[Closed] 2019 Orange Crush 29er

anyone ?

TBH, I don't know the 29er version but I'd say the Crush is a bit too trail orientated for longer XC riding.

If I were going to go for an Orange trail 29er I'd go for the P7, but for XC I'd go Clockwork. (Through gritted teeth as the Clockwork will always be a steel 26" bike to my mind).

As ped, the crush would seem an odd choice for long xc rides, orange have the clockwork in range for precisely that sort of thing if you want an orange.

I’ve got happy memories of my old steel 26er Clockwork but I haven’t really warmed to anything they’ve done since.

Never really saw the point of the alu Crush, it always seemed like a competent but not stunning HHT for the brand fans.

Never really saw the point of the alu Crush, it always seemed like a competent but not stunning HHT for the brand fans

Back in the day I was looking at a crush or a p7 and spoke to orange about them, in summary they saw the crush as a park/play bike for people who also "ride" their bikes, they didn't really think of it as an HHT as such abbe certainly didn't recommend it for all day riding. (the p7 was a great bike for all day riding)

Seems a fair assessment, although I’d argue a Park bike and HHT are probably the same thing bar name. Most HHT’s when setup with the intended long forks wouldn’t be on many all-dayer wish lists either. At the end of the day though, it’s an alu hardtail that takes long forks with Orange’s name on it. It's in a fairly crowded and competitive space, but isn’t particularly a standout for anything. There’s no particular problems with the bike but I think you’d have to not have played with other quality HHTs to be particularly wowed by the Crush.

Back OT and at the OP, a Crush is intended to cope with being ridden silly hard in shortish squirts, couple of hours type thing. It’s not designed as an all day bike. XC only in the DH forum sense of the word, if you get me - and even then, barely. There are bikes that will hit as hard as it can while being far more comfortable (Stanton and Cotic are good places to start looking) although you may bust that £1500 budget. OTOH, a Whyte 629 at £1200ish might suit you more if you don’t need the tough. It’s similarly specced but with a Recon instead of a Sektor. The Santa Cruz Chameleon is worth a look too, although (at RRP) it’s quite a bit more at £1899 for similar level componentry but in current design is purpose designed to walk the line between hard hitting trail machine, all day bike and even semi fat Plus bike.

I've just got a 2019 P7s 29er, had it about a month and rode it a few times now, longest ride so far is about 28miles mainly off road, mixed terrain.

I've gone from 26" to 29" and have been very much enjoyng the ride.... as the weather warms up I'll no doubt have a few longer rides. Most of my time on the bike will be 2-3 hour blasts, occasional trail centres, and the odd full day epic.... I expect it'll cope well in all scenarios!

I looked at Whyte's, SC's, Nukeproof etc, but had a yearning for an Orange...