Orange has adapted their classic British-made single-pivot alloy mountain bike design into an all-new, all-mountain mullet bike in the Switch 6. Sharing the same front end the new Stage 6 gets a little more travel and big wheels at both ends, or go for slightly less travel in the Stage 5 trail 29er. On the e-side of things the new mullet Phase, 27.5 Charger & 29″ Surge give similar long travel trail or enduro options powered by Shimano E8000 motors.
2020 Orange Switch 6 mullet 27.5/29″ alloy all-mountain bike
The Switch 6 is the biggest news from Orange, as their first serious go on a mixed size mullet all-mountain/enduro bike. Rather than dropping a smaller wheel into an existing frame they reworked a new “Orange Race Tuned” geometry just for the new 27.5″/29″ front setup. The result is a dialed-in modern enduro ride with a 64° head angle & 160mm of fork travel, paired to just 145mm of travel at the rear. It also gets a steeper for Orange 76° seat angle for getting back up the hill.
Orange calls the Switch their ultimate do-it-all bike with what they see as all the rollover & speed benefits of 29ers and playful agility of 27.5, giving the feel of much more travel than that 145mm would suggest.
The made-in-Britain, lightweight custom-butted Reynolds monocoque 6061 alloy frame now adds downtube bottle bosses so you can get the pack off your back for shorter rides, and gets optimized internal cable routing.
The Switch 6 is available in three sizes, four custom colors, four complete bike builds, a 2300€ frameset, and comes with a 5-year frame warranty, and a ‘limited lifetime’ crash replacement program.
This RS build with X01/GX Eagle retails for 5500€, with a more affordable Pro build at 4400€ with NX Eagle, up to XTR for 6700€.
2020 Orange Stage 6 150mm 29er alloy all-mountain bike
If you want something a bit more burly, the Stage 6 shares the same new front end as the Switch but gets a different rear end to fit a second 29″ wheel and a bit more travel. With 150mm out back, linked to the 160mm fork, the Stage 6 is a bit more of a fast mover.
Geometry is pretty similar, with the same 64° head & 76° seat angles, but the all-29er gets 2cm longer chainstays for a more stable, planted feel on the trail.
Otherwise the frame gets the same routing & bosses updates, with essentially identical pricing & spec options.
2020 Orange Stage 5 150mm 29er alloy all-mountain bike
Going the other direction the Stage 5 is a shorter trail-oriented 29er version of the same new platform. The construction of the light alloy monocoque frame is much the same, but tweaked for a lighter style of mountain bike riding. That brings with it a step back to 135mm of rear wheel travel and 140mm forks.
Geometry is “trail tuned” rather than “race tuned”, which essentially is just 1° steeper at the headtube. The steep 76° seat angle remains, plus a slightly shorter rear end than the 6.
The Stage 5 gets the same routing & water bottle update, with similar build options. The shorter travel bike is cheaper at 2100€ for the frameset, 4200€ for the Pro build, and 6500€ with XTR.
Availability on all three looks to still be limited to one or two build per bike for now (or the framekits), with the rest available soon.
2020 Orange eMTB: mullet Phase, 29″ Surge & 27.5″ Charger
On the e-bike front, Orange has also added three Shimano E800-powered eMTBs that follow a similar trail to enduro direction. Another mullet bike is probably the headliner in this 27.5/160mm rear + 29″/160mm front Phase. It uses geometry based on the Switch 6 to be an all-around trail shredder.
All three bikes take advantage of Oranges’ already oversized downtube design, and the newest Shimano 8035, 504Wh internal battery which is rounded to fit into slimmer frame designs. The end result isn’t a real attempt to conceal the fact these burly machines are e-bikes, but to create a more sleek complete look.
Wanting more speed than the Phase, the 29er Surge gets shorter 150mm of rear travel with the larger wheel, and again 160mm of fork travel on a 65° headtube for geometry Orange says is “Alpine-trail honed.”
Lastly, the 27.5″ wheeled Charger gets 145mm of rear & 150mm of front travel for all-around trail riding.
Each of the three new e-bikes are available in four complete bike options, starting at Pro builds from 6800€ up to XTR builds at 8600€.
