Project Unbreakable | Part Two – Nobody was expecting that!
Project Unbreakable, the quest to find a bike tough enough to withstand the demands of a British Winter, under the ‘care’ of our toughest bike tester. If you did not catch part one, you can check it out here. Jim Buchanan has certainly racked up more broken bike parts than any other tester on the team, and he was keen to find a better alternative. In these days of fly weight carbon, and ultra-thin tubing, surely there were still bikes that could handle some abuse. So, after seeking advice Jim decided that the best tool for the job would be an Orange Alpine 160, but after unboxing the bike and hefting it onto the scales he was worried that he might have made a big mistake! We pick up with Jim as he takes the Alpine 160 out for its first rides.
So, it was a heavy bike, but how would it ride? It was time to find out. The first couple of rides were just local XC missions, just to get the bike dialled in. It arrived with the saddle right back in the clamp, nose in the air, this was changed to saddle forwards and down to make a massive difference in the bike’s uphill feel; suspension was dialled in, both volume spacers added to the forks for my more weighty aggressive style. It was pissing down and muddy for both rides, the Continental Trail King tyres don’t quite cut it in the mud, but the long front end really does make up for this, once you get the hang of riding whilst weighting the front end for more grip.
The next ride was a tad more substantial, myself and Coop (all-round smasher) hit up the all-natural trails of Bucknell, designed and ridden by Mark Beaumont (GT Factory racing). Now Coop is fast and usually leaves me for dust as he smashes his way through the tracks. This is where I got the first feeling of amazement for the 160. Coop was hammering down the trails, his little Tracer sliding through the wet peat and roots, really on the edge of control. I just followed, the bike going exactly where I pointed it, crying out for speed and keeping up with ease, I started to think less about the weight and more about the performance of this long machine, even in the steepest, tightest and twistiest of trails this thing was a joy to ride, my opinions were definitely on the turn. I just had to do the ‘big ride’ test, as I knew uplift riding was just going to be perfect for such an attack weapon.
THE LONG RIDE
The phone is ringing, it’s one of my best mates, Bicks, he’s only gone and got his new Specialized S-Works Enduro 29 with Enve wheels built and ready for its first proper ride. “Right I wanna go somewhere that I know, a big ride so I can dial it in, you up for the Beast at Coed Y Brenin?” he asked. This is Wales’s biggest trail centre type route at 36k with lots of nice fast DH sections and tons of long ball-busting fire-road climbs. “Yeh I’m in” I hesitantly agree, ‘well at least it gives me the opportunity for a proper test on such an Alpine style beast of a bike’, I thought.
Thirteen of us hit the Trail that day, I have to admit I was a tad worried about the mammoth task ahead, a trail I had ridden so many times on lighter bikes. The weather was good and the company fantastic, and surprisingly this day finally put pay to any doubts in my mind about Orange as a design and especially this model of bike. You can feel it’s weightier, but it just felt great on all the climbs. The efficiency of the Monarch Plus was unreal uphill when flicked over to climb mode, as was the stiffness of the Pikes. It never once felt taxing or too much as we all hit the uphill sections together talking bike shit all day, the more I rode it uphill the more I was amazed, I had been so wrapped up in the weight game I had taken my eye off the importance of shock/suspension climbing efficiency.
LET IT RIP
At Coedy there really are some great fast downhills, this was the real test of this bike’s ability on the rougher faster stuff. Believe me it really doesn’t let you down in that department. You just feel like you can hit stuff absolutely pinned, in fact it feels like you are in slow motion the faster it goes, just soaking up the big hits like a downhill bike. On flatter turns you do have to remember to get your weight forwards to get the best of the grip, or it may catch you out as the front end can struggle for traction, but once mastered this just rewards you with bags of confidence. With such a long wheelbase this thing rides with the stability and speed of a 29er, but I was getting used to corner bashing again, pumping turns in a way which can only be done on the regular sized wheels, so much fun.
VERDICT
I found I got round the big trail with ease, in fact I even managed about six PR’s on the climbs when looking at Strava later and I wasn’t even trying, unbelievable! My mind is totally changed from being a big-wheeled carbon, high-end bike rider now, the fun factor has returned to me now in a big way with this bike. Of course, no bike is perfect and there are a couple of things I would change and need to have a moan at! Firstly when you start nailing the bike in the rough stuff the chain slaps on the lower part of the swing-arm, I shall be adding a guard, but am surprised this isn’t added as a standard part. The time you do feel the weight (and this would be a down-side to the bike in racing) is when accelerating out of turns and along flatter parts of would-be stages. The 319 Mavic rims could be replaced here with lighter budget carbon ones to help cure this, but then you may be going out of the realms of bullet-proof, there are other options but they are expensive! Overall this is one hell of a trail smashing bike, which has totally surprised me, changed my opinion on Orange completely and given me excitement as to what exactly it can take over the winter. Also another thing worth mentioning is just how comfortable this bike is on any trail ride, with a bit of a dicky back I am prone to back-ache during a long ride, but there wasn’t one twinge with this machine.
After being impressed with the bike, I am sure that there are a few things that can be done to improve it. For the next instalment I will be trimming a bit of weight off the beast.
Words Jim Buchanan
Pics Doc Ward
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