Submitted by
Big Louie
a Weekend Warrior
from United Kingdom
Date Reviewed: October 25, 2003
Strengths: Lovely to look at, lovely to ride, whopping dropouts and downtube, very neat welds.
Weaknesses: None so far...
Bottom Line:
Makes riding trials a joy, manuals are easyer with the shortish chainstays and short fornt triangle. Really easy to throw about thanks to the short wheelbase, makes little kids stare in amazement at the fat frame. Very 'bling bling'.
Similar Products Used: Planet-x zebdi DMR sidekick
Bike Setup: Nice Hope components, Azonic, IRC, Middleburn..... all the candy.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Dave
a Weekend Warrior
from Cumbria, UK
Date Reviewed: July 18, 2003
Strengths: this frame is solid. its so easy to move around on the back wheel, manuals like a dream. Just gives you confidence you never had on your last bike. if your gonna get this frame buy the Orange fork too. The fork is as good as the frame and suits the geometry perfectly. Remember, this is a trials bike, so you dont wanna be fitting 140mm travel forks to it. this upsets the bike totaly making it very snappy and hard to handle. In fact, by fitting a suspension fork you void your waranty, so just dont do it. Its a trials machine built to do one job so use it for that.
Weaknesses: none, best trials frame in the world but orange ain't making them anymore so if you want one grab it now (they're only £300 in the uk)
Bottom Line:
The trials daddy. This is solid and bomb proof, you can see the work thats gone into it just by looking at it, its a work of art. realy light weight thought it doesnt look it. Ive riden a lot of trials bike but this one is outstanding. Ive let people try mine out and there all riding them now. If you find one, buy it.
Submitted by
Andrew H
a Downhiller
from Crazy Perkazie
Date Reviewed: May 26, 2003
Strengths: I cracked a Kule Komponents Kaos frame, and snapped an Iron Horse 2.0 in half, so I was looking for a little more. I ended up buying this frame (after a summer of saving) and have loved it ever since. I only ride street, I don't compete much, so this frame gets put to the test. It even handles dirt jumping. I love this frame to death. A plus is the 8-sided tubing that tapers to 6-sides (downtube). It is very appealing. People everywhere ask me about it, I am absolutely in love.
Weaknesses: None.
Bottom Line:
This thing is bomb proof. If you can find one, and don't mind dishing out the cash for it, go for it. If you have any problems with it, you can come and kick me in the teeth. I highyly reccomend this frame.
Similar Products Used: Iron Horse 2.0 racing frame, Kule Komponents Kaos.
Bike Setup: Planet-X front end (knifen fork, meteor stem, goliath bars), LX cranks with custom made bashring, Avid mechanical brakes, Hugi freeride hub laced to Rhyno Lite XL rim (my first wheel build!).
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
James
a Weekend Warrior
from Queensland, Australia
Date Reviewed: January 24, 2003
Strengths: (Just before going ahead, i only bought the frame, not the stock setup!) The box seat/chainstays are really meaty - the fattest i have seen on a hardtail, and the dropouts are beefy as well. The head/top/down tube weld and gusseting job holds Orange's signature chunkyness as well. All of this, as well as the high sitting bottom bracket casing makes for an unbeatable, confident ride!
Weaknesses: Apart from needing a strong, long seatpost (like my Thomson 400), and if you want to run a triple chainring (i made my own cable lug) there are no weaknesses. The frame may look heavy, but the triple butted light monoque aluminium isnt too bad! The ride is positively nukeproof, and i reckon it could cop a drop hammering more than a lot of quality dualies.
Bottom Line:
A lot of other people review their bike and tell you to go out and buy it, becouse they are happy with its performance. I have worked in a few bike shops and demo'ed a few bikes, and overall, the Zero has to be the fattest, srongest, great looking, kick ass bike around! It is a multi use animal which bombs mountaincross/slalom, and will cop anything you can throw at it at the local jumps or that 12 set of stairs at the supermarket. All i can say is, if you buy, try, hire, or borrow this bike, thrash it like crazy, but be prepared to replace wheels, bars, forks and other componentry before the frame. I give this beast 5 flamin Chillis!
Bike Setup: For Mountaincross - Raceface Next LP's, Chris King Headset, Funn Headhoncho stem, Funn Fatboyslim, Alexrim DX 32's, Marzocchi Shivers, Hope Purples, XT other. For fun - Raceface Northshore XS with bash, Magura Hyd v's, monty forks, the rest remains the same.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Blake
a Weekend Warrior
from San Diego
Date Reviewed: June 27, 2002
Strengths: This bike is very easy to manuever. It doesn't feel like a typical stock bike. It's very snappy.
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
This bike is very easy to pull stuff on. If you are looking for a bike and money doesn't matter try this one out. The short chain stays make it very easy to do anything on the rear wheel. This bike gave me the confidence to try bigger things and helped me to progress pretty quickley.
Even though they are not out yet, I would HIGHLY recommend that you e-mail Karpiel about their stock AND mod trials bikes. If put into production I promise you will find they are better than any other trials bike out there!! They are the only other trials bike to compare to the Orange Zero.
Strengths: This bike is the f*ckin A, it is strong, light (triple butted aluminium makes it strong too), designed by Petre Kraus (World Trials Champion), you cant get a much better trials bike than this.
Weaknesses: costs a bit more than youd think for such a small bike
Bottom Line:
this is an awesome bike, I am gonna give it 5 flaming roadkills
