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Seems a fairly uncommon thing to do but my alpine 160, purchased in feb and began riding in june has cracked in 3 places. At the seat tube top tube brace junction, badly the whole way across the downtube and around the iscg tab. Just wondered if anyone else had similar issues?
Have been in touch with Orange and they are replacing it after a fair bit of faffing, not even willing to post it to me here, will only post to the UK. Not overly impressed. Just wondering if its bad luck or a common thing?
I snapped a MK1 ST4 - once through chainstay, twice through rocker link. It was a model with 'issues', and although I got upgraded chainstays, the second rocker link just did not fit well, and I was concerned the next break would happen at high speed.....
Orange were fabulous, and gave free parts even though twice it was out of Warranty.
I Have cracked three orange alpine 160 frames some very quickly, to be fair orange were very good with the warranty but I got bored and sold up.
Bust my cherry once.
(IGMC)
Cracking Oranges, uncommon? Not sure about that, I think I've cracked every one Ive owned (dh and trail bikes) I know of a few Alpines too.
Orange have however always been spot on when dealing with it so would happily buy from them again... unlike Commencal.
Nope and I've given the five a right good beating over last couple of years.
One of my riding group has cracked 3 160 swingarms. Seems to be a known problem.
Yep, cracked my 2012 alpine under the swingarm, torsion crack I reckon.
My mate cracked his Five in exactly the same place. It's very common to find frames with similar issues on Pinkbike. I've often wondered how Orange have managed to style it out and maintain a reputation.....gokd customer service I guess.
good customer service I guess.
I know it's second hand info but the bloke I mentioned above wasn't too impressed. One of the swingarms cracked two weeks after being fitted. It had taken six weeks each to sort the first two - this on a bike less than a year old. Good cs would have been to apologise profusely and offer a full refund, not continue to send out faulty parts.
Used to be a regular thing with the swingarms in our riding group, but we're all on other bikes now. Disappointing to hear they're at it again.
I kinda want my segment to crack so I can trade up to a stage 5. Then crack that! 🙂
3 Alpine 160 swing arms, 2 front triangles, in less than 12 months, after the final replacement frame i sold up. Orange were good about it, but i wouldn't buy another.
very insightful. Glad its not just me whose cracking them then. I will be getting a new one, which to be fair im fully entitled to. but man has it took some faffing and i still havnt got one. they wont post one out of the uk and i snapped in canada. Despite already agreeing to send me one, they just changed their mind. tempted to sell it when i get a new one and buy something less likely to break, if that exists.
MK1 alpine 160 swingarm for me, secondhand so no warranty for me.
If your claiming on a UK why would you expect that they would send it to Canada!
I have had 2x 5’s, a 5 29 and a Segment. None have cracked under my considerable bulk.
The lacquer on the Segment cracked a bit so they repainted it no worries.
To be fair, with warranty work you are meant to take your bike back to the shop you got it from who then send it on to Orange. I didn’t as I live near Halifax but that’s what the terms say.
A mate's Alpine 160 (not sure which version but he only got it new last year) is on its third swing arm. All cracked in the same place near the brace. Orange have replaced it each time with no particular hassle and even lent him a demo bike for a trip he had planned prior to noticing the crack.
Same as Matt ^^, I cracked the swing-arm on my MK1 ST4 and Orange replaced it with the new model. Spoke to a fella in Warranty and he was fantastic. Few years ago now but I was very impressed. Never bought another one tho!
this thread scratches orange off the list for my next bike.
Don't Orange claim to have a very low failure rate? I'm sure there is some marketing spin there, but I doubt they can outright lie. In practice, I doubt their failure rate is any worse than any other Alu bike.
Hmmm. I thought this was going to be about Terry's Chocolate Orange & Christmas!!
Orange Patriot (from 2000) rode it hard for 7 years eventually throwing it off a bit of a drop.....landed to flat and rode it out with alot of suspension kick back.
very faint crack at the shock mount.
Orange gave me a 20% discount on a new frame
So I got a Five (08 model) ragged that senseless with 160mm forks on it for 5 years.. eventually the beating cracked the bike around the pivot..
I still havent replaced it with another trail type bike as I ride more road and XC than anything else
My mates cracked his alpine twice and he hasn't had it a year yet.
The conversation you could have with every 224 owner:
"I love orange bikes mate, they're so bombproof and reliable"
"It cracked at the suspension mounts though?"
"Well yes but... strong and stable"
It wouldn't be a proper Alpine if the swingarms didn't crack. But they're usually good about it and the warranties are stronger now, a lot of their stuff used to be 1 and 2 years
Well, was thinking of going Orange but not if this still goes on, also just noticed that they have a 1 year warranty if you race 😯 https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/support/warranty/1_year_racing_warranty
That's a bit stingy. They should at least give you a full warranty if you're a slow racer.
