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I’m very tempted by a secondhand Orange Stage 5 frame and think I am ready to press buy. But I want to use the 130mm forks I already have and can’t afford to buy new forks as well.
The frame is 135mm at the back and tends to be paired with 140mm up front.
I did think that mulleting it could be an option as I have both 27.5 and 29 wheels. Or, if I just rode it as it was would I just have a less slack bike that would actually handle fine?
Tips?
What forks are they?
If they’re Fox or Rockshox it’s generally quite easy / not that expensive to extend the travel with a new airshaft.
Fox Rhthym 34 29er
From a bit of Googling it looks like you can’t extend the shaft on these 🙁
You'd have a lower BB (potentially good) but a steeper head angle (bad) and slightly shorter wheelbase (also bad). People buy anglesets and/or longer forks to 'improve' their bike in basically the exact opposite way, but of course they're not always right.
A hacky way to lower the back a bit would be to run offset bushes or more sag at the back/less at the front.
As a stopgap until you can swap the forks, I'd do it. Long term, I wouldn't I think. But that's mainly because I'm definitely a "longer+slacker = better" kinda guy.
It's what .5 a degree of head angle? Stick a bigger tyre on the front and you will cancel out most of the difference.
That’s kind of what I was thinking too Rich. Also, I’m used to very much less slack bikes tbh. 100mm xc bikes etc...but also don’t want it so steep I go over the bars on the first descent. Seems unlikely 😉
No harm will come of it but it may not offer the perfectly honed setup.
Accounting for fork sag and actual variances when seated/riding and the real world diff is prob negligible.
Can you reduce the rear shock length/throw cheaply to compensate? Depending on shock?
You’d have a lower BB (potentially good) but a steeper head angle (bad) and slightly shorter wheelbase (also bad).
It all depends on what the geometry is with the original forks as to whether it's better or worse, but a 10mm difference will be barely noticeable. The BB will be a few mm lower, the head angle will be about half a degree steeper, and the wheelbase will be a few mm shorter. As above, it will make about as much difference as putting a bigger tyre on the front.
Go for it. Big front tyre is a great idea.
Slacksets and offset bushings less so, as they will lower the BB.
I use them in Orange frames with 10mm longer-than-spec forks to help bring the BB back down a touch as well as slackening the HA.
So consider going 150mm on the fork when you do change.
Is it the original Stage 5?
Ages since I lookeds at this but it's ATC as much as travel that matters, no? As above it's time in this scenario and differences in sag etc could also be more significant than the 10mm.
It's the 2017 Stage 5. Big front tyre or how about bigger wheel altogether? Guess putting 27.5 on the back will make the BB a bit too low?
I forget who it is that makes them but someone makes an extended bottom headset cup that raises the front by I think 10mm which could solve your problem.
I'd go for it. Run with a touch less sag on the front and it will be right.
Upgrade the fork in the future.
like the extended bottom headset cup idea. Wolf tooth seem to do one. Thanks guys, think I will take the plunge. Suspect I a going to be massively over biked with this but aren't we all?!
Yeah, don't mullet it.
Reverse do a wotsit for raising the front as well: https://reverse-components.com/en/content/bike-hacks-2021
It’s the 2017 Stage 5
One other thing I'll say, on a bit of a tangent, is that that generation of Orange FS frames had reasonably short seat tubes, so most riders can go up a size - and then add bushings or slacksets to get the geometry quite close to the current generation of frames.
I've done it on a Stage 6 and a Stage 4 myself. 5ft 8in on large frames.
Just a thought.
"Run with a touch less sag on the front and it will be right."
This! I've run my current hardtail with 130, 140 and 150mm travel (it's designed for 150mm). Having spent a lot of time fiddling about with set-up, I've found that it rides best at 150mm with 30% sag. At 130mm travel it rode best with 20% sag (that was before it had a Luftkappe).
A 150mm fork at 30% sag is exactly the same length as a 130mm fork at 20% sag (and I presume a 140mm fork at 25% sag - yes, they all have 105mm of travel left).
I can't imagine a Rhythm 34 works all that well with lots of sag anyway, in my experience less fancy forks usually need to be run quite firm to stop them diving on steep stuff.
Thanks for the mullet advice. Heeded! I am 6ft and going for a Large. Hoping it'll be OK...
I am 6ft and going for a Large. Hoping it’ll be OK…
Coming from an older geometry bike, it'll be fine.
Sizing up just gives the opportunity to get even-more-modern geometry.
They are really fun bikes BTW. When you come to change the fork I'd personally go for a 150mm option with a -2deg headset (I use the Superstar one).
https://reverse-components.com/en/products/05%C2%B0-angle-spacer-tapered-forks
I use it on my tallboy to run 120mm stepcast forks.
Yes, that Reverse thing is what I was thinking of. Crown race rather than headset cup which actually makes life easier
On a seperate note has anyone evert tried putting 27.5 plus wheels on a stage 5?