BEST OF BRITISH ORANGE

You know the Orange Five. It’s an iconic bike with one of the most recognisable silhouettes in the business, and more heritage folded into its down tube than some bike brands have in their entire model range. If you haven’t owned one, chances are you know someone who has, and for many the Five is the very definition of a UK trail bike — other pretenders might come and go but the Five remains.

THE HILLS ARE THREADED WITH TRAILS. SOME DATE TO ROMAN TIMES, SOME ARE FRESHLY CUT

But maybe you don’t know the Five, or rather the Five of today. Having been on the scene for so long — while plotting roughly the same course — it’s easy to assume that riding a Five at some point in the past will tell you everything you need to know about the current model. Rolling a brand new Five alongside its 20-year-old ancestor, the Sub 5, it’s clear that the only thing they really have in common is the monocoque down tube, single-pivot suspension design and monostay rear — and even these bear only a passing resemblance.

When Ashley Ball bought Orange almost four years ago, he knew he was acquiring all of that