Help on identifying Orange 5 bike

paddo

Dirt Disciple
Hey Everyone.. So I picked up this beautiful orange 5 from a guy who knew little about it.. Apparently he or sombody else just bought the frame and added the rest.. Its a real mixmatch and im trying to get my head around whats on it..
Couple of questions id like to throw out there.
1.. Anybody know what year frame were talking.. ? No indication on it whatsoever except a serial no on the bottom bracket. Im guessing its 2004/2005 going by other pictures of similar grey coloured frames with the straight toptube..
Zero cracks on it, Swing arm seems solid.. Think the guy said he never did anything serious with it..
2.. Front forks are a total mystery.. Guy said they were rockshox in the add, but the warning stickers on the lower legs say different, Marzocchi according to them, Also the warning sticker says for XC/all mountain only, which is really throwing me because the travel is 150mm with 32mm stanchions..Lockout on the left leg and rebound knob on the right lower.. What would a set of XC forks be doing on a bike like this which to me which seems more enduro ? There is an 05 printed on the lowers so im assuming 2005 year which would match the frame year roughly.. I have no idea what these forks are...
Rear shock was the float rp32 but it ended up having a leak behind the rebound knob.. Got some money back for that off the owner as thats a rebuild.. The one I have on it atm is just in there so I could test the bike out on the flat.. Its completely the wrong size at 165mm.. Not even sure what the original spacing is supposed to be for the shock because the fox float that was in it, has eyelets that are offcentre on both ends which means it was modded to fit the frame I think.. Anybody any ideas what the rear eye to eye is supposed to be on one of these frames ?

Any help identifying what were working with here would be greatly appreciated..
I tried to take as many decent pics as possible for help in identifying bits and pieces..

Cheers

Patrick
 

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Some more pics
 

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‘Never did anything serious with it’😂😂
Well of course he didn’t but what about it’s 10 other owners?
Anyway, the Five is an XC bike. The next level up, this enduro lark would be done on a Patriot or later on an Alpine160.
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/orange-five-through-the-years/Should tell you all you need to know, particularly the swing arm details.
Forks are Marzocchi btw - the ‘M’ shaped brace is their sig.
 
Thanks for the scoop.. Yes I know there Marzocchi forks.. It says it on the warning sticker, but ive no clue as to what model, 05 is stamped on the lower leg, but as they made so many damn forks then and they all look fairly similar.. No evidence of any other stickers on them that were removed. It funny because it definately doesnt feel like an xc bike.. Its slacker than my other xc bikes by a good bit from a similar timeframe mid 2000's.. Could also be the 150mm travel on the front forks, and large rear shock thats throwing me.. My other xc bikes from 2001 to 2006 ish all had 100mm travel forks and very small rear shocks.. around 40mm travel... And pretty much straight top tubes.. Well this has a straight top tube too but its angled from the slacker head tube.. Seems overly built for a cross country bike, but then again maybe my other xc bikes are turds.. ;]

Anyways I really need to find out what forks they are, only one air fill valve on the right leg, no idea what pressure to run..Feels like its working fine but quite soft.. Dont want to lash air into them and then blow the seals off them in a months time..
 
This is how they were built - agricultural.
It looks and feels slack because it’s got the wrong shock on it - every single pivot Orange like this (mostly Five’s) I’ve ever had through my garage has a lot smaller gap between the swing arm and seat tube (red arrow in my pic) that you can’t even get a toothbrush in to clean it - but yours looks around 20mm which I’ve never seen before. I googled Sub 5 and first three I found show the bottom bracket as above the hub line, yours is below this. That carries through the frame leading to the head angle to be slack.
Prior to being called a 5 it was called ‘Mr XC’ which backs up its intended use.
 
Yeah I mentioned in my first post its the wrong rear shock.. I just took this from the spares bin just to ride It when I bought it to make sure everything checked out ok.. The original shock fox float rp23 can be seen in the second set of pictures I took above which shows the rear wheel closer to the seat tube.. It has a blown O ring in the rebound metering rod..

Still hoping sombody recognises what model the front forks are.. Seems really wierd that there are not stickers on it with the exception of the 2 warning stickers.. Not even a trace of stickers being removed, like that visible faint adhesive line they usually leave.. They havint been sprayed either..
 
fork looks like a 66rc.
Had a look, Not a 66rc anyways... 66rc has a bolt through axle and comp and rebound on the top.. My one has rebound on the bottom right leg.. Theres a distinct set of holes on the crown right underneath the comp knob and the air fill knob on the opposite leg which is also not present on the 66rc..
 
What’s the eye-eye of the (Fox) shock you have? Without the offset bushes.
Actually difficult to tell as I cant get enough air in it to fully drive out the piston.. But with the air I can get into it before it blows[ literally 50 psi] its at 170mm so must be a 190... Unless they came in different sizes and is somwhere inbetween.. According to what I can find theres 165mm which its over and the next size up is 190mm
 
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