Orange 222 Team Animal Replica

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After the Marin (see here) had broken for the umpteenth time, and Edinburgh Bikes had decided they didn't want to honour the warranty because I'd raced it, we jumped ship from them. Marin at the time didn't care whether you'd raced DH on their DH bike, but for some reason Edi Bikes did. As a result, the thousands we spent on bikes every year went elsewhere. Luckily my dad was working not far from Sandy Wallace at the time, and had already bought quite a bit from him including some early Pace RC36's for his Cannondale. We'd already got some Boxxers from him to replace the god-awful Pace Monstors I'd broken repeatedly and as the topic of broken bikes came up Sandy said 'bring it over here, I'll sort it'. Not long after that Marin turned round and said they had one frame left, and they didn't really want to give it to me as I'd probably break that too, so they offered a full refund on the frame. Pretty good going after riding the hell out of it/them for 18 months. But what to replace it with? We'd originally thought of a Patriot as a stronger and better version of the DH Team but by this point the 222 was talk of the town as a significant upgrade on the outgoing Mr.O, and a better DH only bike than the Patriot. Handily too, as Sandy was good friends with Lester and Steve, he knew he could get one as soon as the welds had cooled and the paint had dried, and as I was now on his team he was keen to have me on one of the latest bikes. Of course he would be, he wasn't paying for it! Between the Marin breaking and the 222 turning up he even convinced Orange to lend me a Patriot LT with Manitou X-Vert DCs and such to do a few races on which seemed pretty decent to a 15 year old!

Me at the final race of the season, SDA Ae Forest 2001. I soon learned to flatten my brake levers off more than this. For those of you who still follow the modern day sport, or Pinkbike, the man to the right is Alan Cathro, who was instrumental to the running of the SDA races at the time, and father of Ben Cathro (who raced World Cup DH for many years, including on Oranges himself, before presenting PB's World Cup videos).

As it happened I got the 222 in the October a week after the delayed (due to foot and mouth) last race of the season had taken place at Laggan, now site of Wolftrax, and it was picked up from the factory alongside a prototype Sub-3 with horizontal rear dropouts. I can still remember jumping on it the first time and riding it around Inverkeithing high street while kicking it off steps and such. All but a handful of parts had been transferred over from the Marin so it was pretty familiar, aside from the significant extra rear travel! Man was I happy that day.

Me about to cross under Tower 13 on the Nevis Range at a National in 2002 (I was running Hayes brakes that year)

A brief history of the 222:

At the time, Animal were purveyors of trendy surf clothing, and were sponsoring the Orange factory team with the likes of Tim Ponting, the Kitchins, Jo Leigh and some random called Greg Minnaar. For UK stuff they had the Patriot (custom team version with 12mm rear end) and the Mr.O for big stuff in Europe, but which was a bit soggy for most British tracks with Fort William and Rheola not yet in the picture. Anyway, the 222 was developed out of the Patriot architecture during 2000 with the first production models available at the tail end of that year. The shock was lengthened from 2" stroke on the Mr.O to use the latest spec 222mm eye to eye with a 2.75" stroke to give approx 215mm travel. Less adjustability than the outgoing model in travel, but with easily adjustable head angle and bottom bracket height using the different front shuttle mountings. Production spec bikes lost the twin mounting points on the front shuttle and had a redesigned swingarm with specific dropouts that were larger than the protos which had the old Patriot 12mm ones which were shallower.

The Patriot the 222 evolved from

Me, Innerleithen 2002 SDA

There were quite a few iterations of the 222 as being made in Yorskhire it was easy to make running changes. The first ones had a screw in axle with the driveside dropout being threaded. The shuttle was silver, and the main pivot bolt covers were tapered. The shuttle track was entirely mounted on the downtube. The first batch of 25 were made in Team Animal replica colours, which is what I had. The very first ones missed the small union jack '222' decals on the swingarm and the Orange wings logo behind the head tube. These earlier bikes were all built with Rock Shox Pro Deluxe shocks, a significant improvement on the Super Deluxe but still not really a match for the Fox Vanilla RC. If anyone has a Pro Deluxe sitting around though I'll glady swap the Fox from this frame for it! The shuttle on these bikes was also silver while the later ones were anodised black.

