The new bikes have arrived! They look unbelievably “bling”. I have been lucky enough to have this day in May for 8 years now. It’s one of the best bits of the job. This year we have a 16″ and an 18″ Orange Alpine 160.

I thought I’d pull the “prototype to this bike out of the garage and make some compare and contrast notes. Apart from the component differences there are a number of obvious frame differences.

1. The rear swing-arm is bigger and beefier (it looks stiffer) with more mud clearance than the old one.
2. The headangle is .75 degrees steeper than the old (it is 66.4 degrees according to my iphone)
3. The bottom bracket is 1.5cm higher
4. It has a maxle rear axle, should be stiffer.
5. Sexy new hydroformed? tubes and a frontend that is 1 or 2cm higher than the old bike.
6. It has more travel, they say 160 mm compared to 130 mm but who knows?