Building the Five needs mentioning first of all. With the all–new Sram XX1 11 speed set–up we chose not to use any front chain retainer to see how it would hold up. A RockShox Reverb Stealth was fitted once we’d drilled a hole in the frame for it, together with XX1 derailleur and cranks. Most importantly a pair of Mavic Crossmax ST wheels were shod with the skinny Maxxis Beaver tyres. The reason for this is because I feel the rapid change of angle offered by the 2.0 tyre makes the big wheels much more manoeuvrable. Although we did take a pair of High Roller 2’s as well we wanted to see how well the light Mavic’s fared in tough going and how long the Beaver would last, as it’s pretty unlikely we’d use the bigger tyre back home as it makes 29 a little unwieldy.
The Rubber was an issue. After many days of timed enduro stages the wheels held firm and given the beating they have gone through over the past three months this is exceptional. However because of the Beavers thin sidewall I was running pretty big pressures to avoid flats (up to 50psi). Look, don’t go there because the grip is far from brilliant although still better than if I’d had the same pressure in 26” wheels, plus I didn’t flat. Later in the week when taken down to the thirties the grip was amazing yet the tyres simply were not up for the task. The answer is in 2.0 to aid steering, but with tougher sidewalls.
Manoeuvrability of such a massive bike might be called into question apart from tyres and wheels. OK, there are better climbing long travel 29” bikes such as the Intense Tracer and Stumpy Evo which offer a more immediate power take up, the Intense is also slightly stiffer too. For UK riding I’d possibly opt for the 18” (medium) version of this Orange, having ridden the smaller size with a very capable RockShox set up front and rear, I feel it does those instantaneous movements slightly better. That said, Orange definitely do need more range in sizes (currently there are only two, medium or large).
What’s the mood then? Well first impressions were correct – it’s high speed happy. This bike, in this size, with these components plus the nature of the single pivot and Cane Creek shock combination, delivers an upbeat mood, a bike that can be shifted around easily at speed. Get his bike going and you really start trucking. Noticeably it allows for mistakes to be made because of the super long wheelbase, it holds turns supremely well, and high speed tracking in rough stuff is very, very good. Under pressure against the clock I found myself diving blindly into rock gardens exiting without ever having to check my body position or counter balancing. It outperforms the smaller wheeled Five massively in that respect.
Even on southern France switchbacks, once you have the timing you’ll be able to stay with anyone. That’s the one thing that bothers lots of people about 29” and is totally misinterpreted by many riders.