The 2001 catalogue build

And then Minnaar signed for the new Global team who were also using the 222 for 2001. That first year they were using production frames, albeit with a floating brake arm that was trendy at the time, and which became an option on the 2002 spec frames along with a Global team replica colourway in the same vein as those early Animal ones. These floating brake arm bikes also changed to an axle which bolted in from either side and then had pinch bolts to hold it tight. The pivot covers became flat rather than tapered, and later bikes had a shock track which extended up into the top tube as some had been known to crack. The 223 then arrived and brought with it a 150mm rear end.

The last of the 222's before the 223 appeared, in early 2003 spec with brake arm and reinforced shock shuttle track

Back to the bike of the thread:

At the time it was built up with some solid parts; Hope Bigun wheels with Sun Doublewides, Hope Pro DH4 brakes and XTR stuff. Pretty nice really, along with the correct era of bright red 2000 Boxxers, the first of the 7" ones, to match the Animal decals. For this build I got some decals from Filip Badura which are close but not quite right as they were based on the Global ones which is a minor grumble and something I didn’t spot until I compared them to one of the old ones I had left, it's got the wrong shock, and I don't have any Biguns any more. I do however still have a 5 bolt Bulb which was used on it when I broke the disc tab off a Bigun and was waiting for warranty. This ended up on my Trek 950 but I've got some Ti Glides for that now so the blue Bulb will be coming to the 222. I've still got the 24Seven cranks I had on it at one point, an X-Lite stem, Clikon post and my original PSS1 red kevlar saddle. I've still got the original Pro levers too and some NOS DH4 calipers (mine got changed for Enduro 4's eventually, and then Hayes Mags which were far superior). Original seat QR too. I'll see if I can get an early FSA Pig headset with the pig head logo. They were terrible but it's what I had on it originally so it'll match the theme. I've also still got the original MRP but that's currently in use on the M1 but I do have another 4 bolt one so I'll get a 4 bolt spider for the cranks and use that, it's close enough.

What I started with

How it's going

 

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The local powder coaters took some time but ultimately did a good job. There's a slight dent on the downtube which I don't remember being there originally but I pulled it out the back of the workshop having been sat there for several years and took it over without paying too much attention so it could well be down to me forgetting about it. They actually put a layer of clear over which I wasn't expecting. This gives a great finish but the slight downside is that it's a little thick in places and it took some work to free the bearing caps without damaging the finish. They did a good job of blasting my other frame too, an Evo2, which is going to be painted as I want a specific colour. The finish there is really good as they seem to use a fairly gentle media given their main business is alloy wheels and motorbike frames. If I wanted car stuff done I'd probably go elsewhere as the media isn't aggressive enough to really get rid of the deep pitted corrosion on parts.

So as mentioned in the first post, the decals aren't quite right. They're from Filip Badura and these were the first he'd done for the Animal, and based it on the Global ones he'd done previously. It was only after staring at them in the flesh and comparing against a single remaining decal I have from 25 years ago that I spotted some issues; the silver stripe between the red and blue was missing, the blue was too bright (correct for the Global, incorrect for Animal), there were minor differences between the top tube decals (I had originals to compare), and the swingarm decal it turns out after application was a bit low and short. I'll probably pay him to resolve them and fix these issues in time - absolutely not blaming him here, I signed the design off and I was also being very fussy. I resolved the silver by cutting some silver vinyl out and backing the appropriate areas. I realised after doing the top tube elements that backing the blue made the colour more accurate, if a little metallic (the colours weren't opaque as they were backing onto white), while the red ends up a bit too candy. Then again I didn't fancy cutting out the silver around the animal lettering! It's not perfect if you look closely but it's close enough for now.

