I bought an Orange P7 - first impressions

A while ago now, I went onto the Orange Bikes website with the intention of buying a T Shirt but as you do, had a look at what bikes were listed in the ‘On Offer’ section, a dangerous thing to do.

Instantly, my eyes were drawn to an Orange P7 S, big reduction in price. Not helping was a pop up announcing an additional 10% off everything on the site at that time.

I have wanted a steel Orange hardtail for a long time; since 1989 to be exact as I worked with a chap who was sponsored by Orange and had a factory spec Clockwork.

I couldn’t resist; who could?

The model I bought is the one with quite basic components but decent fork and (obviously) frame. Some upgrades have already taken place, others will follow I’m sure.

Anyway, this video was filmed on my first ride on the bike, the one where I could fettle and set it up. More of a walk around than a review video as I hadn’t ridden it anywhere worthy of being able to pass judgement on it at that point. I now have, but more to come on that (when I get round to it).

The astute amongst you may have already spotted it’s fleeting appearances in recent videos

[alex__rides__bikes]

Love a steel hardtail! I have a on-one hello Dave which is sat in the garage waiting to be taken out, just be careful of your dropper post and thru axel ceasing in the frame

[ElectricMountainBiker]

Love, love, love the colour mate, even better in person!! What does the binman even know about tyres, swabbles rock you know 🤣
This was a surprise, and probably the best T-Shirt I have ever seen!! I like the fact you have things you want to upgrade, can really have it exactly how you want it. Lyrics are great, have them on the Pig and so far they have been quite a revelation. I say that as a fox lover as well..

Single speed!!! Not sure about that, I cannot climb with 12 gears, let alone jist one 👀
Great introduction to your new bike, maybe give it a name now, spelt differently lf course 😉

Have to say, when we do sort out the hardtail group ride, there are going to be some stunners there for sure!!

[Dandroid]

Peppermint's a classic colour for me of a beautiful Haro BMX I had many years ago - peppermint frame with white forks, bars and seat stem, it was gorgeous!

[garymartin]

Love the frame colour. Steel frames do have a great feel with the frame buzz. Hope it's all you ever wished for.

[Dan.harbourviewplumbing]

Great video and proper review. It took me to the age of 47 to get my first brand new bike and i always liked the p7 so thats what i had and in the same colour as yours, its a fantastic bike, although i did swap out the shimano m8 brakes for magura ones. I do find i get way more pedal strike on it compared to my old orange five. But it keeps you on your toes i suppose. Enjoy your bike and where it takes you. 🎉

[kopiteynwa]

My orange crush comp 2023 has just arrived so buzzing to get home now and unbox it !!

[MartinTeerly]

P7 is a very good frame 👌🏻well done 👍🏻

[HallMarc_Trails]

Lovely looking bike, it was a toss up between a P7 or the crush when i purchased my hardtail, as you know, i went with the crush, between us we have both, yay 😀 we will have to do a bike swap when we eventually get out on a ht group ride ( just a trail, not the whole ride) 🤣 great video mate, i see you were inspired by my boardman top tube cam video for this one 🤣👍

[davesbikelife]

Nice bike. Made great video. Must be lively on those hotels 👍🏼🤙

[TrailTrackerSwitzerland]

The mint coloured frame is mint mate. Looks like a great platform to build on, and as long as the brakes are better than Marc's you'll be fine 😂

[Tony-]

Nice looking bike. 💯👍🏻 Medium size frame with 27.5 wheels?

[biggussconnus]

I wanted to see the bike review, but was actually enjoying the presenter far more. 😂

[grannyjone]

The comment about how the fork was as soft as a Dave Jenvey adversary really made me laugh, having watched a lot of his videos recently

[Jimburgess]

Just bought the P7 s 29 version in Red. Down from £2600 to £1600. Bargain when you consider the awesome frame and decent fork. I’ll upgrade the rest in good time.

[BikingVikingMTB]

Nah not silly at all, I saw a p7 XL on FB market in orange excuse the pun, if I had the money it would of been mine! Love the colour mate cracking bike 💪

[tombailey]

Six months later, how are you finding it, any chance of a long term review?

[chunkyantmtb]

Nice bike! The Lyrik is a great fork! Loving riding a HT currently altho I must admit it hasn’t been through choice! 😂

[donpalmera]

Wall of text but..:

I have a 2023 crush comp that had the same cassette (sunrace one), cranks and clarks brakes.
That was a little bit disappointing really as it cost about 150% the UK price to get it imported to Japan but it all works fine to be honest. The cassette might be heavy but the whole bike is heavy, the cranks are cranks.. I think they are actually slightly lighter than the most basic deore cranks. I put >4000km into them over the last year and they only started creaking a week or so ago. I was going to swap them out for the aforementioned deores but then realised a shimano 12s chain ring needs a shimano chain (guess one of the reasons they didn't use most basic deore cranks). Swapping them (+ bb) out for SRAM seems like the most cost effective plan to get something "branded". The brakes seem fine but I didn't like the look of them (the actual look, not that I thought they were dodgy) so I put them on my commuter MTB and gave the crush some magura MT7s. I think the clarks are probably better than the cheapest shimano ones the bike was originally specced for.

Anyhow, originally I was a bit upset because I thought my expensive Orange had a few goofy parts but it didn't really matter. Having a pair of rockshox on the front and not some shitty suntours I think was more important in the end. I got my son a Canyon which was much cheaper and has Deore SLX for everything except the cassette (same sunrace one..) which broke my little heart again but man the finishing kit Canyon supply is awful. You'd get hemorrhoids using the seat they provide. Stuff like the ports of the internally routed cables looks awful and the unused ones are just open to let shit get in.

As long as the bike shop didn't screw up and forget to actually order it 3 months ago I have an RS spec Alpine 6 somewhere out on a boat. Looking forward to it but since I bought it 3 months ago the clearance prices are so low I would have done better going back to the UK and buying it in person. 😂

[dexterfletcher]

Nice colour …..but…where’s the motor lol 😂. A fit, clean living young man like you doesn’t need any assistance !

[MTB_Derbyshire]

The colour is really nice. You got the feel for steel now you've had chance to give it some proper miles? More "just buy a HT Jonathan you bastard" comments in coming i reckon 😂