[Closed] Orange Four/Stage Four - no longer?

Gone for now, confirmed by Orange. Expect a replacement later in the year.

I wonder if it will be the end of the road for the Four. I’d imagine that the market for short travel 27.5 bikes is quite small these days. But I dare say they still have their fans.

They teased a new bike called the Bandit a while ago, I would guess a short-travel 29er with slacker head angle than the S4.

Might be a shorter-travel mullet though, combining both defunct bikes. But hopefully not.

I think Orange understand how great short-travel 29ers are, but seem to have struggled to sell them effectively. Like a lot of brands TBF.

I bought a Stage 4 when they first came out, they were impossible to find in shops and demos, and very very rare on the trails.
Someone on here owns it now 👍

I loved it, really fast and flighty. Did both XC and Enduro racing on it. It was superb.

I imagine the small wheel variant is gone for good, but there's defintiely room for a slacker, more radical 29 or mullet even.

I wonder if it will be the end of the road for the Four. I’d imagine that the market for short travel 27.5 bikes is quite small these days. But I dare say they still have their fans.

The Aether 7 is our best seller (130mm 27.5). The Aether 9 will certainly sell more though.

Someone on here owns it now 👍

View this post on Instagram

😀

I had an Orange Segment, the precursor to the stage 4.

It was great, had my head turned by a geometron G13.

All the things I would have liked in the segment the stage 4 had. Biggest one is a longer stroke shock. I could have not bottoming out or smooth. I couldn't get both.

A stage 4 is probably a better bike for most of my riding than the geometron.

I liked the segment, I loooove the geometron 😉

Maybe short travel doesn’t work so well without some linkage progression? If you’ve got enough pressure to avoid hard bottoming out, is there enough sensitivity around sag to justify the cost/weight of rear suspension? And if you run it softer, how many frames get cracked from running out of travel too harshly?

I've been riding the S4 extensively over the last couple of months and I'd say it works fine.

It's taut and lively rather than plush and pillowy, the opposite of my old Smuggler but very similar in geometry otherwise.

Much more what I wanted from a short-travel bike, as it makes much quicker progress overall and takes the sting out of the rugged bits rather than magically feeling like a longer travel bike.

BUT - I'd imagine it might be frustrating if you were after a magic carpet ride, and you'd probably have bought the wrong bike.

I have a mk2 Segment and agree with Chaka, the short travel makes for a snappy and crisp ride that some how never seems to run out of travel. I much prefer it to my old 5 29 that seemed too wallowy out back (that could have been the CTD shock though).

Interested to see what they come up with as aren't slack, short travel 29ers the next big thing?

I'm happy with my (120mm travel 29er) FlareMax, but if I hadn't got that I would have gone for the S4 and probably been just as happy. Short(er) travel 29ers are ace in my book.

Good to hear that the Aether 7 is selling well. I wonder how sales will hold up when the new 29er is released though. I guess only time will tell. As I said, short travel 27.5 has its fans too, I was just wondering whether there were enough of them for Orange to keep the Four in the lineup.

I have run out of travel quite often, but never in a way that makes the bike hang up or do anything awkward.

I put a -2deg angleset in that S4 (with 130mm fork) and it's great. I'd be surprised if Orange haven't tried similar. The demo guy was suggesting something like a year or so ago.

Watching this post with interest. Fancy a short travel 29er to replace my Whyte T130s
Liked the look of the stage 4 very much and stand over height was ok for me where as the Whyte S120 in a large would be to high.
Hoping the aether 9 might address this.
Seems at the moment if your short of leg and long of back and arms that 27.5 bikes are the still to go to.

I'm hoping for 120mm rear, 130mm front 29er. Quiver killer bike, not too slack. A bit like the Ibis Ripley V4. Need to replace my ageing Five (26er) at some stage.

@dseenya would probably be too much like the Stage 5 which I think is 130r 140f, I have a mk2 Segment which is a lot better with a Cane creek db il shock

The S5 is 135mm rear and I think a lot of people use 150mm forks (though it is 140mm on the full builds they sell).

I wouldn't be surprised if they bumped up the rear travel just a touch on a new short-travel 29er. I don't think it needs it from my experience, but I have other MTBs as well.

The S5 is the more obvious "quiver killer" perhaps?

@StuE I just fancy something lighter than a Stage 5 and not as slack. For the riding I do in Cape Town, lots of long trail rides and a few stage races, and they all involve a lot of climbing. But I also want it to be fun going down. A Ripley V4 or Pivot Trail 429 type bike.I'd be happy with a Stage 4 also, but they're no longer.

This is a shame as I’ve always been very happy with my Four. It feels a lot more capable than a 130/120mm travel bike might be considered. For my SE England riding I’d say it’s spot on, yet I’ve been to Wales and the Lake District on it and it didn’t feel out of its depth there either.

No affiliation but by coincidence there's a nice one cropped up in FB for sale - good value i reckon.

I was looking at the stage 4, just found cracks in my  transition scout and have been really enjoying the 29er solaris. However missing the full sus.

I e mailed orange after seeing the stage 4 disappear, they got back in contact and said there would be a replacement,but may not be till latter part of this year.

As I said, short travel 27.5 has its fans too, I was just wondering whether there were enough of them for Orange to keep the Four in the lineup.

I imagine it's a capacity issue as much as anything as they have added loads of new models to the line up so the builders will be busy!

I cant see that FB page as I'm not in the U & cant join. When the world returns to some sort of normality and family & friends travel to and from the UK again I'll get them to bring a frame back.

Now the Five has gone from the trail bike section!

Stage6 frame is £2200 thats crazy money for a single pivot alu frame,I was looking at either one of these or a Stanton but I wouldn't pay that for the Orange

Well the pricing has gone a bit silly, but when you see the metalwork close up it's not "only" a single pivot.

It's a much more impressive product than most identikit four bar frames.

I paid less than half the current price for my S6 though (part used).

I only got a Five 6 months back

Alpine 6 missing too.....

Bit odd as they are fairly new models and extremely unlikely to be discontinued.

Possibly a bit of website housekeeping.

Maybe they've been influenced by the "one bike to do everything" thread on here yesterday and are whittling the range down slowly to one bike to rule them all.....

Hmmmmm, loads of other have vanished too. Can't imagine they've dropped the lot with no plans for new versions before the end of the year?

I wonder if it's related to a lockdown production stoppage and no new stock coming through, to be followed by new versions announced in Summer for 2021?

My money's still on the website playing up, or something like that.

Might be a Russian hack though.

Yeah but Orange have confirmed the 4 and Stage 4 have gone. Surprised if they bin the 5 for any length of time but who knows how many they're selling. The Alpine 6 is still showing as a new model on the home page.

Maybe as above and it's a Covid thing. Limited people building the UK frames, lack of anything from the Far East and available stock getting snapped up in the current bike buying frenzy?

Just been on the site and most have returned so obviously site maintenance. Maybe some spec and/or price changes?