Tell me about Orange Strange bikes

[secret_squirrel]

What's the difference between them and a run of the mill Orange?

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

"Strange" bikes are the prototype bikes, the test bikes before they go in to production.

P1130894 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Yep, as above. I remember a few years back there were some proto 5's out there. One was light weight, the other a beefed up version. The tough one became the Alpine 160, the light weight one didn't make production although some of the tech did.

Don't know if I'd buy one as people always seem to want a premium for what is in effect a design not deemed good enough for production or a design close to/the same as any other.

 

[secret_squirrel]

There's a 16* five strange on eBay at the moment set up to take a 160mm fork. Is that probably the one that became the Alpine 160?

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

the ST4 above, my one, had different geometry to the standard frame, a slightly slacker head angle and lower BB than the eventual production model. sometimes the Strange bikes get sold to shop staff and Orange employees as frankly there's nothing wrong with them it's just they were testing geometry so the frame is as good as the actual production bike.

this looks similar to the one on ebay, and the picture time/date suggest 2012/3 model

Sierra Espuna Spain (136) by Carl and Sian, on Flickr


this i think is one of Steve's prototypes:-

Sierra Espuna Spain MTB (5 by Carl and Sian, on Flickr


the Strange that became the alpine 160

Sierra Espuna Spain (33) by Carl and Sian, on Flickr

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Totally agree that there's no reason to worry about the quality of a Strange so at the right price I'd have one. It's just that sellers always seem to think they're worth a fortune when they're not.

Looking at the ebay one and the white bike above I don't think they're from the same era as the top tube on the white one looks like the Patriot from a few years back (2012) where as the ebay one is much older going by the 1 1/8th head tube, design of the swing arm and lack of a maxel rear. My best guess for that would be a pre 2009 Patriot replacement or early Alpine 160 proto.

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

weirdly when i saw the one on ebay i thought 2007 originally, maybe i was right in what i thought initially but i didn't type that, but when i saw the pic of the white one above i thought they looked similar with the (awful) looking patch on the seat tube end of the top tube, forgot about the headtube etc :facepalm: the time code on the flikr photo was what made me think the white one was 2012/3 so i daftly thought the ebay one was the same.

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Wonder if the white one was the proto for the Alpine 160 when it changed from a curved top tube to a straight? That or a proto 650b 160?

As for the ebay one, who knows. It's defo old and 2007 could be about right. The adjustable shock mount shouts Patriot to me although didn't the Alpine 160 have that feature at some point?

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

Check out this 'Strange' 5 Orange are selling. Like it.

http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/shop/facto ... set_yellow

 

[shedobits]

Re:

A bit off topic I know, but I've only ever seen two Orange' here in Spain. One was a 5 in BRG at the start of a race in Sierra Espuna and the other a Sub 3 at one of the feed stations on the same day, [BTW that's one more than I've seen in the south of England ]. Both were unattended or I would have spoken to the riders. So I was intrigued to see the two pics taken in the same area. Any info on these?