[yetihenry]

Posted on another forum, thought you guys across the pond would be interested too...

The bike that Joe Barnes rode to 6th in elite (15th overall) in the Simply Downhill round #1 this weekend seems a little special.

Initial impression was a 5 with 40s on the front. Closer inspection reveals:

ribs on the rear dropouts a la 224evo
internally gusseted downtube/top tube?
gusset on seat tube like the strange alpine 160
bb is too low to just be jacked up
apparently it had quite a short stroke
rp23 with boost valve
Looks like a tapered headtube, so potentially canecreek angleset?

Are they doing what millyard did? 4/5" of good suspension on the back and you won't miss the extra couple of inches?

Why aren't they using the alpine 160/blood chasis?

Is this the "fabled" UK dh bike?

Discuss...

General consensus on SouthernDownhill is that its a new Patriot. Not sure what this means for the Alpine 160 and the Blood.

 

[norbar]

I'd rather finally see 225 hiting the production

 

[Sandwich]

looks good, nice hydroforming on the straight tubes!

 

[Vrock]

Thats the New Patriot. A guy have one of them here...

 

[goodgrief]

looks extremely similar to my 08 patriot. there's a shot on strange's FB page of a short travel linkage bike a'la 225 that seemed much more likely to be the next step forward

 

[manhattanprjkt83]

am I nuts for wondering why this thing has an RP on it? Why the shock choice?

 

[rockofullr]

Comeon Orange after all this time we were expecting more from you.

 

[slimshady]

I find really funny how Orange got sucked into the "we-must-show-something-new-every-season" hype many years ago. And the funniest part is they just keep renaming the different parts of their classic single pivot design (as if there were many parts to do so). I like the way some other companies face the challenge of every new season: by doing what most automotive companies do. That's changing and evolving a certain model on a four or five years lapse. It's borderline stupid that the minute you buy a bike, it gets outdated by a newer model. But still, good ol' Orange needs to be in the cutting edge and keeps changing the names they give to their SP design...

I don't have anything against SPs, I just believe the company don't have the need for a continuous evolution pose these UK guys like to show. Reminds me of how Ellsworth renamed their FSR and single pivot ripoffs...