[Closed] Anyone ridden the new Orange Stage evo yet?

It almost certainly is, don't worry.

Have you tried a 29er before?

“all day mtb for long ups and downs which my current Orange Four is outstanding for”

Well it’s got bigger wheels and is little different in any other ways that’ll affect how good it is at big days - so it’ll definitely be better at them.

It almost certainly is, don’t worry.

Have you tried a 29er before?

Tried a 29er, nope still use a 26” ss more than any other bike. Others are 27.5 but remember mate on Stage6 steadily rolling ahead of me on a 27.5 Capra down a bumpy/babies head descent.

and is little different in any other ways

2’ slacker head angle, steeper seat tube and longer reach must surely mean quite a change in character 🤔

I had a segment. That morphed into the stage 4 which has morphed into the Evo.

I put a longer fork on and wished for a longer stroke shock. The Evo has that.

I'm on a geometron now so the longer top tube of the Evo would be ace.

The segment rear end cracked and was replaced with no questions or hassle. I'd have another orange, but not without a warranty. I have a clockwork 120 in the garage which is ace and in warranty.

From that wideopen review:

Without wanting to sound like a broken record, the rear tyre was a real chink in an otherwise solid spec list. It is a cheap, dual compound Maxxis DHRII 2.4 in EXO casing. At £5,500 you would expect to see a 3C compound on a bike this capable and to be honest, given how fast and gnarly this bike is, it would be good to see an EXO+ rear tyre fitted, if not a pair of them. To protect the rear rim and to prevent punctures you have to run the rear in the high 20s psi, reducing grip and on trail control.

What a bizarre conclusion to draw on a 120/130 trail bike.
Yes everyone rides in different areas, but as a standard/do it all spec a dual compound exo at high 20s pressure (for a normal sized adult male) is pretty much the ideal for an all day trail bike surely.

I've ridden the stage 4 in standard geometry and with a -2deg headset and it doesn't substantially impact how well it covers ground.

It does it very well in both forms.

I really think you'll find it more agreeable for all day rides than the Four.

“ 2’ slacker head angle, steeper seat tube and longer reach must surely mean quite a change in character 🤔”

It’ll change how it goes downhill (better), and corners (better), and goes uphill (better apart from the tightest turns) and make sod all difference to how effectively it covers ground.

“ Yes everyone rides in different areas, but as a standard/do it all spec a dual compound exo at high 20s pressure (for a normal sized adult male) is pretty much the ideal for an all day trail bike surely.”

And that tyre in particular is fantastic. Exo+ and maybe 3C on the longer travel version but not this one as stock.

I have been OK with dual compound exo tyres on the rear of trail bikes before, but perhaps Ben's comment related to the £5.6k price tag for the bike.

I'd prefer a 3C maxxterra on the back for that, and probably exo+.

If we are going back to the segment...

I do 24/12 every year and it used to be on an xc FS race machine (26") with my aim to be completing 100 miles in 12 hours.

The best result was 97 miles in a long 12 hours.

In 2019 I bought a segment and managed 101 miles in under 12 hours on a course with more climbing. If I'd been more aware of timings I could have completed 2 more laps on a long 12 (16 miles).

The only changes for a long day out were adding some eargon gp2 grips and spec ground ground control rubber.

It's properly rapid.

^ IT incompetence prevented me posting up a decent photo of my new(ish) Stage Evo.

Though only a relatively short shakedown ride yesterday, the biggest and most obvious change from my Orange Four is the amount of extra grip, just point and shoot.

The Pike Ultimate RC2 is excellent to, though in a weak moment I treated it to a Oneup bar 😊

Looking forward to some bigger tests as lockdown eases.