ORANGE SWITCH 7 SE £7,500
When it comes to manufacturing bikes in the UK, no one can accuse Orange of simply flag waving. Based in Halifax, and with over 25 years of manufacturing knowhow, it is arguably the quintessential British bike brand. Models like the Five and 224 have made Orange a popular mtb household name.
And while the elements that go into Orange’s full-suspension bikes haven’t changed dramatically over the years – mostly seam-welded sheet aluminium to form the monocoque tubing, combined with a single-pivot suspension design – Alex Desmond, senior design engineer at Orange, has added a new ingredient without completely changing the flavour profile of the brand.
That’s right, the Switch 7 has a linkage-actuated shock to give the bike more progression. Not that you could tell by looking at the side profile of the bike, as the linkage is neatly concealed by the swingarm. The linkage adds about 400g to the overall weight of the frame, when compared to the Switch 6, where the shock is driven directly by the swingarm.