Old vs new

Old style screw in axle

Slight dent in swingarm

Slight candy effect on the blue from the silver backing

 

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Spec wise I'm going to build it up roughly as I had it for most of its life, rather than as I first built it. 'Inspired by' you might call it. So what does that mean?

Forks are obvious; the 2000 Boxxers that are currently on the front of the M1 will be going on this, while I'll cobble something else together for the M1

The shock is a bit more of a problem. Most of these came with a Fox Van RC but I always had a Rock Shox Pro Deluxe on mine. Anyone have an 8.75 x 2.75 Pro Deluxe sitting around gathering dust?

Controls wise I originally built this with the Azonic Hammer stem and matching Singlewall bars from the Marin but I changed these to the hideously heavy 24Seven Dark Angel setup, and then latterly an X-Lite DHR stem and 2" rise Easton EA70's in silver. I've got a set of those here, albeit tatty and cut down, but at least they're silver! I should have some old Ruffian lock ons kicking about somewhere but will probably get some of those eBay special bar extenders so I can approximate the width they should be. I originally had an X-Lite Clikon 1 on here but that post is on the Marin build, and the later Clikon 2 is earmarked for the EvO2, so a recently acquired Clikon 1 in the correct colours will be the post of choice. The red X-Lite clamp and red PSS1 saddle are both my originals. An FSA Pig headset will complete the ensemble.

The drivetrain is as it was, albeit I did eventually go 9spd after my dad bought me a new M952 mech and shifter for doing well in my standard grades one year. The 8spd setup here uses my original M739 XT shifter and M737 XT cassette, with an acquired M952 GS XTR mech that's a bit faded. I went through a few different cranks; originally it was some AC Mk2 cranks of which the non-drive side crank removal thread eventually gave up the ghost, to be replaced by the awful 24Seven cranks. The first set I had was white and which had a very thin tube welded through for the pedal threads, and this stripped completely within short order. They replaced them with a chromed set that was reinforced but those then started to bend into a banana over the space of six months. Eventually they got consigned to the parts bin and were replaced by some DMR Chieftain II's. Those DMRs are now on the Tazer so I've pulled the original 24Sevens out and given them to the powder coater to do in white. The original MRP Slalom is now on the M1 but I have a later 4 arm one which I'll use here alongside some new rollers from Jamie Lynn. I just need to pick up a 4 arm 19mm spider to suit. The Goldtec ring is trashed but it's a ring and it'll hold the chain in the right place.

Out with the near-NOS M950 XTR...

...in with the knackered M737 XT.

Rims got replaced quite a few times. My first proper 'DH' wheels were Hope MkII Biguns in black built into Sun Doublewides with straight gauge spokes. Overkill basically! These made their way from Marin to 222 but eventually the rims were swapped out for more reasonable Mavic D321s. I somehow bent a rear axle so Sandy got me a Bulb to use while waiting for a new axle to arrive. That hub spent a lot of time sitting on my desk over the years but got built up into a wheel for the Trek 950, but with some Ti Glides now in my stash for that, the Bulb has now been brought back to its intended home on a 222. I've currently got a black Bulb on the front rather than Bigun which I'll maybe swapit for at some point, but for now it'll do. My favourite track was always Fort William, and my favourite tyres for that were a pair of Michelin Comp 32's which had originally been developed for the Worlds in Sierra Nevada and so worked well on the similar rocky terrain of Aonach Mor, but Comp 16's came a close second. The front here is a 2.5" version which I always found was a little under-side-blocked, while the rear is a mint 2.2" casing that still has its extrusion hairs. Wrong logo but nothing a sharpie won't help fix.