What a joke - particularly the racing thing.
I spotted some paint cracks on my Bronson... warranty claim online with pics. Next day I get an email asking me which of the two available colours I wanted - zero faff. I could say you get what you pay for, but Orange are pretty much the same price as SC.
Having seen the quality (or lack of) of the welding on their display bikes at he Cycle Show the other week I'm not surprised they're cracking - it looked like it's been done by a first year apprentice on his 2nd week of day release.
I used to quite like Orange but having seen that welding I don't think I'd be buying one any time soon.
To be fair, the welding on mine was ugly and wandered around like a drunk, and some of it seemed like it was bridging gaps in the metal, but it was never actually a problem- that mode did crack a fair amount but not usually at the major welds. It had obviously been painted in the dark, too, they'd missed some bits. But it was a bloody good bike to ride, at the end of the day. I'd have shat a brick if I'd paid full price though.
I've owned a five which I quite liked, however, cracking aside, I think they are now way overpriced for the kit that's fitted. If you look that the kit that you get on a 3.3K Jeffsy vs 5.7K Orange, it just represents poor value for money. I know it's UK manufacturing costs and all that but I just think why would you drop 5.7K on a five !!
I know a few people that cracked their Oranges.
Most recent was a Four that was 2 months old in Pink.
Replacement was not Pink.. so I think it was a blessing 😛
It wasn't ridden hard though. Local [s]footpaths[/s] cheeky trails and bridleways, plus the badlands of Swinley every few months.
I spotted some paint cracks on my Bronson... warranty claim online with pics. Next day I get an email asking me which of the two available colours I wanted - zero faff. I could say you get what you pay for, but Orange are pretty much the same price as SC.
Pretty much the same service with my Segment. What’s your point caller?
222,223,224. Never having another orange so not a problem!
I've owned a five which I quite liked, however, cracking aside, I think they are now way overpriced for the kit that's fitted. If you look that the kit that you get on a 3.3K Jeffsy vs 5.7K Orange, it just represents poor value for money. I know it's UK manufacturing costs and all that but I just think why would you drop 5.7K on a five !!
Wrong thread.
My 2001 E6 cracked at the steerer tube. That was in 2015 though!
Well, was thinking of going Orange but not if this still goes on, also just noticed that they have a 1 year warranty if you race https://www.orangebikes.co.uk/support/warranty/1_year_racing_warranty
I thought the whole point of Orange stuff was that it was supposed to be 'robust'? Given the number of people who dabble in the fun side of enduro, it will be interesting to see what happens if they ever try to enforce these terms.
I wonder if they'll look people up on Roots and Rain to see if they've done the 'Ard Rock?
I remember when they made a lot of noise about one of their guys racing the endurance dh on a Five, it was all over the website, in the press, etc, look what our bike can do. But then they mentioned that they broke the brand new frame in a day's riding and would have refused warranty on it. I raced my already battered Hemlock in the same race, not a bike known for toughness and when it broke a week later Cy warranties it...
survivor
Subscriber
I kinda want my segment to crack so I can trade up to a stage 5. Then crack that!Posted 4 months ago
Well after posting that four months ago, I've created the segment! Doh......
Oops, how ?
I know it’s UK manufacturing costs and all that but I just think why would you drop 5.7K on a five !!
Especially when you look at the ridiculous quality of the Hope HB160 (conservative geometry aside) that you get for 5.5k.
Orange have gotten a little too comfortable....
Thing with Orange is, they're pretty much hard limited on how many bikes they can make- the frames are labour and hardware intensive and the hardware itself is IIRC only there because of the sheet metal business. So rather than expand, they can just focus on making the most desirable models and selling them for the best price they can. I'm always a wee bit surprised by how many models they run, I guess it's for diversification and brand protection but I'm pretty sure they could just make Fives and Alpines and sell every one. And that combines nicely with the made-in-UK and the way that high prices and simple designs inspire confidence and belief in quality by themselves.
(I remember someone on here arguing that their old short warranties were great for the customer because it proved how reliable the bikes were- you didn't need a long warranty!)
Auto correct seems to have put created in my previous post instead of cracked but I guess that was obvious.
Wierdly it's cracked straight through the driveside dropout which is a machined billet piece. Granted it's at the thinnest part of this and has opened up at the crack and twisted slightly so its got me thinking it had some material defect or incorrectly heat treated and the stress wasn't relieved.
I can't knock the bike other than that. It's my first orange and has been great fun. Fingers crossed it gets replaced and live to ride again...