the Zero AM in particular.
You can also call Bird and speak to a real person and get advice on what best suits you and your riding.

haydenm

JBA wrote:

Much as I like Orange bikes for the price you are looking at I'd forego steel and take a serious look at Bird Bikes, and the Zero AM in particular.
You can also call Bird and speak to a real person and get advice on what best suits you and your riding.

Good shout, Bird always seem good value. A mate of mine loves his and was out demoing their new Aeris the other weekend, seems to rate them quite highly.

I had looked at the lowest spec Stanton but at £2k it's a bit of a push. Whatever I spend now comes out of the budget in the summer unfortunately. I'm realistically after the lowest spec that won't make me want to upgrade everything straight away so as you say, the Zero AM looks like a good bet

veronese68

JBA makes sense there, I quite fancy a nice Bird.
I think you tend to pay a premium for Orange so to then pay a further premium for steel makes it seem a bit much if you're watching the budget. I know I paid a premium for steel on my Cotic, but budget wasn't tight as I was spunking an insurance payout so treated myself. At the end of the day you have to buy the bike that floats your boat otherwise you won't ride it as much.

haydenm

Veronese68 wrote:

At the end of the day you have to buy the bike that floats your boat otherwise you won't ride it as much.

Agreed. I want to get the use out of this rather than taking the Kona out every time. Hopefully it will save me some on maintenance costs in Scottish slop, and will get me doing more runs and longer rides. It could quite easily go the other way if I cheap out and get something with a poor spec. The nicer specced Crush is there for that reason, it looks great imo. Not as good value as the Bird but it looks nice

haydenm

I think this might be a bit more versatile given that I already have a heavy enduro sled:
https://www.sunsetmtb.co.uk/shop/index. ... 5825=28372