Swapping rims from the 121 CD Ceramic on the Trek (earmarked for a front Ti Fatso), and in with the D321 CD. Spoke length was close enough. I wish you could still get double eyeleted rims these days

Brakes were originally Hope DH4s with Pro levers which I'd had from not long after they were released at the end of 1999. Both of these had lever issues whereby the cylinder bore would eat seals, so they were replaced with a set of Enduro 4s by Hope. At this time I went from 185/165 rotors to 185/185 thanks to the newly released No.8 caliper design. Somewhere along the way my old 165mm disc has disappeared and these original discs are now rare so to use the NOS No.6 front and No.3 rear DH4 calipers I tracked down with the pair of 185mm discs I do have I'll need to get a +20mm adapter. It's not the neatest but it'll do. The levers will be the originals rebuilt with new seals. Some Galfer Green race pads will go into the calipers and I'll repurpose the standard black 5mm hose and connectors from the new Tech 4 V4's I got last year. Yes the originals were 5mm, and the connecters aren't quite right aesthetically, but again, it'll do for the purpose of sitting and looking vaguely right and feeling right when you squeeze them!

 

[benjabbi]

Very much liking this! We had one as the window display in the first shop I worked in, I wanted it so bad but couldn't justify it. I did get a later one with the floating brake arm eventually before realising that as much as I like them DH bikes are pure overkill for me.
Anyway, nice build, look forward to seeing the end result

 

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Cheers! Yeah, they were great looking bikes and pretty different when they were first released. The Animal team kit and bikes always looked amazing too I thought so was pretty stoked to get a replica of one of their bikes! I came close to a 223 with IBS after this one but ended up with the M1 I've written about elsewhere on here. Quite different bikes really and it actually took me a time to get used to and make the most of the M1 even if it was definitely a step forward.

I get where you're coming from, we all have the bits we get the most out of. At my heart I am definitely a downhiller, or at least I am on the descents. Singletrack in the mountains or a built trail, I still ride as hard as I can which has something to do with why my 'trail' bike is basically a DH bike with a wide ratio cassette. That said I don't have much interest in actual DH these days, I much prefer to actually cover ground on a ride and ride some great descents on the way. Lots of good memories from the downhill days though.

 

[peecee]

Nice one! Orange are one of my all time faves, I have one of Peatys prototype yellow bumblebee 224's that he used during the 2005 season, it was an unridden spare frame, I also have a white Orange 223 IBS 17" that I plan on making into a Global replica as I have a team only decal sheet and I also have a Blackbox prototype from Sean McCarrolls Global bike.

I wish I knew you were building this sooner the actual white colour used wasn't actually white its called Cosmic White I'll flick you a DM Orange bought this colour back a few years ago. It has silver in it and it depends on the technique of the sprayer how it turns out some looked white white and some looked less white. I was told this by someone who's been at Orange since day one after getting info for my replica.

I look forward to the rest of your build I hope the decals get sorted also its minor things like that that make the perfectionist in me procrastinate and take years to finish a build.

 

[Cloverleaf]

Nice one! Orange are one of my all time faves, I have one of Peatys prototype yellow bumblebee 224's that he used during the 2005 season, it was an unridden spare frame, I also have a white Orange 223 IBS 17" that I plan on making into a Global replica as I have a team only decal sheet and I also have a Blackbox prototype from Sean McCarrolls Global bike.

I wish I knew you were building this sooner the actual white colour used wasn't actually white its called Cosmic White I'll flick you a DM Orange bought this colour back a few years ago. It has silver in it and it depends on the technique of the sprayer how it turns out some looked white white and some looked less white. I was told this by someone who's been at Orange since day one after getting info for my replica.

I look forward to the rest of your build I hope the decals get sorted also its minor things like that that make the perfectionist in me procrastinate and take years to finish a build.

Cheers, sounds like some nice frames you've got there yourself.

Yeah, I knew the Global ones were a metallic white as a few mates had them at the time. The Animal ones, and some of those early Global team frames too, were a solid white. The tone of this is pretty much as I remember mine being at the time; quite a cool white rather than warm.

I think the decals might actually be a bit of a challenge as I suspect most people making decals don't 'paint' opaque inks on, especially silver. The original ones were a white backing with layers but I noticed that even on Tim Ponting's 322/Stage bikes they did replica graphics for were lacking the silver stripe. Some more investigation required methinks.